Chapter Text
"My son at the top of Arasaka Tower, I can just see it!"
That’s honestly the only thing she wanted for him. Gloria knew it was a selfish desire, as it limited David from what he truly wanted to do in his life. But still, a mother was allowed to be selfish for her child could her?
Gloria wasn’t mad at David for his desire that he repeated time and time again of simply dropping out from the academy. No one would miss him, no wanted him there either way. In fact, they would probably be euphoric that the 'street gutter trash' was finally gone
No, will a little disappointed Gloria understood her son. As she suffered from the same her whole life as well. And she was also aware that even if her David managed to fulfill her dream for him, he would still not be respected
Gloria was basically condemning her beloved boy to a life of disrespect and backslash in the infamous viper pit that was Arasaka, but that should be better than rotting in the streets like they had been up doing until now right?
And that’s when it happened. Everything was going so fast, Gloria didn’t even had the time to register it properly
One moment she was driving normally and sharing her selfish dream with David, the other her darling son had warned her of the incoming danger but it was too late already
As much as Gloria had tried to wrap David in a relatively safe environment, truth is he had always been more aware of the dangers around Night City than herself. Maybe he had to wouldn’t have had to, if Gloria wasn’t such a terrible mother
Before she knew it, she was lying on the dirty NC floor with blood pooling out from who knows where all at the same time. Everything was in fire and debris, and her mijo was stacked on their car crying out for her
Gloria tried to talk to her son, trying to reassure him that she was fine and everything will be okay despite it being a clear lie. But her voice kept betraying her, and the sweetish copper taste that was blood kept invading her mouth every time she attempted to usher a single word
Trauma Team came as soon as they left, once they realized that neither her or her mijo where clients. Instead they grabbed the suit that was those Animals gangoons target and left them to die, with David screaming at them to come back
Gloria was aware of the unjust system that TT operated on, she had seen their consequences on the numerous murder scenes she had to witness for a living. But still, she kept hoping for her naive believe for them to at least save David
Oh David, her mijo, her beautiful son, her sun in this grimy city, her everything
David, who kept screaming and crying for her to not die on him as he struggled to free himself from his unfortunate situation and get to her. How Gloria wished that she could wipe his tears, embrace him like never before and repeatedly ask for his forgiveness
For not paying attention when she had to, for not reacting properly on time, and for never being the mother he deserved
Gloria kept fighting to keep her eyes open for her David’s sake, but they just kept getting heavier and heavier
The last thing that she heard was her sunshine calling out to her one last time before everything went dark…
“Mijo!" Gloria cried, bolting up anxiously while breathing heavily. "Jesus Mom, don’t scare me up like that!" David’s voice was heard, not desperate or scared like before but rather exasperated and a tad bit irritated
"M-Mijo..?" Gloria stammered, looking at her son that was still safe and sound looking at her with confusion. She looked around, noticing that they weren’t at the crash scene but rather at their apartment
The holo-TV was droning in the background about a recent gang scuffle and she could faintly hear the automated voice of their washing machine saying that it couldn’t complete its function without sufficient funds
Just like this morning…
'Was it all a nightmare?' Gloria wondered agitated, but it couldn’t possibly be as everything felt so horrifyingly real. She could still feel the phantom pains on the glass and shrapnel of the car piercing her stomach
Could still hear the scared voice of her mijo calling out for her…
"Mom? Seriously, what’s gotten into you?" David said, none the wiser to her inner turmoil, "That Night Shift is gonna be the end of you if it makes you wake up like tha—" He was unable to finish his sentence when Gloria suddenly embraced him in a bone-crushing hug
"Dee *sob* Mijo, you’re okay" Gloria sobbed as she delved her crying face on her son’s spiky yet fluffy set of hair, much to David’s increasing confusion. "F’course I’m fine, Mom. Why wouldn’t I be?” He said with a weirded out tone
"You had a nightmare or somethin’? What’s with the sudden hug?" Gloria stopped her sniffing, looking at her son who was even more confused than her. Did he seriously didn’t remembered anything?
"Dee, what happened? What day’s today?" She asked with a deadly serious tone that increased her son’s apparent genuine confusion. As soon as he responded her with the same confused tone, her eyes bulged when she noticed it was still the day of the accident
Just this very morning before everything went to hell
Gloria once again embraced her son even harder, so happy that whatever God had gifted her the opportunity to go back and emend her mistakes. And even though David didn’t remembered any of it, she will make sure he wouldn’t had to suffer again for her sake
"Mom seriously. I love you too and all, but if you don’t let me go I’m gonna be late for school" David grumbled, but not because of her embrace. Gloria could tell that he didn’t want to go back there, but still kept it up for her sake
Which is what got her killed in the first place
"A-Actually, mijo…" Gloria stammered with a heavy heart, never having thought that she’d say something like this after years of sacrifice. But if all those sacrifices lead to her literal sacrifice and potential trauma to her son, then she thought they weren’t worth it any more
"How about we spend the day together? You and me, like old times?” She suggested, hoping that her voice sounded steady enough for him to not notice her inner turmoil. David looked at her like one if those old world pigs that just learned where beacon came from
"Who are you and what have you done with my mom?" He interrogated non-threateningly, just very confused of this sudden change of heart. "It’s nothing Dee, really. Can’t a mother spend a day with her son?" She asked playfully
"Well yeah, but…" He started to tap his feet, a usual nervous tick that due to his autism. While that sound sometimes bothered Gloria before, now she actually started seeing it as quite cute. It was just another endearing quality of her sun
“Usually you’re the kind to tell me that I should hurry at school as fast as possible. What gives?" He asked with confusion, and she chuckled ironically at her new reality, "Nothing Dee, is just that I’ve been thinking about what you always been saying"
"And maybe you’re right. Maybe Arasaka Academy isn’t for you" If David was shocked before, now he was in complete disbelief, "I’m sorry I had been so selfish, mijo. I’ve been pushing you to live a dream that wasn’t your own for my shitty sake"
"I-It’s fine, Mom. I know you wanted to give me a good life and all that" David confessed, and now it was his time to embrace her, "But I don’t need the corpo life, Mamá. I’m happy livin' with you and I don’t like seein' you bust your ass for me every single time"
”I know, Dee. And I’m so sorry" Gloria sobbed, hugging her son like there was no tomorrow. She should’ve had done something before, when her David would come back home with bruises and ruined clothes of clear signs of harassments from his classmates
It should’ve been enough evidence for her to know the toxicity of that place for him, but she willfully tried to ignore the signs and encourage her son to ignore the bullying naively hoping it will all just magically go away
Never again, though
"W-Well, um, I guess I should get ready for our day out" David murmured, finally separating after what seemed like a comfy eternity. "You go ahead mijo, I’ll catch up soon enough" Gloria promised him, subduing the part inside her screaming at her to not leave his side
David however flashed her one of his endearing goofy smiles that she hasn’t seen in so long before skipping out of their flat, looking like an overexcite puppy ready to go for a walk. Gloria smiled softly as she watched him go, and once he was out from sight she made an important call
"Maine, it’s Gloria"
"Fast is what you do best, ain’t it? Just keep running"
Maine never thought he’d get so attached to a young edgerunner again, after what happened to Sasha. After what inspired him to keep chroming up like crazy, until they ended up in this massive clusterfuck
At first Maine really didn’t that much of an opinion for David, he just accepted having him around as a way to respect Gloria and knowing that the kid wouldn’t stop bitching him until he accepted him. He knew how stubborn brats this days were with what they wanted with Sasha
But after his first gig with them, even if he messed up and ended with that bitch Faraday further segmenting his dislike for the four-eyed fixer, Maine had to admit he started liking the kid. He was like the little bro or son he never had
Maine didn’t regretted much things in his life, he grew numb to almost everything that the cyberpunk life had to throw at him. The one thing he regretted the most is not stopping Sasha when he could, and maybe not being there for Gloria before she ultimately flatlined
She was a good woman, best woman she ever knew in this rotten city. Simply wanted to give her kid a better life. Out of all of them fuckers, Maine didn’t expected for her to be the first one to bite the dust. And in the most un-climactic way possible
But one thing that he truly regretted above all is not listening to Dorio when he had the chance, and now she payed his gonk price for staying by his side at his lowest. Maine didn’t knew if that was true love or just a warped sense of loyalty by her part
And David, the little sentimental brat that he was, came running at his rescue like he always did and insisted of fighting MaxTac alongside him. Maine knew that the kid couldn’t to do, even without the nervous sweat and the hand trembling that was almost as bad as his own
Fuck, he truly should’ve seen the signs earlier
Maine didn’t knew if the David he was talking to was real or just another figment of his ailing imagination, but he still said everything he wanted to should’ve said to his little punk from the start. Gently bumping his head instead of the harsh slap he gave him earlier
Shit, will he never forgive himself for that. Kid didn’t deserved to get dumped by all of his crap
And so, Maine lighted up Dorio’s funeral pyre. Something told him those weren’t actually tree sticks he had piled up for her, after all they were in the middle of the scorching hot Badlands. But whatever they were, they accomplished their purpose
Giving his girl the ending she deserved and bringing him alongside the ride, just like they had done throughout all their lives
The last thing Maine saw was that fucking finish line, one he had never managed to cross no matter how much he ran or how much he pushed himself until his limits cracked. Ironic that it was the final thing he had witnessed, maybe this was his version of eternal punishment or whatever
Suddenly he wasn’t the big, chromed up brute he condemned himself to become, but rather his scrawny 'ganic self. That same twiggy kid with big dreams of running that only came at the cost of milking himself dry
And there it was, that goddamn line. So close, yet so far out of reach. Maine’s muscles were burning, both from the scorching desert sun and him pushing them for far too long. His throat was drier than this shitty desert, and his will was just about to give up
In the end, he never truly managed to cross that line huh?
But just when Maine was about to give it all up and his legs finally gave out, unceremoniously laying in the ground trying to grasp in some level of oxygen in this dry cursed land, a single hand reached out to him
Warm, inviting and hopeful for a lost case like himself
Maine looked up to see David looking down at him with a friendly smile and those same hopeful eyes, the kid he had always known so far. Not the desperate and scared one that tried to reach out for a worthless psycho like himself
"C’mon, Maine" He told him eagerly, still offering his hand, "You almost finish! We’ll cross the line together, 'kay?". He wanted to tell David to screw him and leave, to not see him in his sorry shit state. But when did that ever stopped the kid from doing what he wanted, right?
Maine took David’s offered hand, and the kid gently helped him get back on his feet. Maybe in a more symbolic way, as well. With a soft smile and a encouraging tug of his hand, the two started walking hand in hand to the finish line
It was rather nice, Maine supposed. So long had he tried to reach the finish line and burn himself to get there, he never truly slowed down and tried to live the moment. How ironic that David was the one to show him that, when he said that fast was his whole shtick
Finally, in a gentle stroll after a grueling run until his lungs popped holding hands with his son, Maine managed to cross that finish line…
"Maine! Wake up!" Maine gasped in cold sweat, a very familiar voice being the one that woke him up. A voice he thought he’ll never hear again, because of his damn fault. There was Delilah Dorio, the love of his life alive and well besides him, and just as confused
"Dorio, the fuck happened!? Where are we?!" He looked around to see that they were both on their bed of their shared apartment, everything looking bright and peaceful like if nothing ever happened, "Was that all a nightmare?"
"If it was a nightmare, how do you expect we both dreamt it at the same time gonk?" Dorio said bluntly, explaining the obvious, "Still, it doesn’t make any fucking sense. Last thing I remember was protecting you from some bullets and then…"
Maine looked down, guilt plaguing his gut. Given that he wasn’t in his right state of mind in the moment, he thought he had somehow confused Dorio for another one of the pigs or Trauma fuckers. And hearing that she was actually trying to protect him felt somehow worse
Still, he explained everything that happened afterwards to his gal, including his funeral pyre for her and his brief exchange with David, all until here. "Wow, you built a damn pyre for me? That’s actually kinda sweet" Dorio chuckled but hardened her face afterwards
"Still, what were you thinking saying that gonk advice to David!? You know you’ll only end up traumatized the poor kid!!" She scolded him, and he actually agreed with her. By saying that shit he’ll probably condemn him to do the same as him
"Yeah, I know. Kid didn’t deserve to weight down by my own shit" He admitted, before his face hardened with newfound determination, “Dorio, I had made up my mind. I have no fucking idea on how we ended up traveling to the past or whatever, but this time I’m gonna do shit right"
"I’m going to visit Vik, tell him to chrome me down" Dorio was the most incredulous look he had ever seen her do, before a small yet happy smile grazed her features. "About time, you gonk" She chuckled, pecking his cheek
Just when they had finished to dress up and were ready to head out, Maine got the least expected call from another person he had never expected to hear about again. "Maine, it’s Gloria" He froze, hearing the voice of one of his closest friends again
That’s right, they had somehow time traveled back before she zeroed. The day she offered the Sandevistan to him, just before he met David. Dammit, now what was he supposed to do? He had no intentions of chroming up, but it was his addiction that gave her the eddies
Still, he wasn’t that heartless and answered her encrypted call
"Gloria, hey-hey" He answered, trying to keep his voice steady and his emotions at bay of hearing his best choom again. "Uh, got any new-new chrome for me?" He truly didn’t wanted to say that, but he needed to keep the act up for Gloria
"I got new chrome, yeah. But it’s not-not for you" That…was new. That wasn’t how things went down in their previous call, she was supposed to be offering the Sandy for a big price. Before she went kaput. What changed?
