It's About Saving Yourself Ch 2 (Patreon)

Chapter 2, feel free to give me your thoughts in the comments.

=][=

I woke up early and spent some time staring at the holographic advertisements that couldn't be turned off hovering over the couch area of the apartment. One of these days, I was going to shoot that projector, then piss on its sparking innards. Fortunately for it, that day was not today.

Yesterday had been a long day at Viktor’s clinic. After a long week of fucking around and finding out with cyberware bits and bobs, I had made the breakthrough I’d been seeking, I could feel it in my bones. And then a group of Tyger Claws had come in and bled all over the floor. I'd set about assisting the man in saving their collective assess, then one of them whimpered particularly pathetically and I was staring down the barrel of a gun while the only unharmed idiot stated that if his friends died, then so would I.

Thankfully, Viktor distracted the Tyger long enough for me to draw my pistol and shoot out both the Tyger’s elbows as well as his knees.

I still refute Viktor’s insistence that I had been too zealous in shooting the idiot eight times. I took things exactly as far as they needed to be taken, sure, it ended up adding a few more eddies to their bill, and they lost their designated driver, but the more seasoned hands in that specific group of Tygers agreed with me that their rookie was paying the ‘fuck around and find out’ fee.

Plus, the guy in charge of them had found it hilarious, so it was all for the better. You don't mess with the techie whose job it is to get lead out of your innards.

I sat up and stretched the kinks out of my back, and spotted Mom, curled up on her side on the other side of the couch. I sighed and got up to wake David and start the day.

As always, he'd waited till the last minute to wash his uniform. The washing machine ran out of money mid-cycle again. It took me an inordinate effort of will to not send the washing machine to kingdom fucking come.

Once the thing was washing again, I ate the breakfast I’d hacked from a SCSM on my way back from Vik’s and wore my usual loose jacket to put my pistols politely out of sight.

“We good?” David asked as he finished putting his hair in ‘order.’

“Yeah, one sec.”

I went to grab a blanket to drape it over Mom. Sure, I had hazy memories of another family, but Gloria had had fourteen years to prove herself, it would be unfair to her not to consider her family, even if I was not as close to her as I had been with my first ma.

I draped the blanket over her as gently as I could, she still sat bolt upright with a gasp the moment the blanket settled.

“Well shit, sorry Ma, was trying not to wake you.” I said with a grimace. “Now that you’re awake though, you should go sleep on the bed.”

“Yeah!” David piped in from his place by the door. “At this rate you'll get early onset arthritis!”

Gloria laughed sheepishly as I rolled my eyes at him. “Sorry, Mijo. I didn't want to wake you boys, got home kinda late.”

I sighed and decided not to have the conversation about pulling less overtime again. Yeah, thanks to my income from playing nurse for Vik things weren't nearly as tight as they’d been a couple years back. But that only seemed to drive Gloria to work harder, which was the exact opposite of what I'd wanted.

“Well, now you can sleep on the bed, and don't worry about breakfast.” I said and pointed at the table at the prepackaged generic breakfast tacos. “I took care of it.”

Gloria pouted, nobody with two near adult kids should be able to pull off that cute of a pout. “Ugh, Mijo, I keep telling you to save your money.”

I shrugged with a nonchalant smile. “They were half off. Anyways, we've gotta head out.”

“Wait up!” Gloria shouted, all but jumping to her feet. “I got paid last night, so we finally have enough for that BD Wreath update!”

“Ma, I told you that Alex took care of it.” David grumbled.

Gloria furrowed her brows and gave David the glare only the sleepy can manage. “He did?”

“Yup.”

She turned her gimlet stare on me. “You did?”

I sighed. “I told you too. My payday happened a bit earlier than yours, Ma. I asked David to go buy ‘em last week, the gonk waited until two days ago. So no need to worry.”

She did not look mollified. “Alex, I told you I would take care of it. You should have saved that money or spent it on something you wanted.” She blinked a couple of times. “Also, don't call your brother a gonk.”

I ignored her instructions as was my right as the elder and wiser brother, then leaned down and gave her a peck on the forehead. “And I did, Ma. Now go to the bed and go back to sleep, you look exhausted. See ya later, okay?”

The holographic advertisement machine flashed a news screen at us, showing what was, by the sight of the blood, bodyparts, and numerous broken bodies, the site of a massacre.