"Huh, I see-see" Despite the sudden change of news, Maine wasn’t disappointed. He didn’t wanted to get more chrome either way, and besides the chrome she was offering wasn’t his. When it went along so well with the kid that wormed himself into his big metal heart
"Instead I want to ask-ask you something else, Maine" Gloria said, a mixture of determination and choked-up sadness, "Do you think there’s enough space in your crew for someone else?"
"You want to-to edgerun!?“ Maine cried in surprise, because one thing was hearing Gloria not follow what she said last time. Another one is hearing her say she wanted to do the very same thing she hated the most in her life
"N-No offense Glo, but you’re not-not really cyberpunk material. Your shooting skills are average at best and-and you have zero experience on the field. I guess you can-can serve as our medic since Pilar’s methods are shit but—“ Once again, Gloria interrupted him and exceeded his expectations
"I’m going to ignore you just talk shit about me, but it’s not for me" She said firmly, "…It’s for my son, David" If Maine wasn’t confused and shocked shitless before, she definitely was now. Was this truly the Gloria Martinez he knew and loved?
“What the!? But I thought you wanted to keep him away from this life or whatever, what changed now?!" He asked, because while he was elated to see David again, he didn’t knew if he could stomach seeing him again after their shitty last goodbye
Plus, Gloria’s new change of heart was starting to creep him out
"I know I said that, but mijo and I had a talk and…“ She sighed harshly from the other end of the line, "I decided that maybe it’s not truly worth it for him to live out a life that isn’t his own. Something tells me he’ll enjoy working alongside you better than on some corpo desk"
Maine thought hard about it for a good long moment, before he sighed hardly
"Fine, we’ll meet with you and the kid soon enough. Right now, Dorio and I have plans" Saying a last goodbye to his choom, he ended the call and the first thing he saw when the holo was down was his girl’s concerned face
"You okay, babe? What did Gloria said?“ She asked and another gasped escaped from him as he took off his shades and rubbed his eyes tiredly. There goes his selfish desire of keeping David as far away as possible from this fucking life
He’s a good kid that didn’t deserved getting thrown into the shit. Some second chance, huh?
"I’ll tell you on the way to Vik’s. Long story short, we’ll end up meeting David earlier than we expect"
Chapter Text
"We’re having a moment here!! Fuck you!!”
Fuck, if Rebecca had known those would be her last words before Adam fuckin' Smasher, well, smashed her into the ground she would’ve said something better. Oh well, at least it beat Pilar’s shitty last words
Besides, how many people get to shot Adam Smasher on the goddamn dick before getting zeroed? Not many, Rebecca was sure. She didn’t regretted anything, at least Lucy was save now and managed to bring David back to his senses
Speaking of David, there was maybe one thing Rebecca regretted…
At first she didn’t thought that much of that lonely kid sitting on his sad little corner all the way back to that after party at Turbo’s. He was just another means to an end if he managed to live that long, but his bad vibes were making her beer taste bad that’s why she approached him
Best fucking decision in her life, Rebecca concluded
Soon enough, David awakened something in her heart that she thought died off a long time ago. She knew lust, but she didn’t knew love. She thought she’ll never have it, given her tiny child-like figure. And besides, it’s not like she needed or wanted it
Her love for her guns was all the love she needed in life
But then David came along, and little by little, made her feel all sorts of things in her. For him, she was willing to put everything at stake if that meant it will make him happy. No matter what, she was always by his side
No matter if he was the star-struck rookie or the chromed-out veteran, he will always be David for Rebecca
But like everything in her shitty life, the moment she has one flicker of happiness it’s soon taken away from her. It had been since the very beginning, when she was born second in a low-ranking Biotechina corpo family
Pilar was the first born and the dude, so he got the long end of the stick and was being groomed to take ahold of the family business. Her, however? The best thing she could ever have in her life is being some corpo gonk’s trophy wife
From the very beginning, everything was decided for her. What she wore, the cyberware that was allowed for her to install, how she had to act and everything in between. It’s tradition, her folks said. You should be happy to bring honor to our family, they said
Hah, it’s not like if they were the Arasakas or some shit
The only thing that gave Rebecca some level of happiness from her shitty life where the fairytales she used to read on the small spare times she had from her tight schedule. She would dream of a handsome prince that would take her far away from the crap and will love her truthfully, unlike all those spoiled boys that her folks kept introducing to her
A bit cliche and corny, but hey she was a kid at the time so that logic seemed possible for her
But she did not imagine in a million years that Pilar would end up being that 'prince’, as when he was barely 18 and her 13, he packed their stuff and delta’d the fuck outta there taking her alongside him for the ride. She knew her brother had good intentions, but Pilar was never the best at thinking things through
Pilar joined Maelstrom and started consuming glitter like crazy, while Rebecca attempted to join the Moxes and sucked dick on back-alleys to keep them afloat. The fuckers she blowed where disgusting assholes with dirty dicks and malfunctioning Mr. Studds, but soon enough she grew numb to the taste and the slurs
And so, sex became a bargaining chip for her. Something that got shit done and wasn’t worth thinking that much about if it helped pooling eddies off
The gonks faces were blurred in between, their names just static on her ears, the grunts of lust and dirty slurs by their part deafened, the manhandling felt distant and the disgusting cum and aftertaste feeling like ash on her throat
When Rebecca was finally able to join the Mox when she turned 16 she thought she had finally found her place in the world, being able to gun down every asshole that came her way and knowing that her friends will have her back if something happened
But then the fight with that bitch Susie Q happened, on how her methods were far too erratic for it to be a Mox-style. Bullshit, she had seen worse things made by her fellows. She probably was targeting her because she never had a proper grow sprout and kept treating her like a little girl
And so she packed her bags and her guns and walked away with her fat ass. It’ll be fine, she was 18 now. She could get shit done on her own now, she didn’t need any of those traitorous bitches
And it seemed that Pilar also had her same luck, as he started to go against Maelstroms believes and was promptly kicked out of that gang. Rebecca guessed that the only reason why they didn’t flatlined her gonk bro was because his glitter problems were becoming to much of an annoyance for them
So when Pilar joined an edgerunner crew, Rebecca demanded him to let her join in as well. And it seemed that he finally remembered he had a sister, because for the first few weeks he heavily denied it
It was only after that he saved his sorry ass in a gig gone wrong that he finally acknowledged her and allowed her to join. Rebecca believed that Pilar allowed himself to be the target of her punches and insults so that she wouldn’t have to suffer any longer or some shit like that
And then in came David, and Becca’s world turned upside down for the better. For once, the thrill that her beloved guns gave her were only second to the euphoria that being alongside him gifted her
But like everything in her life, they apparently were never meant to be. And before she could even settle her emotions properly, David was already in a relationship with Lucy
Despite everything, Rebecca was actually happy for them. A relationship like theirs only appeared on this city probably every thousand years and as long as David was happy, she was happy as well. He deserved it after all the shit he had to go through
David probably only ever saw her as his best choom or the little sister he never had, and even though she wasn’t the one to play just friends she was happy as long as she could remain by his side. And by his side she stood, even as he started to spiral down into cyberpsychosis and as they raided through the city to get to 'Saka tower
How ironic, Becca supposed. In the end, her fairytale consisted in being her prince’s loyal steed as he went to rescue his princess from the tower
And so, all the way back to the present, her only true regret was not being able to confess her feelings for David. Alongside probably seeing Adam Smasher’s mecha-nuts as the last thing she ever saw before everything went dark…
"FUCKING DIE, YOU DAMN GLORIFIED VENDING MACHINE WITH LEGS PIECE OF SHIT!!!" Rebecca screamed at the top of her lungs, but gasped when she saw she wasn’t on Corpo Plaza but in her apartment
But not only that, but the apartment was once again divided and Pilar’s shit was there. But that was impossible, as she threw all that crap away after he got zeroed. So why?
"Hey Becca, you finally away?" Rebecca didn’t knew if she was happy or annoyed hearing her gonk brother’s greasy voice once more. And there he was, long-limbed and lacking the golden cyberhands he has been bitching her about for months and all
"Good, 'cause I need someone to give me a fucking answer! The hell happened!? All I remember was checking out that hobo’s cyberdick and suddenly I woke up here and—" A punch to the gut interrupted Pilar’s sentence, coming from none other than his crying sister
"You fucking gonk! Why did you have to come back to life!?“ She shouted, half in anger and the other half in sadness, “You had the absolute shittiest, most gonk and pathetic death ever! Making fucking dick jokes before having your pea-sized brain blown off!!”
"I mourned for you, I fucking cried for you! I wasn’t there to witness Maine and Dorio’s own deaths because I was copped up in this shithole you call apartment getting all depressed about your fucking flatline when I could’ve done something to help them!" She sniffed, stopping her assault on her revived brother to focus on her crying
"And yet you come back to life or whatever and the first thing you do is 'Hey Becca' me!! How much shittier can you get, Philip Larry Jones!?” Pilar cringed, as Rebecca hadn’t used his real name in a long time
"Look Becca, I’m sorry sis. I really am" Pilar muttered, awkwardly patting her head with his old cyberhands. And Rebecca would’ve swatted them away, if crying her eyes out didn’t took so much of a toll on her
"But wait, whaddaya mean I got zeroed!? And that Maine and Dorio flatlined!?” And so for the next hour or so, both Jones siblings finally sat down and had a much needed talk. Rebecca told Pilar everything, from the moment he flatlined to her own dead
"Woah, Maine went cyberpsycho!? And then David went psycho!!?" Pilar said with disbelief, as he was as close to the kid as she had been. He was like the little bro he never had, and while Rebecca was great and all sometimes he wished some male company once in a while
Pilar knew he was a shithead and that the others saw him as such, that’s why he was so happy that he got along with the kid as well as he did. Shit, now he felt kinda bad for hitting on his eventual girl.
And hearing that the sweet and innocent brat that he loved to corrupt with his dirty jokes went through such a dark path just hit him on the feels, far more than any other shit he had to go through
"Heh, that means I’m actually important if shit hit the fan after I flatlined" Pilar boasted, but it was more to calm down his raging nerves, "After all, the group would all break apart without the soul of the party, ain’t it?"
"Oh cut the crap, Pilar. But yeah, as much as I dislike admitting it, you’re right" Rebecca sighed, because thanks to his bro’s position as the crew’s techie he could’ve done something to the cyberpsychosis on their members
Maybe not as well as a ripperdoc, but definitely would’ve helped slow things down
Huh, guess Pilar’s gonkass served for something now ain’t it? Who would’ve figured…
"But in all seriousness, I’m actually kinda touched that you went apeshit after that hobo zeroed me" Pilar admitted with a small smile that didn’t matched the rest of his shit-eating grins, "I guess that you still care about me underneath all the shit you give me, dont’cha?"
"Don’t pull your hopes up, bro" She spat and he chuckled in good nature. "Still, I guess that since we we’re given a second chance or somethin' we should take advantage of it, don’t you think?” Pilar suggested
"I mean, I make sure not to make dick jokes to pissing hobos on the street and you can focus on getting into Davey’s pants" He said, “Heck, I can even help you out with that if you want"
"First of all, no. Your dating advice sucks ass" Rebecca said bluntly, "And second of all, you’re fine with it? I thought you’d make fun of me or some shit like that"
"Yeah and I’ll still make fun of you until the day we grow old, but" He looked at her earnestly, and it reminded her of a simpler time when they were still just kids ignorant of it all. It was now that Rebecca thought, she didn’t remembered what Pilar’s original eye color were
She just remembered that he inherited them from their old man, and that he hated them with passion. Which is why one of the very first chrome he put himself was his visor, even before his prized long techie limbs
And truth be told, Rebecca liked Pilar this way. He finally got his own identity away from their bastard father
"Davey’s a good kid and if there’s anyone that you’d end up in a relationship with, he’s the one" He said truthfully, before his characteristic shit-eating smirk returned to his greasy face, "Plus, I should be more disgusted for you. You’re twenty-fucking-one yet you’re crushin' on a seventeen year old teen!?"
"Wow Becs, never thought I’d end up with a cougar for a sister” Rebecca elbowed him on the gut yet again, but that didn’t stopped Pilar from cackling like a mad hyena. And they wouldn’t have it any other way
But interrupting the atmosphere they suddenly got a call from Maine, and Becca felt kinda weird hearing him again after so long. She had already gotten so accustomed to having David as the leader of their crew
Maine told them to reunite on Aldo’s because he supposedly had important news to tell them before he cut the connection without saying another detail, leaving both siblings confused of what was that all about
"Well, better not let the boss man waiting" Pilar decided standing up, "Seriously bro? You’re usually forsaken important meetings for the sake of watching your disgusting BDs". “Yeah I know, but like I said a gonk like me was given a second chance for some reason" He shrugged, “Might as well use it"
"Oh, and after the meeting do you want to grab some grub or somethin’? We can go to our favorite ramen place that we used to visit sometimes" He offered rubbing his neck with his long hands, "Really!? But what about your hands!? Aren’t you saving up for them?"