+A military-grade implant was found missing from the body of Lieutenant Colonel James Norris, shot dead by MaxTac.+ Said the reporter in a very nice imitation of a concerned voice. Because who cares about the more than two dozen dead bodies on display, the important thing is a random piece of overdesigned cyberware that some lucky scav stole.

“Hey mom, look, you’re on TV! Nova!” David shouted, on the screen, I could see Gloria’s messy red hair as she wheeled a bodybag into the meatwagon she drove and became immediately concerned.

She had been close to the scav that got that cyberware, meaning she might have been in danger. Fuck in all hell, I couldn’t wait to get a job at Arasaka so I could get her to quit her own job as a low-level med tech.

She grumbled, chastised David for being so excited about a massacre, and wished us a good day. I adjusted my visor as David sulked and we made our way out, nodding to Kamil on the way, I had to stop David jumping down to a trash pile to skip the stairs again. Dumbass never thought of the fact that anything rigid enough would stab right through the soles of his shoes.

Whilley still hadn’t cleaned his Auto-Vag, at this point I was less disgusted and more morbidly fascinated on whether or not he might get the first ever documented case of a self-inflicted venereal disease.

The Omaha dug annoyingly into my side, so I adjusted the holster as we made our way into the Metro. David proceeded to zone out as he usually did while I kept an eye out on everyone else as the Metro zoomed by over the streets of Night City.

I spotted the girl that frequented this line, pick socketing the Arasaka suits who used it to get to work. Judging by her rainbow hair and outfit, and the monowire implants in her arms, she was likely an Edgerunner with a bone to pick against Arasaka.

She stood with her back to a suit, the socket with his bank-shard flashed but did not beep, it then launched the shard out in a straight line right into her waiting palm. She looked up as she searched for her next target and our eyes met.

Her eyes immediately narrowed as she realized that I had seen what she did, her shoulders tensing then relaxing as her posture changed very subtly. I kept my expression flat and uninterested but did not for an instant take my eyes off the girl.

Our staring match continued for a what felt like minutes, my eyes starting to burn due to not blinking for so long. She remained ready to spring to action but otherwise did nothing to begin hostilities, which suited me just fine, I just didn't want her taking my money.

We didn't get a chance to relax until the train car came to a stop and we spilled out like over packed sardines.

Not that there were sardine cans anymore. Fuckin’ corps.

The Netrunner quickly lost herself in the crowd as my oblivious brother and I made our way further into city center.

I hated Night City’s Corpo Plaza with a passion.

The streets were clean, the people well dressed, there was a police car at every corner, real honest to fuck trees, shrubs and grass, and there were two giant holographic fish forever chasing each other in an unending dance.

A shining jewel in the center of the City of Dreams.

Well, the jewel was plain old glass, the dreams were night terrors, the fish were fake, and hell was other people.

I really hated the fact that I legitimately looked like I belonged, the perfect wannabe corpo brat trying to lead a street-rat delinquent onto the path of enlightenment.

Fuck this place with a rusty rake. Hopefully I'll be able to use the corpo job I'll nab in a few years to save enough money to get the fuck out and do my own thing.

Arasaka banking? Yeah no, fuck that noise. I'll figure some way to stash my cash somewhere the fuckin’ corp can't just seize my money.

It wasn't long before David and I had arrived at Arasaka Academy, and I had to check my guns in at the guard station.

The fucker had the audacity to give me a dirty look for the Omaha. Make that one more idiot that bought into the Arasaka/Militech rivalry.

Arasaka Academy was an imposing building with a typical corpo façade. I ignored the usual scoffs and sneers at my presence much better than David. I was thankful for the entirely separate life experience in my head that had long gotten over the teenage angst. It made it much easier to stick it to the rich kids.

The fact that most of them weren’t capable of looking me in the eye without tilting their heads back was a bonus.

David and I made it to our classroom and I was immediately accosted by our VI ‘Teacher’. +Mister Martinez, you were very nearly late.+

“But was I late?” I asked carelessly as I made my way to the recliner chair all the way at the back of the class, the twenty or so rich kids giving me the stink eye.

+You arrived with three seconds to spare, but early arrival is one of the ways to show commitment to the Arasaka Family.+

“Yeah well, the Arasaka family can feel free to incentivize me to show up earlier. Until then I’ll console myself with merely having ‘outstanding potential.’” I said the last while making quotes with my fingers.

+Sarcasm does not become you, Mister Martinez.+ Teacher chastised lightly.

“I was being literal.” I shot back as I hopped onto my seat. “Offer me extra credit if you want me here earlier, if not, stop bothering me about the fact that I show up on time.”

+A report has been filed about your attitude Mister Martinez.+ Teacher informed me ‘sadly’. +Now, students, prepare your headsets, I do hope you remembered to get the upgrade.+

A message pinged the corner of my visor. Glancing at it, I saw that Tanaka was trying to get me into a private chat. The look I threw at him was akin to the look one reserves for stepping on exceedingly rancid shit.

I then declined the invite, got comfortable, and pulled out the BD Wreath David had bought with my money. Thankfully, the gonk pulled out the same model, a part of me had been afraid he’d stick to his guns about the bootleg update he’d gotten.

I also suspected he made the mistake of responding to the useless peanut gallery.

+We will begin class with a meditation.+ The VI said, the BD wreaths shining hard enough to hurt the eye before synching with my neuralware and I was suddenly lying down in a grassy meadow.

Well, time for a nap.

=][=

“When will you rats get the massage and leave us in peace?” Said a voice so annoying it made my ears bleed. “Forcing your stench on us all is just unkind.”

David turned with a snarl on his face while I glanced over my shoulder to look at Katsuo Tanaka, wannabe bully and Corporat Underordinaire.

What's that, Underordinaire is not a word? Well, it should be.

“Come on David,” I said, turning my back and resuming my trek to the cafeteria, “Tatsio is just jealous our hair is better than his.”

“My name is Tanaka Katsuo!” He blustered, then after a few moments added. “And my hair is way better than you two peons!”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, dum dum.”

“You will face me when I speak to you!” Katsuo demanded.

“I would,” I retorted, “but I would hate to give you the illusion I respect you Matsuo.”

“When will your whore of a mother learn that this is not a place for filth like you!” Katsuo screeched.

Gloria’s exhausted face flashed in front of my eyes. I slowed for a step and took a deep breath, but kept walking.

Unfortunately for all of us, Katsuo noticed my little slip.

“What's that, not going to try to defend your bitch of a mother? Are you so ashamed of what she has to do to keep you enrolled in this prestigious academy? Tell me, who are her favorite clients? My bet is on Maelstrom!”

I stopped and turned around, his face souring at my smile. “What's that? I can't hear you over your horrid incompetence mister twelfth place!”

Katsuo’s hands balled into fists. He opened his mouth and I cut him off as I walked towards him.

“You know, you tar-blooded peacocks strut around here like you have done anything to earn your keep. With your ‘ware that was supplied by someone else, getting grades bought for you, tell me, can you shit on your own or do you need your parents’ money to help you do it?”

The mention of his parents made him twitch, scenting blood in the water, I pushed harder, speaking over his attempts to get a word in edgewise.

“Then again, for your parents to do anything other than throw money at you to keep you quiet and out of the way, you’d have to actually have some kind of value, wouldn’t you?” I said as I got up to him and leaned down to leer at his face, the corner of his eye twitched minutely and I pressed harder. “But why would the Mighty Tanaka stoop so low as to waste any of his extremely valuable time on you, mister twelfth place?”

“My father is a great man!” Katsuo shouted.

“And you’re not.” I said, and he recoiled as if I had slapped him. “But keep in mind that for your father, money has no value. He deals in politics, in power, in influence. He can piss away hundreds of thousands of Eurodollars and not even notice. When your father spends money on you, it's to keep you quiet and out of his way.

“My family may be lower-middle class.” We weren’t, we were poor, but this idiot would not have an idea of how to measure that, “to us, money has value, so when our mother spends money on us? It’s an expression of love, of care. Of everything you will never earn from your father, because you're just slow, dumb, pathetic, twelfth pl-”

The only reason I managed to dodge his punch was that I was looking out for it and started moving the moment his shoulder twitched. I evaded the following flurry with the ingenious tactic of taking a few steps back.

David gaped and backed off, kids started chanting, “fight, fight, fight!” and everyone got together for the blue bloods’ favorite sport, ‘beat on the plebeian.’

Tanaka threw himself forward, his body moving in a fluid yet mechanical manner. He’d chipped in kickboxing, allowing his ‘ware to puppet his body through fighting moves.