"Who needs new hands, either way?” Pilar shrugged, "You’re far more important than them". "Who are you and what had you done with my bro?" Rebecca accused mock-threateningly and they both chuckled at her joke
Their relationship was still shit, but the Jones siblings wouldn’t have it any other way
"Go get 'er for me…"
Kiwi knew that at one point or another she’ll end up like this, betrayed and left to rot on the dirty Night City floors. Dying in a dumpster of a random Buck-A-Slice, what an un-climatic way to go. But it was what scum like her deserved
For the longest of times, she had lived by the motto of never trusting a single soul in this cursed city. But ironically that saying didn’t came from some partner betrayal or some shit like that like gonks believed, but from somewhere else entirely
Somewhere that hurt even deeper
Kiwi was once a bright-eyed netrunner that was once part of a crew, all of them consisting of her college friends. All of them eager and naive and wanting to make a name for themselves in the city
Alongside them, Kiwi truly felt that they could whatever. With every new gig, every knew quick eurobuck, they crew more confident. And eventually, more cockier and reckless
That recklessness eventually came to bite them all in the ass when a good fixer choom of theirs offered them a gig that was assuring them a comfy lifestyle outside of Night City, and they all accepted it believing they had it in the bag
Everything was going so well, until turns out their fixer was just using them as pawns to complete the job for him so that only he could get that much desired comfy lifestyle. As soon as they completed their purpose, he sat out bombs all over the place flatlining them all
Giving her position as the netrunner, Kiwi was the furthest from the accident so she was the only one that survived alongside the traitor. She might had lived, but that day, she had lost it all
Her jaw, her friends, her trust on people, and most importantly the love of her life that was the one that betrayed them all
After using the remaining eddies from her zeroed crew to get herself a cyberware vent to replace her jaw and buying a new place, Kiwi had changed. She now lived by the belief that no one could be trusted in this cursed city
She couldn’t bring herself to do so, fearing that her heart would get shattered like her jaw did once again
Still, Kiwi needed the money and she was lucky that she joined some gonk named Maine’s crew that was short of a netrunner due to their previous one flatlining in an accident that no one explained to her and that she had no interest of learning
She had decided she will keep them all to a professional distance and never get too attached to them after a gig was done
For a while, she tolerated this solitary lifestyle. Because she preferred living in isolation than getting heartbroken again, at least the coldness of solitude was getting easier to grow numb to with every passing miserable day
That is until she felt her chip slot about to get stolen, and she stopped the would-be thief before they got a chance. Imagine her surprise when she learned that her picksocket was actually a young girl that was more bones than meet and had an even deader expression than her own
Sensing a lot of potential in the girl, and involuntary also a lot of herself on her, Kiwi decided to take under her wing and introduce her to the crew as a backup netrunner in case they ever need one. But most importantly, she taught Lucy was she learned the hard way a long time ago
That she should trust no one in this city
And Lucy did, she followed her advice to an almost religious degree. But ironically, Lucy trusted her. And Kiwi despite all her attempts to keep their relationship solely mentor-student, couldn’t help but admit that she actually developed a soft spot for the young 'runner
Eventually, Lucy found her own stray who joined them and even formed a relationship with. And Kiwi admitted she started to involuntary see David as the annoying little brother she never thought she’d appreciate
And then Maine knocked her out mid-dive, and eventually everything went to shit from that point forwards. Boss man and amazonian queen got zeroed, and David stepped into the leader position and started to chrome up like crazy as his idol
Kiwi may be aloof but she wasn’t stupid, she couldn’t have that luxury living in a city like this. She knew that David was only moments away from reaching the far end, and once that happened, bye-bye to their little group
And so she made a deal with Faraday, one last job that gave enough eddies to finally leave this fucking place once and for all. All it took was betraying Lucy and tricking David into chipping in the cyber-skeleton
And she was so close to committing to it all, finally being able to complete the dream from her youth of leaving this city’s iron grasp once and for all
It could’ve been so easy, but her fucking consciousness had to act up. She remembered bringing a younger Lucy to a ramen restaurant, and how her previously dead expression lighted up with mirth being given her first decent meal in a long time
In her words, the yellow noodles were sparkling for her. She then remembered David when he was just a newbie, marveling over her vent and saying that it looked nova. That was the first time someone had said that to her and not be the least intimidated
Before Kiwi new it, she was turning her bike around and calling Faraday for an impromptu meeting that she quit. Never trust a soul in Night City, is what she had lived by all these years. What she had to do, in order to protect her damaged psyche and her broken heart
And of course that philosophy came to fuck her up really good, when she felt a bullet from Faraday’s gun piercing her stomach. She should’ve known the wannabe corpo rat bastard was prepared for her inevitable quitting, that’s how much of a slimy fucker he was
Kiwi also should’ve known he was the one that broke her heart in the first place. He changed his name and got himself new chrome with the money of their betrayed friends, but she could recognize those dirty tactics anywhere
And so, after bleeding to dead in that dirty dumpster on the back of a poor excuse for a food chain with Faraday sending his goons to make sure the job’s finished, Kiwi made one last call to her old crew
She knew the crew will never forgive her, not after what she had done. She would never forgive herself, either. But all she hoped in her last moments was that the crew would listen to hear one last time on her clue to find Lucy, for old times sake at least
Kiwi just wished that Lucy would be able to complete what she was never able to do as everything became dark…
"Lucy!" Kiwi gasped as she jolted out of bed. Wait, bed? She was in that dirty alley floor just now, not on a bed. And it’s not like she had Traume coverage to be salvaged. Did someone took her to the hospital or something? She doubted it
Looking around, she saw that it was her own bed from her apartment floor. She suspected that this was all a cruel joke or a really realistic hallucination before death. Not only was she laying on her bed, but she was in her flat like nothing happened
Like if she hadn’t just betrayed her crew and the two kids that were the closest thing she ever had to a family and got herself shot by the bitchest fucker ever known in Night City
Still suspicious, Kiwi stood up from her bed and started to rummage around her supposed 'house'. There was everything she remembered: her small kitchenette, her small living room, her even smaller bathroom that doubled as her netrunning room, her bedroom and all of clothes
'I should probably get more clothes that don’t just consist on trench coats' She thought randomly before shaking her head. No, now was not the time to think like that! She needed to figure out what the fuck was going on here!
Her best guess was that Faraday was pulling some sort of trick on her like connecting her to a BD or something, but he never knew how her flat look so it was impossible that it would be in such detail. Plus, he was hellbent in erasing anyone that knew about his plot to make sure he rose threw the corpo ladder or whatever
So why…?
Suddenly, Kiwi was brought out of her investigation when she got a call from one of the least pero por she had ever expected to hear about again. 'Maine!?' She thought with surprise, but once again grew suspicious
How detailed could this strange BD get?
Nevertheless, she decided to play along for now and answered the call. It was…actually kinda nice hearing from the big man again after he got flatlined when he went psycho. Sure, he broke her jaw when she was mid-dive but there were never hard feelings from her part afterwards
Especially when his dead was the catalyst for everything that went wrong afterwards…
'A sudden meeting? That’s new, don’t remember him saying something like that’ Kiwi thought once more, but in this strange BD anything could happen couldn’t it? And if she wanted to get more answers, this seemed like a perfect opportunity
Never trust a soul in Night City, it was Kiwi’s life and blood
And never trust shady BDs that were too real for their own good, was starting to become her new moniker
Chapter Text
"Sorry, Lucy. Wish we could go to the moon together…"
Those were his last words for her, and even then they weren’t said directly by him. They had to been given to her by Falco as they escaped from the boogeyman’s grasp. All while David sacrificed himself as bait to give them enough time to get out
Oh David…
Why did he had to be so selfless and heroic and romantic?
When Lucy attempted to steal the shard from a lost kid’s chip socket in one of her daily rounds through the NCART, she had never expected to fall so deeply in love with him. Love at first sight, one would say
She thought that all she could aspire in life was her impossible dream of escaping to the moon, leaving behind the prison that was Night City and finally letting go of her past as Arasaka property. The only thing that kept her going in her miserable life
But then David came along, and with him Lucy started to feel all sorts of new feelings she thought had been buried underground for a long time
She has been lusted after before, but she had never been loved. At least, not in the way that David made her feel. She still remembered the day she showed him her precious Moon BD, the closest thing she had to her dream
Lucy had never shown it to anyone else as that kind of preem edit BDs were well sought after and she knew that if she showed it to any gonk they would most probably try to take it off her hands. Never trust a soul in Night City, as Kiwi always said
But when she showed it to David, seeing him jump around in zero gravity and laughing like a little kid something inside her woke up. Maybe it was on how innocent and naive he acted towards everything, a happiness that NC miraculously hasn’t sniffed out yet
What at first was just a way to stall him in order to make time for Maine and the others to come felt more and more like a close moment between to lifelong friends with every passing moment alongside him
Dare she say, it was almost like a 'date'
Lucy remembered the night of their first kiss, the night he made his very first promise to her. "I’m going to take you there myself! Fly you to the moon!” He had said, all full of life and determination, "That’s a promise!"
She kissed him, partly to shut him up on promising things that he wouldn’t be able to accomplish, but also because she wanted to settle the raging feelings bursting out from her heart. He kissed her back, with trembling lips and and arms wrapped against her waist
It was obvious that this was his first time ever kissing someone, she could feel the excited nervousness as he tried to keep up with her liplock. It was honestly quite cute, being with someone so nervous and not the overconfident men she had to deal with before
Then she remembered zeroing Tanaka, and activating the trigger that started to spiral things downward. Lucy was usually good at keeping her emotions at bay, but at that moment she panicked when she saw David on ‘Saka’s radar, talking about him like a particularly interesting piece of meat
In that moment, short-circing the suit was the only option that appeared on her mind, costing their crew the whole operation. David stayed back to get back Maine, like the noble soul that he was. And when he returned, Lucy was sure that a part of him died that day with Maine
Things changed, and David took up the position of team leader and started to chrome up a lot more thinking that his unnatural affinity to cyberware would protect him. If only she stopped him from the start instead of dealing with Arasaka netrunners
Lucy should’ve put an end to David’s fall into madness as soon as the signs started to appear
If only she wasn’t so selfish…
In the end, David completed his promise and she was able to fly off to the moon. And all it took was the deaths of her loved ones and the one that she had loved the most. That fucking gonk, always putting others before himself
He never knew that the moon wasn’t Lucy’s dream any longer. Her dream was now always him , just being by his side was enough to make her feel more than numb resentment. That she was more than what she was more than just a tool for other’s benefits
And so for the next 6 months, 27 weeks, 18 days, and 9 hours since David sacrificed himself for Lucy, the days stranded in the glorified rock were just an endless blur that was muddled in together. Without him, the moon was just another prison for her
And life truly seemed like it still wanted to fuck with her, as everywhere she went the memory of David soon followed
Not only in her dreams and nightmares, but also in reality. Everything she did no matter how minuscule just reminded her of him, and an apparition of him would be alongside her. Wether that being asking her how was her day, scolding her for her bad eating habits or just simply being there when she woke up, David was always there
Always there by her side smiling and laughing so carefree like always, but always whisking away before she could touch him. Like a distant star, full of life but so far away from reach
Is this what he felt when he was going psycho? Living a reality that was not there?
Heh, how fitting. They were both truly meant for each other if they both shared the same destiny of spiraling into insanity
Finally one day, after 6 months, 27 weeks, 18 days, and 9 hours of suffering this silent torture, something inside Lucy finally snapped. The same thing that snapped when she escaped from that ‘Saka facility all those years back
In the dead of the night, she stole a buggy and drove as far away as she could from the moon base. She knew that no one would miss her, as she wasn’t particularly close to any of them. She couldn’t bring herself to do so after what happened
After what seemed like hours and too little time at the same time, the buggy’s fuel finally gave out but Lucy finally reached her destination. Their special crater, the place were it all started. Has it truly been that long?
And sure enough, there was David again. Humming their favorite song and dancing around the crater without a care in the world. Like a star child, free from all the insecurities that life kept dumping onto him. Maybe his death was a good thing, if it gave David this much freedom
But god, where his dancing moves awful. He should’ve followed Becca’s advice about getting that dancing chip-ware. Well, at least they’ll have all the time in the world to themselves in whatever paradise they were in
Lucy knew for a fact that Rebecca had the same feelings for David as she did, and wasn’t angry or disgusted about it. Truthfully, she thought that she would make a better pair for him than she ever was. At least Becca would never betray him, unlike her
David eventually finished his little dance and looked at her with the biggest of his goofy grins that made her heart soar to the skies, extending his warm hand to join him. Lucy smiled sadly and grabbed the edges of her helmet
Finally, she’ll be able to reunite with him
It was painful, it hurt like a million hells. There was no worst experience than feeling oxygen slowly leave your being and feeling your body get colder and colder with space’s atmosphere with every passing second
But Lucy didn’t expected it any other way. It was what she deserved, after playing with his life for as long as she did. At some point she couldn’t even scream any longer, as her inner organs had just frozen and felt heavier on her own body that they didn’t had the strength to even breathe any longer
And despite all of the pain, the biggest source of torture wasn’t the ruthless space coldness that invaded her being. No, it was the fact that she could still hear David’s voice, sounding like little bells filled with hope, singing their favorite song oblivious to it all
Good, it was what scum like Lucy deserved. She would gladly suffer the biggest of punishments if it meant that David could continue being the angelic kid she loved
Finally after what seemed like an eternity of torture, Lucy’s body finally gave out and her eyes were ready to shut down permanently. What felt like a single tear of relief flowed out from her petrified eyes. Huh, she didn’t knew she could still cry in this sorry state
Finally, everything was over. And she let David’s cheerful laughter guide her into the light…
…So then, how the fuck did she woke up in her old Night City apartment like if her death never happened!? Did the universe truly hated her that much, that it couldn’t even let her die in peace!? Was that too much asking!?