His fists went for my chin, solar plexus and liver with mechanical precision. But Tanaka himself did not know how to fight. People like him were like button mashers in fighting games, all sound and fury but no knowledge of the fundamentals.

As his fist dented the metal wall after a particularly close dodge, I saw that he seemed to have some manner of reinforcement on his fists, likely his shins as well, but he hadn’t thrown a kick yet.

Still, this was nothing I hadn’t seen before at the gym. Viktor was slower, but that man knew fighting, he could read most people like a book, he dominated any match against me from the start. Yes, I could beat Viktor in a fight, but that was because I was young and he was creeping into his sixties.

Viktor had taught me much about boxing, his arm was a cannon, his knowledge of the fundamentals was as solid as a mountain, and he was more than crafty enough to maneuver any opponent right where he wanted them. The polar opposite to Tanaka, who attacked so confidently and guilelessly that it was almost embarrassing. Yes, his arms and legs moved so fast they were a blur, but that didn't matter much if I knew how far his arm extended and simply stepped out of his reach.

Tanaka had chipped in the movements, but he’d earned nothing. He didn’t truly know what he was doing. Most importantly, he had none of the conditioning.

All I had to do was wait.

Eventually, Tanaka tripped, his physique unable to keep up with the footwork necessary for the movements the chip demanded of him. I stepped forward into him as he worked to regain his balance and drove my fist into his jaw, cannoning his head to the side. His legs turned to jelly and he collapsed forward, and fell right onto my rising foot, his nose and cheek crumpled as they picked a fight with my steel toe boot and lost. His head snapped up so hard the back of his head bounced off his upper back.

Tanaka fell face first against the floor, a small puddle of blood growing around his face as he did not so much as twitch.

In the deafening silence of the corridor, I was able to just hear him breathing, meaning he was alive and officially no longer my problem.

I turned my back on him. “Come on David, we need to get to the cafeteria before the good stuff runs out.”

The blue bloods all but threw themselves out of my way as I stepped forward.

While a part of me felt vindictive glee at the very obvious fear in their expressions, the more rational part of my brain was livid at myself for my lack of self control and colossal fuckup.

Hopefully I’d at least be able to get lunch before shit hit the fan. I was starving.

=][=

I’d had to eat lunch on my feet, barely managing to get my hands on peach flavored nutrient paste before being called to the office.

Fuck, at least David was spared this indignity.

I sat, fuming silently as the waste hole in the principal’s face spewed such an incredible amount of bullshit, it was a surprise we weren’t drowning in it.

I paid half an ear to the jackass as he told Gloria he was worried by my ‘violently antisocial tendencies’ and how I might perhaps be a better fit elsewhere.

Fucking spineless, bootlicking, toad-faced jackass.

“I'm sorry, I'll be sure to punish him. But expulsion is surely too drastic! This is his first offense!” Gloria pleaded.

The man smiled, the expression somewhere between sad and obsequious. “I'm sorry ma’am, but his marked and well-documented attitude problems tie my hands, this unprovoked assault on another student-”

“When will your whore of a mother learn that this is not a place for filth like you!”

Both him and Gloria were startled when Tanaka’s voice broke into his bullshit routine.

The toad’s eyes went wide when he realized he wasn't the only one with evidence.

“What’s that, not going to try to defend your bitch of a mother? Are you so ashamed of what she has to do to keep you enrolled in this prestigious academy? Tell me, who are her favorite clients? My bet is on Maelstrom!” Tanaka continued, happily digging the principal in deeper. I picked up my shovel.

“I also have the video evidence of Tanaka not only throwing the first punch, but of attacking me with enough force to crack concrete.” I said, causing the tub of lard to go pale. “What I have here is a clear-cut case of self-defense.” I glared into his eyes. “It’d be a shame for me to be expulsed for defending myself from unprovoked aggression.”

I made a subtle sign with the hand I kept out of sight of Gloria. The Arasaka hand signals for ‘Broadcast’ and ‘Blood Enemy’ and the toad went white as a sheet.

Yeah jackass. I'm willing to sell this to Militech. Will anything get done? No, but this idiot would be thrown hard under the bus when Militech gleefully put their PR machine behind the video and did their best to turn it into a scandal.

Sure, this would only lead to Arasaka Academy losing a few points of a percent of their quarterly earnings. But that was enough for dumb dumb to lose his job, have his accounts and apartment seized, and be tossed out on his ear with nothing but the clothes on his back.

And likely not even that.

He stared at me like a deer in the headlights before rallying and clearing his throat. “On…account of new evidence. It is clear that I was not privy to all the pertinent information. He is excused for the day, I will deal with Mr. Tanaka and make it clear that he should not lie to get out of trouble. Have a wonderful day, I’ll make personally sure to send Mr. Martinez his assignments for the day.” He beat a hasty retreat out of his own fucking office.

Fucker didn't even apologize.

Gloria remained neutrally quiet as we made our way out of the building, she didn't even click her tongue as I picked up my pistols from the guard station. I tried to relax my shoulders as she drove us out of the Corpo Plaza and towards Arroyo.

I did my best to remain calm, but Gloria’s silence grated harshly on my nerves.

Sure, a big part of *-me didn't see her as my ‘real’ Mom, but the woman had taken care of me for over ten years, sacrificing much to give my little brother and I a better life than she'd had. She'd earned my respect many times over, and I’d have to be some kind of sociopath not to have grown to love the woman like family.

“I’m sorry,” I ground out, “I’m sorry I fucked up.”

The silence continued for a few seconds longer before she sighed. “That is so like you, Alex.” She said with weary amusement. “You are not sorry you did it, you are sorry it went badly.

“Alex, I don't need you to defend me.” She continued, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. “You shouldn’t feel obligated t-”

“It shouldn't be that way!” the words burst out of me, I was powerless to stop them, the lid I’d been keeping on them refusing to seal them away again. “You’re a thousand times better than every single one of those assholes who haven't known a day of hard work in their entire lives! I shouldn't have to allow them to insult you just because they were born into money! This wasn’t the first time, it wasn’t the fifth, it wasn't the tenth! I’ve complained, I’ve submitted forms, evidence! I've done everything their own rules say I should, and I've been ignored just because I have the better but less affluent parent!

“I don't care about what they say about me, but I shouldn’t have to sit there and let them badmouth you, fuck!” I punctuated the last statement with a punch to my thigh that would definitely leave a bruise. I sat on the seat, my fingers digging painfully into my palms and tried to get my breathing, my anger, back under my control.

It wasn't until I felt a callused palm settle softly over one of my fists that I was able to unclench them.

“I know honey.” Gloria…Mom said, her voice quivering slightly. “I know it's not fair, I know those kids are cruel and horrid, I know you're doing your best, and I’m proud of you. You, who have been the top of your class for years, who has a perfect attendance record.” She laughed, the sound a little wet. “You, who stepped up and all but raised your twin brother because of how busy I am. I couldn’t be more proud of you, Mijo.

“But as proud as I am, as much as I understand. You need to not let them get to you like this again. They almost got what they wanted, you gone so you couldn't keep embarrassing them with how much better than them you are.” She smirked with what on anyone else I would have called bloodlust. “And no hijo de mis entrañas would ever let an asshole like them get what they wanted from him.”

I laughed and surreptitiously wiped my own cheeks. “Ma, that was simultaneously the worst and best peptalk ever.”

Mom blew a raspberry at me. “Cabron, I'll have you know, before I was an emergency tech, I was a professional peptalker.”

Before I could retort, I was deafened by the buzz-saw roar of a light machine gun going off right next to my ear, the front of the car was shredded as tracer rounds went past right in front of my face.

Nigh on fourteen years of cognizance in Night City engrained the necessary response to the current situation into my body. The Omaha was in my hand, safety off and the rail was being overcharged before I’d finished flinching. I aimed it straight at the driver’s door of the vehicle the gunfire was coming from. An eternity and dozens of bullets chewing through the car later, the computer in the pistol registered unsafe levels of power and discharged three consecutive shots, the weapon bucked in my hand, sending nine steel flechettes through the door.

The driver’s window turned dark red from the inside, the shooting halted, without the glare of the weapon’s fire I saw the lumpy face and grotesquely overmuscled body of an Animal sitting on top of their van, his eyes widening.

I put six flechettes into his face, his eyes cracked like marbles and he screamed so loud I felt it in my bones.

The Animal’s vehicle loomed large as I searched for another target.