Lucy needed to clear her head, so she took one of her old strolls throughout the city to vent down. She unpacked a cigarette from her old stash and took a calming puff but accidentally cough a little. How long has it been since she smoked?
She remembered quitting after David and her moved in together, remembering how he didn’t liked the smell. And before she knew it, she never took another puff again. Smoking was a vice for her, something that helped settle her nerves
But it became unnecessary for her once she met him, as she knew that he would never judge her no matter what. Being around him made her forget all about her nerves and be filled and refilled with so much love
Guess David was that much of a positive influence on her life, huh
As Lucy tried to remember how this shit was done properly, she felt something tickle her nape. Like a gentle breeze, pushing her to a certain direction. Suddenly time stopped and everything darkened for her, and that same strange feeling intensified
She turned around to see a yellow comment fly rapidly behind her, before it morphed itself into a familiar yellow jacket. The most iconic symbol of her beloved, she could recognize that jacket anywhere
But then the world went back to normal, and Lucy saw that jacket wasn’t being worn by who she believed. Instead it was being brandished by a woman that she recognized as Gloria Martinez, David’s mom
That’s right, the jacket was his mom’s first. Honestly, she had forgotten about that little detail as she had grown so accustomed to seeing David wore it that it actually it felt more like his jacket
But that was besides the point, what was Gloria doing here!? Didn’t she flatlined ages ago!? But her thoughts were all drowned out when she saw that the supposed dead woman turned her head and laughed, and Lucy saw that she wasn’t alone
Her breathe hitched, her eyes stung threatening to letting out tears again, her lips quivered and her hands gripped on the railing until her knuckles became ghostly white
This…this had to be a another dream. A horrible nightmare. Some sort of hallucination or extremely detailed BD. Because there was no fucking way this was real…
No fucking way that David was here once again, alive and well, unchromed like he should’ve stayed since the beginning, chatting and joking with his mom like any other kid his age
Time stopped for Lucy yet again, and her tearing eyes stood focused on her beloved laughing face. Maybe it was her Kiroshis acting up, the tears messing up with her vision, or she was truly going insane, because she swore that David had sparkles all around him
Like the star child she would often compare him with
His soft golden brown eyes, big and wide, were glowing with youthful exuberance. His jubilant smile being enough to lighten the whole city, with dimples and all. His laugh still sounding like tiny bells that grazed her tired ears
It was David, it was him! Lucy was sure of it!! She could recognize her other half anywhere!!
Before she knew it, she started running to her soulmate as fast as her exhausted legs could carry her. Her physical state was fine thanks to her past self, but she could still fell the phantom pains of exhaustion weighting her legs down
Not anymore, though
He was so close, Lucy could practically smell his cologne already. Cinnamon sprinkled with chocolate, definitely his scent. So warm and inviting like he had been. Could hear his voice, gosh was it like auditory honey for her tired mind
“David!“ She called out with a choked sob, so so goddamn happy to see him again after 6 months, 27 weeks, 18 days, and 9 hours without him. She tackled him into a hug, tears falling down her eyes. She was no stranger to tears, but this time they were of pure joy
However, Lucy was so caught up into her own emotions that he didn’t recognize his own…
"H-Hey, what gives!?" Suddenly, she was pushed away from her moon without noticed. Not by Arasaka, Adam Smasher or someone like that. But rather, by none other than David himself
Gone was the look of soft love that he always graced her with, now everything that he was looking at her with was nothing but pure confusion and weirdness. Like if he was staring into the eyes of a stranger
And somehow, that hurt worst than everything she had to go through already. And the words that followed felt like knives repeatedly stabbing her already weak heart, because they came from the mouth of the one she loved the most
"Who are you?"
Chapter Text
Going back to Aldo’s for Maine and Dorio was…awkward, to say the least
While they felt a little nostalgic about revisiting this old place after getting zeroed and subsequently revived/time traveled to the past/whatever the fuck happened, they didn’t knew if anyone else of the crew remembered what had happened
Most importantly, something felt amiss when they noticed the lack of David on the place
Usually, David was always bouncing around the place like an eager puppy never being able to stay down. Wether that being talking with them about their next biggest strategy, training together, or simply getting to know each other
And him not being here any longer made the place feel oddly barren and empty. Fuck, they truly fell hard for the kid huh
However, the mopey attitude that seemed to hang over them was thankfully breached once Pilar and Rebecca ski-doodled into the place where the oldest of the Jones siblings, true to his asshole gonk nature, blurted out:
"Holy fuckin’ shit, Maine! Did you chromed yourself down!?" Pilar said, and for once Becca didn’t scold him for blurting out shit like that because she was also impressed. She hasn’t seen Maine this ‘ganic in, well, ever. Not even before Sasha got zeroed
The boss man was still big, but considerably less than before, maybe a few inches ahead of Dorio now. Maine’s arms were less of behemoths as now he only seemed to have his arm canons, and his muscular frame got loaded down since most of it was the chrome either way
"Good to see you too, Pilar” Maine said sarcastically and rolled his eyes underneath his shades, wondering why did he even felt so bad for this asshole’s flatline. But still, he did felt kinda happy to see the lanky long-armed bastard again after getting zeroed so randomly like that
He was like that one college friend that insists on going to a party when you have a final exam the very next day but that always make you have a good time looking back
And Maine gotta say, even after all the shit that Pilar pulled off in an everyday basis, it still hurt for him to watch the lanky asshole get zeroed like that. He had always bragged whenever they got drunk about dying an epic death that created a legacy that was even bigger than his shithead parents and that Becca would be proud of
Maine guessed that has always been Pilar’s dream, branch out of his corpo heritage and try to make Rebecca proud. Which was kinda sweet and honorable for a jackass like Pilar
Plus, anyone that can get along with David the way Pilar did was fine on Maine’s book
"Of-fucking-course you are, not-that-really-big-now-man. After all, the most central piece to make sure you guys don’t go psycho and get flatlined is back, you’re welcome" Pilar did a movement to what pre-krashers called dab before Rebecca broke out of her shock and kicked her bro in the nuts like usual
"Ow! What was that for now Becca!?" Pilar complained, nursing his injured balls. Honestly, Maine had seen the short-stack bust her brother so damn much that he wonders if the poor bastard’s testicles even work anymore. Maybe that’s why he has so many XBDs
“You fucking gonk! Have you forgotten the whole-ass plan!?" Rebecca scolded the older Jones, "We weren’t supposed to say jackshit about the previous timeline! We don’t know if the others remember it! Now we’re probably fucked the time-sprain or worse, made ourselves look like gonks in front of them!”
“Becca I swear, you read too many damn comic books" The Jones siblings started one of their usual banters yet again, and Maine and Dorio couldn’t help but smile at the familiar scene. They never thought that seeing them again like that would bring back so many memories
…Hey, wait a goddamn second…
"Did you just said 'previous timeline'?” Maine asked getting serious and the two stopped their bickering and became oddly jiffy with big-ass smiles trying to play it off. "Noooo~, what makes you say that Maine?" Becca said through gritted teeth of her plastered nervous smile
“Y-Yeah, having an 'ganic brain back must’ve messed with your hearin' bossman” Pilar said in the same nervous state as his sister, which was saying something as the gonk was never nervous nor did he copied his sis in anything
"You know that trying to blow it off just make you look more suspicious, right?” Dorio informed bluntly, lifting an unamused eyebrow and the two siblings seemed to break out in goddamn mountain of sweat seemingly at the same time
"Alright you two, spill" Maine barked, putting his best intimidation front. It’s gonna be a pain in the ass trying to keep himself mean and scary with others now that he isn’t as big or as chromed-out as he was before, but fuck it, it was a risk he was willing to take in order to not see moving pixels again
"Okay okay, we’ll spill" Pilar finally relented, he was never able to keep shit hidden from Maine before chromed-out or not. Becca seemed a little surprised and betrayed that her bro yielded so quickly, but nevertheless nodded in surrender
"Okay, this may prolly hear like a pile of crazy crap, but before we get to it, I just wanna clarify that I’m not currently balls-deep into glitter" And so for the next hour or so, the four sat down and the Jones sibs talked about the so-called previous timeline
And when the couple thought that things took a dark turn before, they didn’t knew half of it
"Holy fuck, David went psycho!?" Maine cried in horrified shock and didn’t even complained when Dorio slapped him on the back of the head, he deserved that either way. "I told you not to give him all those fucking ideas, gonk!” She scolded her input
"Oh, you’ll only solve your problems if you keep chroming your ass up to your sanity’s end" She repeated his words in her best Maine voice interpretation, "You knew that the kid had a big head over how he thought he was 'built different' due to the Sandy. What you told David was basically giving him the green light to go fucking psycho with the chrome!"
“I know babe, and you don’t know how fucking ashamed I am“ Maine sighed, taking off his shades and pinching rubbing his eyes together, tired out after the roller coaster that was Becca’s tale. "Fuck, I shouldn’t said David all that crap. Hearing that he went through the same shit that I did hurts so damn much"
"Wait wait, hold up, you believe us!?" Rebecca asked incredulously and the two nodded. "We not only believe you Becca, we lived what you went through” Dorio informed them, "Although, we only remember until before our deaths. We didn’t knew jackshit about what happened next"
"Well, this saves us from a massive clusterfuck” Pilar said, visibly relaxing, “Still, if you two remember, then how 'bout the rest?". Before either could answer, the back door to Aldo’s got opened by the last person everyone wanted to see right now. Especially Rebecca
“YOU BACKSTABBIN', LYIN' OLD BITCH!!!!"
Oh, Kiara 'Kiwi' Wilson, was Becca so fucking furious to see her again! After she betrayed them to that four-eyed corpo wannabe cunt creep Faraday, how dare she return like that! Granted she probably wasn’t aware of what she’ll eventually do, but right now Rebecca couldn’t care less about that
All she wanted was to see that traitorous motherfucking whore’s vent-covered skull to roll in the dirt!!
Like an old-world’s jungle cat, Becca pounced onto the blonde cheater’s skinny-ass self and tackled her to the dirty ground. Good, it’s what lying scum like her deserved! That’s how she got zeroed anyways, after she betrayed them like that
"Rebecca, I can explain—" Kiwi started, but got interrupted by Becca’s growl, "Oh, you’ll start explaining real good, you no-good selling-out cunt!! Once I’m finished with you!!". Before she could connect her fist with that cheating asshole hag, Becca was preyed away from her by Maine
"Lemme go, you big brute!! My fists are eager to meet that traitor’s ugly mug!!" She growled, trying to wrangle herself out of the big man’s hold that despite not being chromed out anymore still was strong. "Becca, I know you’re pissed but trying to get her zeroed won’t bring us any answers!"
"I don’t need answers! I need to see this bitch’s blood on the fucking floor!!" Becca backslashed, but some tears erupted from her angered face, "She knew!! She fucking knew that David had it bad with the cyberpsychosis, yet she tricked him into putting that goddamn cyberskeleton!"
"Huh, guess that approves my theory that this isn’t some sort of weird-ass BD” Kiwi had the audacity to hum nonchalantly, nursing her tackled self. "Oh this isn’t a BD alright, 'cause my damn fists will feel fucking realistic once they get in your face!!"
"Not helping!" Maine growled in annoyance, plating Becca back into the old couch and having Dorio keep her in place while she trashed like a wild animal who just got rabies, ”Lemme go, Dorio!! You know I have to do this!"
"No you don’t! Would David want you to do this shit?!” Dorio shouted, and that seemed to finally break in Rebecca’s thick skull as she finally stopped thrashing, but the tears didn’t stopped flowing. Because although she wanted to deny those cruel words, the big woman was right
Dimples wouldn’t had wanted her to beat the shit outta Kiwi, no matter how justified it may be. He had such a big heart that he would’ve forgiven her despite what happened, is one of the reasons why Becca fell so hard for him
So very reluctantly, she stopped her rampage and just allowed herself to be sad, sitting in her spot on the old couch with Pilar awkwardly trying to make her feel better and Dorio keeping an eye on her in case of any new sudden attack by her part
"We might’ve stopped Becca from zeroing you, but let me make this clear" Maine said to Kiwi, looking dead serious, "If what she said was true and you really betrayed them at some point, I’ll keep my eye close on you, got it?"
"Crystal. And you’re right, you shouldn’t trust me after what I did" Kiwi agreed, sounding somewhat pained despite her neutral tone and it wasn’t just because of Becca’s tackle, "You should never trust a soul in this city, is what I always said"
Maine huffed a grumble out, and went to sit down to his spot on the old couch with Kiwi sitting on the farthest end of it and taking out a cig. With her here, that meant their merry band of assholes was almost complete
Excluding David (unfortunately), the only one left from the crew that still hasn’t shown up was…
"Lucy…" Kiwi voiced out, and they all turned to see the younger netrunner at the garage’s door. And oh boy, did she looked like shit. Lucy didn’t had the usual apathetic look she normally had at this point in time, before meeting Dimples
Instead, she looked like she had just returned from a war field. Her eyes were wide, yet empty and tired. Despite her eyes being clear, Becca could see huge dark bangs under them. And overall, despite outwardly looking fine Lucy looked the most exhausted she had ever seen her in her life
Rebecca could only imagine what the netrunner had to go through, after losing David like that
"Y-You…" Lucy stuttered out once she saw Kiwi, and if Becca was enraged once she saw the older netrunner, she looked downright furious, "YOU LYING MOTHERFUCKING BITCH!!"
She grabbed her former mentor by the jacket’s neck and started to wrangle her around in her fury despite looking like crap, showing her wrath-induced strength. "You asshole, I trusted you!" She cried, with tears running down her tired eyes
"I don’t know why, but I did! I saw you as my older sister, fuck never mind that! The mother I never got to had!" Lucy sniffed, but her blurry vision wouldn’t stop her rampage, “And yet, you betrayed me! You betrayed David! You betrayed us all!!"
"You knew I would be the perfect bait for him, because the gonk would move mountains on my name if it meant I was safe! You tricked him into using that fucking piece of 'Saka cyberware, knowing that he was already suffering horribly under cyberpsychosis!!” At some point Lucy finally stopped wrangling Kiwi, but her grip was still firm on her jacket
"I know you taught me that I should never trust fucking anyone in this goddamn shithole of a city, but if that’s true then why be part of the damn problem?!! Why would you sell us out after everything we had done together?!! Just why…" She finally let her senior go, and flopped into the ground crying
Becca hopped off her own crying spot and went to console the other girl, who she had never harbored a grudge despite loving the same man. Lucy looked at her surprised for a moment, probably sinking in the fact that she was here again in one piece after being stomped by that borged-out elephant
But nevertheless hugged the shorter woman close, wanting to take comfort in probably the only other gal that understood how she felt
"Um, sorry to interrupt the moment but…" Maine butted in, coughing awkwardly to interrupt the emotional scene, "I just want to remind you why I started this meeting. Not only was it to inform about me chroming down and investigate if you guys remembered what the shit happened, but also for a special announcement"
"Truth be told, a new member is joining us" The crew all looked at each other weirded out, because the only other member they had before was…
"I think you all may know him already. He was a damn good kid that had to sniff out too early…" Maine described with a sad look behind his sunglasses, and the crew looked at each other with uncertainty. "Seriously, Maine? Dont'cha think is a little quick for that?" Pilar questioned, looking uncharacteristically serious
"Yeah, he could still be suffering from the psychosis. And even if he isn’t, I don’t think he’ll be in any position to take any gigs after his fight with Smasher" Kiwi said matter-of-factly and ignored the glares sent by Lucy and the short-stack
"Not exactly, I received a message from Gloria earlier. She’s alive" All except for Dorio and Lucy were surprised by those news to hear that the honorary member of their crew that was first to flatline was back, before they remembered the whole time travel clusterfuck
"Not only that, but she seemed to have a completely 180. Says that she dropped Davey outta that corpo nursery and is now considering him joining our crew" If they weren’t shocked before, they sure as fuck were now
"Um, I know this possibility may seem batshit crazy but…” Becca raised her hand, and like the closeted nerd that she was, explained her theory, "I think Glo might’ve gone through the same crap as us and returned to the past after getting zeroed. Maybe that’s why she acted so differently?"
"That’s a good possibility. Certainly better that whatever this big gonk theorized" Dorio commented, and Maine huffed while the others snickered as the big man’s speciality has never been conspiracy theories, effectively lifting some of the tension that was hanging above the crew’s heads
"That’s nova! That means we get to see our dimpley choom again!" Becca cheered but Lucy still looked down. "That’s right but, I have to tell you something…" She said with a downtrodden tone, interrupting the happy atmosphere
"David may be here, and he’s back being mostly 'ganic with his mom but…" That same look of pain from before worsened on her already downcast face, "He…doesn’t remember what happened. At all"
Chapter Text
This had to be one of David’s best days on his life
First off, he didn’t had to return to that goddamn school that teaches corpo brats how to be like their asshole parents any longer! Secondly, he gets to spend the whole day with his mom! Just the two of them, like before
When David was little and didn’t had to worry about Night City’s shitty lifestyle, Gloria would usually make time for both of them to have a walk around the city whenever she got a big payday. Either to go eat at some restaurant, go to a store to buy a new BD he begged her for, or simply have a nice walk
It had to be one of the best memories from his childhood
But then David grew up, and he learned about the true gravity of their shithole situation when he got (very begrudgingly) accepted into Ara-sshole Academy. How he immediately stood out due to his clothes being stitched-up spares instead of the fancy-ass tailored suits everyone else used
After that, ‘Saka 'Cademy kept milking them for money and Gloria barely had time for him becoming so focused into keeping him on that goddamn school. Insisting that he needed to have better than the shitty lifestyle that they had
But David didn’t want the corpo lifestyle! He didn’t want to be someone that takes advantage of people like if they were expendable pieces of meat! People like his Mamá, who always sacrificed everything for her scumbag of a son
But despite all the bullying, harassment and shit-talk from all those corpobrats and the unfairness of Asshole Academy’s system, David kept going and he kept getting perfect marks. He had to, for his Mamá. It wasn’t difficult, anyways
For all that shitty talk about that school being the best in this fucking city that helps 'nurture promising youths into a shining future' or whatever damn corpo-ganda shit that those bastards spew, it was really not all that hard. Just a bunch of memorization and shit like that
David guessed that’s why all his bratty fucks for classmates always picked on him was because a street gutter trash was smarter than them despite them rolling around in fancy cyberware that allowed for instant memorization or some shit like that
And while it weirded him out a little that Gloria suddenly shifted her views when she was always so insistent of staying in the academy and getting that corpo lifestyle, he dismissed his concerns because he was just so fucking happy to be with his Mamá again like this
"—And that’s when I said the answer perfectly while he stood there stuttering like a clueless gonk! It was so goddamn hilarious" David recalled his experience at school and Gloria giggled a little. God, did he missed the sound of her laughter
"That’s great Dee, but what have we talked about language?” She scolded him lightly and he rubbed his nape sheepishly. "S-Sorry, but look who’s talking! Don’t act like you also don’t curse shit once in a while, Mom" He playfully accused her back and she giggled
"Okay, you got me there mijo. Guilty as charged" She joked and they both laughed. Forgetting all about their shitty problems and assholes that repeatedly fucked around with them. For now, it was just the two of them
And David wouldn’t had it any other way
"By the way Mom, I’ve been wanting to ask you…” He said as they both walked near the NCART station, "Now that I’m not going back to the academy, what I’m gonna do?". "And don’t try to give me that shit 'bout you taking care of everythin', 'cause you know just as well as me that you don’t!"
"And I want to help you out, Mamá" David said with a comforting smile, grabbing his mother’s hand reassuringly, "You have busted your ass enough for my sake, so I want to give back the favor anyway I can"
"…Aww, sometimes I wonder if I had given birth to a little sunshine" Gloria cooed after a minute or so, in which she looked at him with a weird expression that he had never seen her do before. Like she had witnessed a dead person come back to life in the form of an angel or something
"C-Could you please not call me that? I’m not freakin' five anymore” David blushed at his mom’s old pet name for him. "Aww, but why not? You know it’s true mijo, you’re my little sunshine~" She kept teasing him and his cheeks got even more pinker with embarrassment
Still, he was happy to see Gloria so carefree like that. It had truly been that fucking long, huh…
"But getting back to your point, I think I have an idea" She told him, "At first I wasn’t that sure about this, but something told me that it’s what’s meant for you. David, mijo, how would you like being an—"
"David!" Whatever his mom was gonna say got interrupted when an unknown voice called out to him, and someone bumped him into a hug. Not just a hug either, they started to cry their hearts out on his shirt too
Like if he was their husband who just got back from a war safe and sound
"H-Hey! What gives?!" David cried out, separating his unexpected hugger as gently as he could. He didn’t want to be an asshole, even to this sudden show of affection. When he did, he noticed that his hugger was a woman
A very tired, but undeniably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen
David had only seen her once or twice whenever he was near the NCART station, thinking she was cute especially with that pastel rainbow hair that seemed to dance on his mind. But whenever he catches glimpses of her, she always looked aloof and distant
Now however, she looked the most tired he has ever seen her been. Even more so than his mom in particularly bad days. And the way she hugged him like he was her last lifeline was weird if they were supposed to be nothing but strangers
Still, seeing her in such distress fucking hurt for some reason
"Who are you?"
"I’m going to take you to the moon! Fly you there myself! That’s a promise!"
"Aren’t you going to say… you believe in me too?”
"You and me again? Turn back the clock?"
"It’s the only way I can protect you from this damn city…"
"Just too many I couldn’t save before…"
"…Couldn’t let that happen. Not to you, too…"
"I ain’t worth it, Lucy. Besides you I have nothing left…"
"But you still have a dream to stick around for! Need you to see it true…!"
"That’s my dream! Honestly, nothing else ever truly mattered!"
"Sorry Lucy, wish we could go to the moon together…"
"Check it out! I can feel the sun!"
Every important conversation Lucy had ever had with David came back to her like a BD montage, all having played out after he said those fucking three words
This had to be another of life’s cruel jokes, and one would expect her to be used to it with how many times life came to bite her in the ass
But Lucy wasn’t over it, at least not when it came to David. That innocent boy that was like a goddamn fairy so bright and full of life that she had corrupted into sacrificing himself for her
And those three words, those three goddamn words kept ringing on her ears like cruel static
"Who are you?" He said, like if he hadn’t given everything for her
"Who are you?" He said, like if he hadn’t promised to complete her impossible dream for her at the span of his life
"Who are you?" He said, like if the one year that she had ever felt truly alive alongside him had never existed
Whoareyouwhoareyouwhoareyouwhoareyouwhoareyou
Honestly, Lucy should’ve seen this coming
Of fucking course something like this would happen. Having David come back to life, laughing and smiling so carefree like before, free from the unforgiving metal that was plaguing his mind, with his mother by his side like before
But with zero idea of who Lucy was. A simple stranger that had the sudden impulse of hugging him without warning
A fitting torture for her, after everything she made him go through…
Breathe, just breathe…
"Lucy?" Gloria said besides them, and she was too caught up in her own grief to remember that she was there in the first place
"U-Um, hey Gloria…" Lucy greeted her awkwardly, trying to not give away her shaky voice and the turmoil raging inside her.
She had never been particularly close to the woman, asides from that one time when she gave her some synth-noodles because, in her words, she needed more meat on her bones
And also the times when she sticked around to have a drink or two and she bragged them about her precious baby boy whenever she got tipsy enough and how proud she was of him
Honestly, Lucy admitted that she kinda felt attracted to David all the way back from those conversations, mostly because he found him cute
They really connected almost instantly, didn’t they?
"What are you doing here?" Gloria interrogated her, and Lucy couldn’t help but think of the irony of the situation as she could ask the same thing about the supposedly flatlined woman
"J-Just…taking a stroll" She responded, because she technically wasn’t lying. She just didn’t expected to see the revived love of her life and his resurrected mother again
"Uh-huh, and this 'stroll' of yours consists on hugging my son outta nowhere?" Gloria said lifting an eyebrow and both of them blushed
"Um Mamá, you know her?" David asked trying to change the subject and Gloria gave her another look before nodding with a sigh
"Yeah, her name’s Lucy. She’s part of a edgerunning crew, also known as cyberpunks" She explained and his eyes widen in star-struck amazement
Like that time when Lucy introduced him to her moon BD, and he was jumping so happily throughout the rocky surface like a kid on a trampoline
"An edgerunner?! That’s amazing!" David complimented, looking at Lucy with stars on his infinitely expressive chocolate pools that made her feel all gooey and happy inside
Oh David, she didn’t really deserved all that praise you were gifting her with
"But wait Mom, how do you know she’s an edgerunner? Or part of a crew?” He asked his mother and she looked at him, then at her and back at her son with a strange look
Almost like Gloria was contemplating all of her life’s decisions in that very moment
"I’ll be honest mijo, I haven’t been completely honest with you" She confessed with a heavy voice, "I’ve…been lying on how I managed to afford your tuition fees"
"I’ve been seeing this guy named Maine, we go way back since before you were even born" She told her son, "He’s the leader of her crew of Edgerunners"
Maine, it was weird hearing from him again after what happened. After his dead that was indirectly caused by her to be the final trigger for David’s descent into madness
"I’ve…been sealing scavved pieces of cyberware to him and his crew to make more eddies. Enough to help you keep attending the academy" Gloria confessed and her son looked a mixture between shocked, sympathetic and slightly angry
"I didn’t enjoyed doing any of this behind your back, especially after all the times I had told you to try to have an honest living" She sighed at her own hypocrisy, "But I really saw no other option. Living as an EMT wasn’t enough not even to pay rent on time, and I was really stubborn on you getting to that top of that tower. I’m so sorry, Dee"
"…You don’t have to apologize for a single thing, Mamá" David, bless his beautiful forgiving heart that Night City hadn’t trampled on yet (and that Lucy live never allow it to do so again), said as he hugged his mother warmly
"Rather, it should be me to be the one apologizing" He said, burying himself deeper onto his mother’s self, "I made you do the same fucking thing as those damn Scavs, to continue helping me reach your dream"
"A dream I now realize it wasn’t worth it" Gloria said, and that weirded out Lucy. From her few interactions with the woman and from what David told her, she was hellbent on her son climbing the corpo ladder and getting at the top of ‘Saka tower
What was with this weird twist of fate? And by the looks of it, David also seemed surprised by this sudden shift on his mother
"Well Lucy, I wanted to thank ya. You and your crew both" He told her, and she wasn’t able to fight the urge to blush at his honeyed words
Lucy had always been weak to them
"If it weren’t for you guys, Mamá and I would be breaking our backs on the filth. You saved us from a massive clusterfuck" David gifted her another of his bright smiles that were like moonlight for her and she felt like she had ascended to the moon and back right there by just his beautiful smile
"D-Don’t think anything 'bout it" Lucy attempted to respond neutrally, trying to kept her past act up since Gloria was still her and this is how she remembered her by
Despite her whole being wanting to embrace David and never let him go
"But I want to thank you! And if it’s possible…" The blush on his sun-kissed cheeks was so cute combined with his sheepish face
How long has it been since Lucy has seen it so flustered? Definitely once he started chroming up, with the metal making him unable to bring any blood on his face
“I want to get to know you better…" He murmured, and despite her trying to keep her composure outwardly, her whole body exploded with happiness and love
Just like David’s previous words were enough to spiral Lucy into the deepest of despairs, his flustered reassurance send her flying out from orbit with joy
"Yes! I-I mean…" She coughed awkwardly, trying to act casual, "Of course. I’d love to"
David’s cute smile enlarged with the same joy she felt until his dimples were full on display, and once again she had to suppress her to kiss him and never let him go again
But breaking the slightly awkward but nice reunion, was the call of the last person Lucy thought of hearing about again
'Maine?' She thought and answered the call, as Maine had never called her. At least, not until a day later when Gloria supposedly 'ghosted' him and his precious Sandevistan disappeared without notice
Even the call was different this time, summoning them all to an impromptu meeting that didn’t happened last time
"David I’m sorry, but Maine’s calling" Lucy said with a regretful tone. "Oh, I see…" David said, looking like a sad puppy
"Well, um, talk to ya later I guess?" He asked and she nodded lightly. "Nova…" He said without much enthusiasm, but his eyes reflected the slightest hope of seeing her again
But before Lucy went to aboard her NCART, her body moved on its own and leaned in to give David a small kiss on his cheek
"Well, seeya later" Lucy said with a flirty tone, delighting on his dark red as she went to aboard her ride, her head held a little higher
David may not remember anything, but the fact that his love for her was burning strong as ever was reassuring at least
Chapter Text
“…And that’s everything that happened" Lucy finished her tale of her previous experience and was met with various reactions from the members of the crew, most of them were shock
Not that Lucy blamed any of them, she wasn’t expecting this either
"No way…" Rebecca breathed after the info sink in, "Dimples doesn’t remember dogshit about what happened?!! You’re not shitting with us, are you deckhead?!"
"Wish I was, but it’s true" Lucy sighed tiredly, a reaction that has become a common habit for her, "To David, we’ll be nothing but strangers once he gets here. In a way, it’s both a blessing and a curse…"
"Yeah, no shit. I can’t tear him a new one for being such a gonk if he doesn’t remember what the hell happened" Becca mumbled and Pilar patted her head in sympathy before she swatted his hand away annoyed
"…Luce I know I suck ass at feelings, but I’m sorry" Kiwi said after a while of consideration, "Everything that David did, he did it for you. All to send you to that rock. Having him remember absolutely nothing must’ve been a low blow"
"…Thanks" Lucy said finally with dryness
"So, what do we do know? No way in fucking hell do we tell the kid what happened, he’ll never believe us" Dorio, ever the diligent strategist, asked looking at her partner that looked unreadable after such news
"Honestly, as much as I wanted to apologize to the kid for saying that shit and ending up like me, we should use this opportunity" Maine decided, "Outta all of us assholes, David was dumped with the most crap. I say we prevent shit from happening again"
“Wait, you ain’t gonna prevent David from rejoining the crew?! Because if you are Maine, then I swear!” Rebecca threatened but a wave from Maine’s chromed hand interrupted her
“Hell naw, I couldn’t stop the kid even if I wanted to. Edgerunnin’ is practically on his veins despite all the shit that it brought him" Their leader reassured the firecracker, “Rather, I’m talking 'bout making sure we don’t make the same fuckups that lead David to that end"
“Way an ahead of you, big man. I’m never gonna get zeroed by some bare-dicked hobo ever again! Nope! Never again!” Pilar declared and Becca rolled her eyes
"Well, knowing you, I wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up flatlining in an even lamer way!" She huffed with annoyance and the two started to bicker once more
"Also, it would be best if we keep ‘Saka far away from David if they wanted him to be their little pet project" Dorio added ignoring the sibling banter that everyone was used to already
"When I *sigh* zeroed Tanaka and found David’s files, I saw that the reason why they got interested on him was because their cameras in their preschool caught him using the Sandy against a classmate of his” Lucy shared but also relived a painful memory
"Yeah, fuckers were probably interested on how a scrawny 17 year old managed to handle the Sandevistan that good when not even someone like Norris did” Maine concluded, "Fuck, shit like that makes me happy that I didn’t installed the goddamn thing"
"Yeah, plus I don’t think it would’ve suited you. I like you more the way you’re now" Dorio said cheekily, kissing her input on his new RealSkin cheek with no more chrome attached
Something that Lucy noticed however was that neither of them mentioned what happened afterwards
"You’re not mad?” She asked them breaking them from their happy space, “I mean, me flatlining Tanaka was the trigger for your deaths. I thought you’ve be furious about it"
“Lucy, you’ve panicked. It’s a normal thing to do, even to people like us" Dorio reassured her, “Seeing your input’s face on ‘Saka’s radar would’ve obviously make you freak out. Neither of us is blaming you"
"Dorio’s right Luce, water under the bridge" Maine added, "No need to dwell on what happened when we can work to make sure it doesn’t happen again"
Lucy still didn’t felt quite sure, but she thanked them both either way. After all, they’re right. They could work to make sure everything doesn’t go to shit again
"Since Gloria’s alive and Lucy saw them both live and well on the streets earlier, David hasn’t installed the Sandy yet. Meaning he’s save from 'Saka’s radar for now" Kiwi concluded and Lucy resisted trying to laugh at the irony
As if Arasaka didn’t had eyes everywhere in this fucking city, but she would’ve let them have David without going through her first
"Good, we should probably get prepared to meet our guests then" Maine planned and Becca who had finished her arguing with her brother blew a raspberry
"Gonna be difficult seeing Dimples again after what happened, but I’ll try” She murmured and with that everyone went to do their own thing in the garage just like old times
Lucy was about to go outside and relearn how to smoke when a familiar chromed-hand touched her shoulder. And she gave an involuntary shiver, as she turned around to see David in his chrome junkie self with a goofy little grin
“Boo! Did I surprised you?" He asked playfully and she blinked in surprise. And when she did, the image of David was replaced by a concerned Maine
"You okay Lucy? You looked like you had just seen your grandma’s ghost or something?" The big man asked and she rubbed her tired eyes, mumbling an 'I'm fine'
Dammit, why did she still had those fucking visions?! David was fine, he was living and breathing like a regular boy again! She had an opportunity to make it all better! Why did the images still have to haunt her?!
"Alright, I ain’t gonna take much of your time but I want to ask you something" Lucy could tell her leader wasn’t all that convinced with her lame-ass excuse but thankfully did not preyed further, instead opting to ask away his question
"After I blow up everything in that piss-stained parking lot, I saw David running away from the debris" He said, "Kid and I had a little promise over how when I flatlined he could get my arms, give him time to bulk up beforehand”
“Didn’t thought that day would come so fucking fast…" Maine mumbled to himself but it was loud enough for Lucy to hear it, “Anyways, I wanted to ask if David…"
"He did, managed to get out there with both of your arms" She assured him with sadness as she remembered the look of total hopelessness on David’s usually cheerful face when he got back from that fucking explosion carrying those arms like a lifeline, "He clung to them like a toddler does to their teddy bear"
"He insisted of getting them immediately installed, although Doc said he still didn’t had the frame for them" When did the tears started to flow, Lucy wondered "But David didn’t cared. He then insisted that he chromed him up with synth-muscles so that he could have that frame immediately”
"Motherfucker…" Maine gasped silently, “Even I had to properly acquire muscle before I could chip the damn things. And David just went…"
"Well, he was 'built different'…" Lucy hissed, remembering those hurtful words that her lover always used to excuse his erratic chipping
“Still, David installed them and was fucking good with them. Zeroed gonks into paste like they were nothing" She continued her tale, "It would jam up from time to time to the point Doc and many others told him to just trash and replace them with a better model, but he always insisted on keeping them"
"It was his way of honoring you. He felt like that way, you’ll always be by his side protecting him during battles and whatnot" She sighed and Maine looked bittersweet about that info
"Well shit, I don’t know if I should be honored ‘bout that or not" He murmured, rubbing his nape with what looked like a mixture of embarrassment and disappointment over what he did and the decision that David ultimately made
"Yup, Dimples fucking admired you bossman" Becca’s snarky voice butted in, and they both turned to see the short firecracker sipping on a Broseph and worming herself on the conversation
"Got himself all nice and swole, to the point I’m considering that he was trying to recreate your gonk meathead physique" She shared, "Not only that, but he even started to dress up like you. Stopped wearing shirts and even started to use an extra belt like you often do for some fucking reason"
"Yeah, my fashion sense was never the best” Maine sighed trying to lift the mood up if just a little
"He climbed through the ranks and got himself a solid rep. 'The Sandevistan from Santo' was how people called him” Lucy continued the tale, "…He did all that because he thought he was fulfilling your dream for him"
"Fuck me, that’s not what I…” The big man stuttered in shock, "When I said that he should keep runnin', I didn’t mean that he went through the same fucking path that I did! I never wanted him to…"
"Well, that’s your own fucking fault for not being more specific asshole!" Becca scolded, taking the last sips from her beer and throwing it at a random direction not carrying that it got broken somewhere on the garage
"Yeah, I should’ve…" He sighed defeatedly, “Never again, though. We’re gonna do shit right this time around"
Both of them nodded, happy with that plan
"Wow Maine, did you chromed yourself down?" Gloria said with amusement once she and David reached Aldo’s and Maine came to greet them at the front door
“Yup, Dorio finally cracked my thick skull" He chuckled awkwardly, feeling elated to see his best choom again even if he knew that things would get shitty later on
"Well about time, one more piece and you would’ve flipped like an overburnt tortilla" She joked, and oh how he missed the sound of her sassing him
"You’re Mr. Maine?" David said, and fuck just hearing his voice felt like if a cyberhammer slamming through his heart
Especially when the kid was giving him that bright-eyed look like the overexcited puppy that he was, the same look he used to give him before he lost sight of himself. Before he ultimately ruined David’s life
"I wanted to thank you for helping my mom out, even if it was to pay tuition for that gonk corp school" And then he smiled that big bright smile, and the memories came crashing down for Maine like a pile of synth-bricks
"Just give me a chance!"
"Got my heart set on something else"
"Okay fine, hold you to it then"
"You’re gonna be alright, right?"
"You’re not gonna end up like—"
"Maine, I c-came to back you up…"
“It’s okay. I’ll fight with you!"
“I’ve made up my mind. I got your back!”
"I’m getting you out of this Maine!"
“I’m gonna save you. We’re gonna get outta this Maine"
"You and me…a-and then…"
"I don’t…why would you…"
‘Don’t give me that look, David' Maine thought, seeing that face filled with hope and admiration twisting into one of dispare and fear, 'I don’t deserve it…'
"Don’t mention it, kid. You’re mom is a great woman, wanted to give her all the help that she can get" Was what he said instead, trying to force the jovial tone he usually addressed David with once upon a time
“So, heard from your mom that you want to be an edgerunner? Think you got what it takes?” He winked teasingly and he nodded excitedly
“Yessir! I promise that I won’t let you any of you guys down! I’ll make you to pay off what my mom owes you” He promised, just like he promised to make it to the big leagues for Maine. And look where that brought him
"Well, I’ll be the judge of that" He chuckled softly, "But don’t make that kind of promises so lightly, kid. And you and your mom don’t owe us nothing"
“Say, why don’t you have a look around? Getting familiar with our base of operations may serve you in the future" Maine offered, "Becca here will show you around"
“Sup chooms? Meathead, Glo, kid” Rebecca said, appeared from behind Maine and he didn’t need special opts to know that she was trying her damn hardest to not hug David, or kick him for being stupid, or both
Honestly, one could never know with her
"I’m Rebecca, gun-expert extraordinaire by day and badass bitch by night! Let’s see if you can keep up with a Solo of my level!” Becca boasted putting her hands on her hips, and anyone else would’ve taken her for a little girl that was trying to act tough
"I see, nice to meet you then Rebecca. I hope I have what it takes to not drag you and the others down" David said, his tone not mocking or playing along but rather with the respect one has for his superiors
Becca’s face turned a cherry red and Maine hide his smirk. Even in their previous life, the kid had nothing but respect and admiration for her just like everyone of them. He never once confused her for a little girl like most others did
Prolly why she was so infatuated with the kid later on
“Hmph, ya better not kid. And call me Becca, using my full name makes me feel old” She said with a playful glint, “Tell ya what, if you survive I could show you a few tricks. 'Cause no offense Glo, but your shooting skills suck dick”
"None taken, Becca. But please just show him regular tricks with the Iron and not the ones you use during closed doors" Gloria rolled her eyes playfully while David looked at her with confusion, "He’s still a teen, okay?"
Maine and Becca shared a secret smirk, knowing full well that her son didn’t gave two shits about age when he rocked Lucy’s world
"You got my word, Glo~" Obvious lie, "Now c’mon newbie, try to keep up pace K?”
And with that Rebecca took off with David behind her and Gloria was going to follow them but he put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her tracks and getting her attention
"Hey Glo, can we talk?" Maine asked her once he made sure those two disappeared from view, getting business mode
"Funny, I was about ask you the same thing" Gloria said with equal seriousness, "Your sudden chroming down, and the strange behavior two of your girls have been having for David definitely aren’t just coincidence"
"Something’s up, ain’t it?" Fuck him, Gloria had always been crazy perceptive. And when she gave birth to David, it seems like she got that sixth sense all moms seemed to have
"Yeah, let’s go inside. We have a lot to talk about"
Chapter Text
"You’re shitting me…"
Gloria whispered, she was never one to curse out loud like many other people in Night City. But after she heard such a tale from a regretful Maine and a sympathetic Dorio, she couldn’t bring herself to correct her swearing
"My David, my sweet baby, h-he…" She wasn’t even able to properly finish her own sentence, ragged breathes and big fat tears running down her cheeks interrupting every attempt to talk properly
"I’m sorry Glo, you know I hate being the bringer of bad news" Maine apologized with regret, "But it’s true, David became an edgerunner after your death. And from what Lucy told me, he proceeded to fall down in cyberpsychosis and died by Smasher’s hand…"
Gloria’s only response was sniffing harder, covering her weeping face with her hands in shame. Goddammit, why didn’t she break harder that day like Dee had told her?! Why didn’t she picked an alternative route?! Why did she brought so much pain to her boy?!
Her sweet baby, who was suffered so much to bring her happiness and complete her dream for her even after her death. Even if it came at the expense of his sanity and life. And he succeeded, because that’s how much of a lovable sweetheart was her dear boy
Any other time Gloria would’ve been elated about this news, but now it just brought her to tears and not of the happy kind. Was she truly pressuring Dee that much? Did he truly felt like he had to achieve her impossible dream for her?
She remembered all of her mijo’s life up until that point, treasured and locked into her being like one of Arasaka’s most secured and secretive shards
"Mamá look, I made a drawing of you and me!" A little toddler David cheered, showing her his drawing on the back of a scrapped piece of litter like if it was the most important piece of art in the world
"Don’t cry Mamá, I’ll make sure to give you a lot of love to fill in for Papá!" A slighter older Dee promised her after her husband died in a gang shootout, with an innocence that NC hasn’t miraculously snuffed out yet
"You shouldn’t push your like that, Mamá! Here I already made dinner, so sit back and relax okay?" David would say every time she came back home exhausted after a long grueling day at work
"Happy birthday Mamá! I brought you your favorites!" David cheered holding her favorite organic flowers, which he got through selling and watching those horrible violence BDs
"Arasaka Academy? I really don’t wanna go there…but if it makes you happy Mamá then I will!" A preteen David said with reluctance but his molten brown eyes still reflecting a desire to help her in order to make her happy
It truly started since the very beginning, huh. Now the only thing Gloria could imagine the very same boy which she helped tie his very first pair of shoes being ripped to shreds and later killed to the monstrosity that was Adam Smasher
"I know how you may feel Gloria, as I did the same with Sasha. She was…fuck!, she was like the daughter to us" Maine admitted heavily with his lover putting her massive hand on his shoulder for support, sadness also evident on her face at the name of their previous netrunner
Gloria only meet Sasha once or twice, but she really connected with her. She couldn’t believe that underneath such a playful smile was a tragic story of loss, after losing her mother at such a young age
But the death of her mom was only second to the rapid mental degradation she had to suffer first. Little Sasha had to witness how her mother started to lose her grip on reality until she eventually no better than a walking corpse until she finally gave out
Gloria didn’t had a particular dislike for any megacorp out there like so many other peeps on NC, but dammit! Would she be lying if she said that Biotech didn’t cracked her chrome from time to time
Selling shoddy products that they knew had negative secondary side effects, but didn’t do jackshit about it because it was bringing them more dough. It went against everything they yapped about selling 'bio-friendly products' to the public
And Gloria that had set her life to medicine, even if it being an EMT wasn’t the most lucrative career, couldn’t stand cutting-corner scumbags like those who valued profit over the health of their clients
"I’m sorry I didn’t do something back then, Maine. If only I would’ve—" She started but he interrupted her by shaking his head and lifting his hand up
"Nah, don’t push yourself like that Glo'. You did all that you could, and it’s in the past already. Well, past-er past" He said, although the topic seemed to still affect him
Gloria didn’t knew all the details as she knew it was a delicate topic for the big man and she didn’t want to hurt her friend anymore, but apparently Sasha died while trying to reveal the secret of those fucking neurodegrading pills
She jumped off from at least 15 floors high and collapsed horribly, on top of Maine’s car no less. She even died with a soft smile on her face like if everything in the world was alright now, as she believed she had brought justice for her mother and all those that suffered because of those godforsaken pills
The worst thing was that there’s a reason why no one was able to get back at the megacorps, as they always have a dirty ace up their sleeve for situations like this. The truth that Sasha attempted to spill got blocked before it could even reach Network 54
In other words, the poor girl had died for nothing
And that was the catalyst for her best friend to push himself to his breaking points, believing he had failed to save the closest thing to a daughter. Leading him to actually go psycho and die for what he told her
And then leaving her poor mijo through the same path
Gloria could just image David dying with the same soft smile as Sasha, even as Smasher was ready to pull the trigger. He must’ve believed that he achieved everyone’s dreams for him and that he would die a honorable death, still as himself and not as an inhumane monster
That’s how much of a caring boy Dee has always been, her precious little sunbeam so bright in this fucking city
But judging by the reaction that Lucy had before when she unexpectedly hugged him out from nowhere, and by the looks of it was the last one of them to flatline, it seems that he wasn’t aware that his decision brought her more pain than good
"Gloria, we just wanted to tell you that you got every right to be angry at us" Dorio said, never the type to get emotional but saying just enough to make her point "We know how much you wanted David to stay as far away from this life"
"No, it’s fine. It was my mijo’s decision in the end" Gloria murmured, wiping away the last of her tears "I may not be entirely proud of what he did, but I could tell that you guys cared a lot about him and that he did as well. As long as he’s happy, then I’ll be happy for him as well"
The edgerunner couple gave her appreciative smiles which she returned in a smaller scale
"That being said though, you better fucking make sure he doesn’t chrome himself to his tits end and end up fighting Adam fucking Smasher" She said in the same tone she used whenever she caught David doing some mischief and they both flinched
Gloria smirked, as it was pretty entertaining to see these two huge and battle-hardened edgerunners that fought the worst this cuchitril of a city had to offer and still flinch at the infamous glare that all mothers possessed
"Yeah we got that already Glo', we actually planning on making sure we don’t end up fucking up the kid like before" Maine reassured her with a bashful tone under her gaze "I’m guessin' you got some sort of mother’s intuition or whatever and that’s why you didn’t sold the Sandy to me 'cause you somehow know the special relationship David has with it, right?"
"Something like that. Dee has always had a passion for running" She recalled "One of the reasons he disliked Arasaka Academy so much was because they didn’t had a track team"
"Really? I thought it was because a miniature version of that shitstain tower?" Dorio inquired, rising an eyebrow
"Yeah, because of that too" Gloria chuckled, playfully rolling her eyes at her choom’s joke but then returned to her serious self "One thing is crucial, though. You gotta cut ties with that bitch Faraday"
She has never really properly meet the fixer, but she had heard of him once or twice from her friends and none of it was good. Maybe it was just the way he always found something wrong on her chooms work even though they did everything that he told them, or maybe it was simply because those extra three eyes bothered her
Seriously, who needs four eyes anyways? Wasn’t two more than enough?
"Yeah, we’re planning on finally giving that cunt what for soon enough" Maine promised her and smile just a little to alleviate the tension in the room "Better do it quickly before he meets the end of that goddamn sandal of yours"
"I swear Glo', that sandal must be a L-69 in disguise. I bet it can take down even Smasher himself" Dorio chuckled and she giggled along
"Yup, no one’s safe from La Chancla no matter who they may be" Gloria chuckled "I bet that Faraday wouldn’t be able to see it coming even with those gonk four eyes of his"
"Fuckin' got that right" Maine chuckled "But getting back to biz, it would be best to find a different ripper for David to implant the Sandy on him"
"Yeah, because I for one would like that creep Borg far away from my baby" She mumbled angrily, and just mentioning that fucker’s name was enough to send shivers up her spine
Gloria had no fucking idea how her mijo even befriended such a man, let alone see him as someone reliable. Every time she saw him, she always had to resist not to puke by the blood and who knows what other kind of different shit that laid around on his 'operation room'
Let alone see him fucking jacking off to his BD porno on the same table in which he operates his clients. She didn’t knew what he did to David when implanting the Sandevistan on him, but it couldn’t be anything good
"We know of another guy in Watson, and he’s the best on his field. I’m pretty sure he’ll make the proper surgery without ripping off David’s spine while he’s still conscious" Dorio suggested but Gloria only heard that one last part
"He ripped off my baby’s spine?!!! Without anesthesia no less?!!!" She shrieked, as this was worst than whatever she could’ve imagine
Oh, Gloria could just image the sheer unadulterated agony her mijo must’ve been in that so-called surgery
"Well, looks like we’ll have to file to the pigs that there’s been a flatlining by use of a sandal…" Maine murmured when he saw his best choom seething with rage
"Anyways, I know of the guy you are talking about. He’s Viktor Vektor, right?" Gloria asked and both nodded
"Yeah, best ripper in this damn city and a living saint. I’m assuming you guys already met?" Maine asked
"Yes, we used to work together for a short while. Even offered me to be his official assistant" She explained and left both cyberpunks surprised
As for the Ripper God to offer you to become his assistant, then your skills must be a hella preem for him to recognize then
"So, why did you turned down his offer? It would’ve been a better job than working as some shitty EMT" Maine asked in confusion, as opportunities like this were rare in Night City and Gloria had just trash it
"I’ll be honest, I was actually considering taking up his offer. But then Dee’s dad got zeroed, and I felt like if I accepted his job I wouldn’t be there enough for him" She explained, remembering her son’s cute little face asking when his dad would come home
"And Vik being the goddamn saint that he was let you go just like that" Dorio summarized on her own and she nodded with confirmation
"Yeah, so I hope that he’ll help chip Dee up for old time’s sake" And with that their little conversation was over, but Gloria was pulled in by someone else
“Hey Glo'…" It was strange hearing the usually aloof and silent Kiwi talking in such a small voice, head hanging low and cigarette on her vent-respirator like always to calm her nerves
"Hey Kiwi…" She responded back, because she didn’t exactly knew how to address the older netrunner after the tale the edgerunner couple had just told her
They were never particularly close since Kiwi always seemed to keep everyone at a distance, but they did interacted once or twice. And so far, the older netrunner was somewhat friendly or at least cordial with her
And Gloria guessed she had a heart underneath all those trust issues if she was willing to take in a younger Lucy under her wing
So hearing her betrayal over her own crew by that four-eyed asshole was certainly…enlightening to say the least
"So, Maine and Dorio told you everything didn’t they" Kiwi said, clutching her cig in a nervous hold and still avoiding her gaze
"Yeah, amongst other things" Gloria responded sincerely "And about your whole betrayal decision, lemme just tell you that I don’t blame you"
"Don’t get me wrong, I’m still fucking pissed at you and maybe I’ll cool off after hitting you with my chancla for a while" She confirmed and she saw the netrunner momentarily flinch at her threat as she had heard enough horror stories about her legendary sandal skills
"But I understand that my mijo wasn’t in the best place at the time and that if he finally snapped, then that’ll be the end of your crew" Gloria confirmed, giving Kiwi a slight pat on the shoulder
"And by the looks of it, you actually seem to regret your decision. So we’ll see how things carry out from now on, okay?" She confirmed with a slight reassuring smile, and even without a mouth of her own she could tell that the netrunner was smiling back
"Besides, I have the feeling that I’m not the one that you need really need to apologize to" Gloria said and Kiwi’s mood considerably faltered
"You’re right on that one, Glo'. As fucking always" The netrunner sighed and her eyes squinted in what has been dubbed as her 'eye-smirk' "By the way, congrats. You’ll be a mother-in-law very soon"
Kiwi glanced at somewhere and Gloria followed her gaze, seeing David animatedly talking with Lucy for the past minutes again in seeing the bashful blushes on their faces. A blush she knew very well…
"Uh Kiwi, how old was your protégé again?” She asked, because the younger netrunner couldn’t possibly be that old could her?
"She just recently turned 20 in this part of the timeline" Kiwi said, still with her shit-eating grin voice
'What the fu—!'
Chapter Text
"And that’s where we take a shit. The lever kinda busted a while back, so if you wanna know if it’s occupied you gotta base yourself on the smell" Rebecca instructed David continuing her tour of the warehouse
The two carried on for a little while in awkward silence, or at least she did. And she didn’t looked like the type of girl to stay quiet no matter the situation, so this silent walk was killing him
But for some reason, Rebecca seemed like she didn’t wanted to interact with David that much. Which he wasn’t gonna lie, kinda stung him a little. He knew that he was the new guy and he wasn’t going to be treated with respect from the start, but he still wanted to make friendly acquaintances with them
"So um Ms. Rebecca, how long have you been edgerunning now?" He asked her awkwardly to the first thing that came to mind, before mentally slapping himself because who the hell would want to know that?!
"Hmm, ‘bout two years now I think" Thankfully she didn’t found it weird and answered him, so he didn’t made a total gonk of himself just yet
“That’s nova! I bet that you have a lot of experience under your belt…or um, thong?" David joked awkwardly, pointing at the small string that covered Rebecca’s asscheeks with a hopefully not too noticeable blush
But to his dismay, she definitely noticed and gave him what could only be described as a saucy smirk
"Well well, someone’s been starin' down I see~. Are you interested in my wardrobe, newbie~?" She purred teasingly, grabbing the string of her underwear and pulling it before letting it go
The string slapping against her skin and making the admittedly fattest ass David had ever seen ripple after the impact so fucking deliciously, and his blush expanded all the way to his ears
"N-No! I-I just wanted to-!!" He tried to glance away from the still-jiggling ass and was victim to her cackle that sounded like a gremlin’s, but that sounded actually quite cute in a way
"Relax Dimples, I was just teasing. And this isn’t even my best pair of panties, so no reason to be so red just yet~" Rebecca assured him even if it was combined with another tease and David’s blush remained
Not due to the teasing, but rather the way she nicknamed him. He never really minded his dimples, but this was the first time someone else besides his mom thought that they were cute. Plus the nickname sounded…oddly familiar for some reason
"And don’t call me Miss, kid. I’m not that old" She chuckled and he couldn’t help but laugh alongside her
"Okay, then that’s what’ll do Becca" The nickname rolled through his tongue in such a natural way, and he missed the blush in the shorter woman’s face
“What did you just called me?!" She suddenly said in an accusing tone and David flinched, thinking he messed up
“B-Becca? I thought that’s how Rebeccas were called?" He responded nervously “I-I’m sorry. Was I not supposed to call you that?"
"N-No, it’s…fine" She said with an oddly sullen tone that she hid with a small smile "If I’m gonna call you Dimples, then is just fair you have a nickname for me as well right?"
“Yeah, I…guess?" David responded, although he wasn’t really sure what got her so upset
Thankfully to avoid another new awkward silence, he lifted his head to see another familiar figure not too away from them, sitting on some scraps and smoking silently
"Hey Lucy!" David cried with all the eagerness of a puppy, happily running to the netrunner he encountered earlier
Missing the look of longing and nostalgia on Rebecca’s face as he watched him go yet again
Rebecca should’ve seen this coming, honestly she fucking should’ve
David was so fucking enamored with Lucy that even if the reset button was pressed and he didn’t remembered anything from the shitty year they spent together, he would still be head over hills for the deckhead
One doesn’t simply promise to fulfill an otherwise impossible dream and the cost of everything for someone else unless you truly loved them
A relationship like theirs only appeared on this fucked-up city every thousand years, and even without saying it out loud Rebecca could just feel the love between the two
So of course she should’ve fucking seen David escape from her grasp and into the arms of the woman he loved yet again, while she watched longingly from the sidelines
That still hurt like a goddamn bitch, more so than when that borged-out fucker stomped her like if she was a tincan or any other piles of crap she had to experience throughout her goddamn life
But after remembering the pile of shit that David had to go through in the first shitty timeline…
"Becca, I got a favor to ask"
"I can’t trust anyone but
you
…"
"If I start losing it, I need you to shoot me up so I can keep it together…"
"The cyberskeleton, gotta use it or we’re all gonna die.."
"Got no choice, I gonna have to chip it…!"
“Don’t see any other options, do you?"
"Didn’t learned my lesson…"
"Y0u’Re deAd!! D3ad!!! D3@d!!! FuCk1Ng D€@D!!!! 1’Ll fÜçK1Ng k1LL Y0ü!!!!!"
"Lucy, gonna go save her"
"Maine said everyone gets a fare shake, that’s the only way I operate too"
"You’re right Mom"
"I know I can! I’ll do my best!"
"You got my word. Arasaka, all the way to the top!"
…In the end, Rebecca was just glad to be by his side and see him smile so care-freely like that again
"Hey Luce, guess what? I’m joining your crew!" David said excitedly and the pastel-haired netrunner gave him a bittersweet smile
"That’s preem David…" Lucy said, trying to hide her nervousness over having her guy enter again what ruined his life in the first place
And Rebecca didn’t judged her, as she was scared shitless for David’s sake too
But once a edgerunner always a 'runner, as she could see the eagerness and anticipation of performing gigs on Dimples' cute honeyed brown eyes even if the tables were a little different now
And even if edgerunnering may had ruined shit for David, it was also what brought him to them and what the he loved to do regardless of the dangers. And who was Becca to deny him that?
"I see you already met Rebecca? Don’t worry, she may be a little spontaneous but she has a good heart" Lucy assured him, her smile turning into her own version of a saucy smirk "Dare I say, she’s preem output material"
Both of them blushed to atomic proportions, David maybe for obvious fucking reasons but Becca because she didn’t expected that coming from the younger netrunner
"W-Well uh, can’t really say I don’t see the appeal…” Dimples said with a bashful smile and that cute little blush that was so characteristic of him, and her blush just leveled up to a hundred degrees
Although now that Rebecca thought about it, she would occasionally see David looking at her kinda the same way in which he stared at Lucy. And while never showing it in big ways, David was more intimate with her than anyone else in their crew
Maybe not the same way as Luce, but definitely in a way that wasn’t purely platonic. Things such as affectionately rubbing her head, letting her sit on his lap and hugging her waist holding her close, and she could swear she felt a bump on his pants when he did that
Fuck, there was even that one time when David got especially drunk and kissed her on the cheek!!
Granted, it could’ve just been a friend-to-friend kiss. After all, she had heard that some especially close friends do that to one another. But if that was the case, why did he had that look of love that he only reserved for Lucy when he did that?
…And why was it mixed with regret?
That got Rebecca thinking, what if she wasn’t the only one that was hopelessly pinning after him? What if David was the same as her, and wasn’t simply ignoring her advances because he was dense or something?
What if he also loved her, but wanted to keep that crap to himself because he didn’t want to be unfaithful to Lucy?
Becca didn’t feel like David was unhappy with her or whatever, he wouldn’t raid Arasaka Tower all the way to the top and fight against Adam fuckin' Smasher if that wasn’t the case
But what if his heart was torn in two, and he couldn’t decide which path to follow?
Rebecca knew that Dimples has the biggest heart in this fucking rat nest city and that he’s one of the few assholes that wears it on his sleeve regardless of the consequences, but at the same time he was the most indecisive gonk ever
The whole reason why he kept pushing himself beyond his limits was because he had yet to accomplish the dreams that others left him, dreams of people that were no longer here
What if it was the same thing, but with his damnable loving heart?
….If that was the case, why did he also kissed Kiwi that day?
UUuUugGgGGhHhhHhH~~~!! It was time like this that Rebecca wished that David also brought his consciousness from the previous timeline along! That way she could just ask him directly and not deal with this goddamn questions!
"So em Lucy, after today do you…" He started, scratching his blushing cheek and staring at the ground bashfully "Do you want to…?"
They both had to smile, David was the absolute cutest lil' thing whenever he got all nervous. Even when he became a chrome-jonk, he would still stutter and blush around them in a hilarious manner
"What this gonk wants to say is that he would like to get to know you better" Becca interpreted for the stuttering kid besides her, and although he was embarrassed he nodded in affirmation
"Yes! I mean…" Lucy coughed, trying to keep her cool but her own blush against her otherwise porcelain skin gave her out "I-I’d love to, David…"
Dimples blush now went to his neck, but he had the biggest brightest smile with his dimples in display that could power up Night City for countless decades
"Nova!" He cried without the retaining embarrassment from Lucy in trying to contain his excitement, and now it was her turn for her snow white skin was red as a synth-tomato
But she had a big dorky smile that matched David's own, that she only did whenever she was around him
Rebecca’s grinned with a playful roll of her eyes. Honestly, for as much as she wished that Dimples looked at her as more than just friend, she knew these two gonks were fucking perfect for each other
Lucy wouldn’t never smiled in such a goofy way nor look so visibly excited about something before meeting David, having always looked like a bitchy ice queen like most called her
Especially after that hag Kiwi told her that 'never trust someone' bullshit, she was like a miniature version of the older netrunner, just in rainbow version
Rebecca knew that most netrunners out there were technological, nearly robotic ol' farts who if they weren’t trying to isolate themselves from the world, then they worked to try and create the next most monstrous daemon
All of them, except for Sasha…
Oh, she was always the soul of the party even more so than Becca herself. So seeing Kiwi and later Lucy trying to distance themselves from everyone else always left a bitter taste on her drink
And Lucy smiling the way she does every time David effortlessly managed to break down all her emotional walls was a plus on her book
Dimples really seemed to have that charm of bringing the most human side in people, huh
Fuck, even that old hag Kiwi started to smile more (or at least she thought she was smiling, judging by how her eyes were squinting) when David was around even if it was just to tease him about something
Not that Becca could completely judge her, David had a cute blushing face whenever he got embarrassed
…Hey, wait a goddamn sec—
"Oh, and Becc?" David’s voice interrupted her line of thought as she looked up to see him smiling down at her with those intense molten brown eyes
Fuck! Rebecca had always hated gonks for looking down on her both literally and metaphorically just because of her short stature and her child-like appearance
And it was just her luck that even a goddamn child was taller than her
But when it came to David, she actually kinda liked being looked down upon by him. As he didn’t looked at her with condescension or bullshit like so many fuckers before him, but with all the sweetness of a cake
Like, an actual cake. Made with organic ingredients and such and not whatever crap they try to sell nowadays. Like the ones she used to have when she was a girl, back at her old Corpo lifestyle
One of the few good things that she sometimes misses from that time
And Becca wasn’t ashamed to say that not only does she blush whenever David does that, but she also gets a little wet
"If you want, you can tag along? I…also kinda want to get to know you better" He asked her, and she bet that her face was a weird teal-red combination like those gonkbrain old artworks that her old man loved to collect for some damn reason
"If that’s okay with you Luce?" David now asked the pastel netrunner who seemed to be the only one that was aware of Becca’s turmoil and had a catty smirk like the goddamn cat she sometimes was
"Sure thing David, I don’t mind. But in the end the choice is Rebecca’s, isn’t it~?" She purred and the shortstack growled at her with her face a volcanic red
She didn’t knew if it was from embarrassment or anger however, but that was the least of her problems. That traitorous deckhead!
Before she could tell David her answer, or smack Lucy a new one, another voice ranged out and stopped their little conversation
"Stop right there, you goddamn snake!!" Gloria shrieked and they all turned to see the red-haired woman furiously waving her sandal like if it was a handgun while the others tried to stop her
Keyword tried, as somehow Gloria gained the enough super-strength to fight against two giant edgerunners and a chromed-up techie like they were nothing
"Understand this!! If you want to get into my beautiful baby’s pants, you’ll have to wait until he turns legal y’hear me?!!“ The mother shouted, and slapped Maine in the face with her damn sandal
"OUCH!! Kiwi, aren’t you gonna help save your own protégé?!" The big brute cried sporting a big angry red sandal mark all over his face
And the older netrunner in question was too busy laughing her skinny ass off to even think about helping them, much to their dismay
“Mama, stop it! It’s my choice who I choose to date, ain’t it?" David cried, putting himself protectively in front of Lucy while the latter trembled in fear over that horrible piece of footwear
Like any one of them, she had seen what that all of the potential that sandal could do. And oh boy, was it deadly
"Of course it is mijo, but could you at least date someone from your own age range?!" Gloria cried, still trying to get her hands on the trembling Lucy
Rebecca sighed exasperated at being denied her answer like so many times before, but she didn’t want the younger netrunner to brand a angry sandal mark on their next date so she better make her part
"And about that invite David, I think it be nova!" She agreed and laughed at his blushing face before going to help the rest of the crew with holding down the angry mother
Becca still had a lot of questions to tell David, and maybe settle in some previous feelings, but she’ll have time for that later
First, she had to assure that Gloria doesn’t absolutely murder Lucy and also try to not get hit by her goddamn sandal when she learns about her own feelings
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