The impact threw off my aim as it sent Mom’s car reeling. A second impact slammed my head into the frame and it became very difficult to think.

I sat, listening to the ringing in my ears. The Omaha overcharging and wasting three shots worth of my hard-earned eddies made me cognizant enough to understand that I did not have the time to sit around and I should relax the death grip I had on the weapon.

Looking to the left, I didn't see Gloria in the car, had she climbed out?

A few blinks later, I realized the driver’s side door was gone.

There was a feeling like warm water pouring down from the top of my head as my heart sped up and slammed the bars of its cage in rage, my mind cleared and I clawed at the seatbelt release, when it didn't budge I got my knife out and cut it, then crawled out of the car.

Gloria was lying on the ground several feet away. I tried to call her name, but the only thing that made it past my lips was a choked sob.

It happened again. I’d prepared better, worked harder, went about it smarter, and I’d still failed, I’d still not been good enough.

Once again, I’d failed as a son and protector.

The world became crystal clear, I felt cold and sick, like I'd eaten something out of that sketchy food van that sets up at the corner where the Glen, Vista del Rey and Corpo Plaza meet.

I turned to look at the Animal’s van, at the grotesque bodies of the gangsters sprawled around it.

They were stirring.

I walked up to the first one, shoved the Omaha into his mouth and tilted it up into his palette, try as one might, it was very difficult to reinforce the roof of the mouth without replacing most of the skull.

A moment later, the Animal’s head was spread across the pavement, I absently reloaded and went to the next one, and after that the next.

The last Animal was woken by the noise, I was forced to shoot his hands into pulp and he didn’t calm down until I put six flechettes through his groin.

The next nine reduced his head to mincemeat.

I was out of Animals.

I’d need to find more of them.

I’d have to get Vik to do some work on me first though. Otherwise, some of them might get away.

It was a long walk to Vik’s and the car was not safe to drive, it was also upside down, I better get started.

I turned in the direction of Little China and my eyes slid over Gloria’s body.

The cold and the clarity of purpose vanished, but the sickness remained, it settled deep into my gut, at once poisoning me and giving me strength.

I stumbled to Gloria and fell to my knees next to her. I wanted to apologize, to ask forgiveness, to promise I’d avenge her. But the words caught in my throat.

Words wouldn’t make this right, Gloria was gone, I’d failed her utterly.

I looked at the Animals, the ice and clarity resurging from the poisoned well.

Gloria groaned and shifted. I froze for several seconds, then I was on my feet, running to the Animal’s car.

The dead driver’s shard with the key to the car was caked in blood. I barely bothered wiping it before slotting it in. Getting his worthless hide out of the car was more difficult. The bastard must have weighed at least three hundred pounds. The good news was that, once I tilted him over enough, gravity did the rest for me and he even took most of his intestines with him.

I rushed over to Mom and carefully lifted her up, trying to keep her neck from moving was difficult as I rushed and laid her down on the backseat. Once she was as secure as I could make her, I was tearing down the street before I’d finished adjusting the driver’s seat.

I couldn't go to a hospital, they were far too expensive, her insurance wouldn't cover much more than basic treatment, and I doubted they wouldn't just kill her and harvest her organs. 95 plus percent organic women were a valuable commodity in Night City.

It was a good thing that my visor was refurbished military tech, it still worked even if it had a crack in it.

I called Vik, when he didn't answer I called again. I was shouting obscenities by the third time the call failed to connect.

He finally answered on my eighth call. [Hey kid, sorry was in th-]

My intent was to give a calm, accurate report of what was wrong and the steps that we would need to take to fix things, just as I had done countless times working as his unofficial nurse and apprentice.

What came out, choked through tears and rage, was. “Vik, fuck! My mom’s hurt Vik! Fuck Vik it's bad! Fucking Animals! Fucking Night City! Fuck Vik, I can't let her down like this! Please Vik, fuck!”

[Woah kid! Calm down, what’s going on!?]

“Fuck Vik she's fucking dying Vik, fuck! I wish I had money, Trauma Team would already be treating her, fuck!”

[Kid! Kid deep breaths! I’ll prep the chair, okay? Just be safe until you get here, alright?]

“Yeah, yeah, fuck Vik. Thanks, I’ll be there soon, whatever you need to do Vik, save her! I'm good for it, you know I'm good for it! Fuck!”

I dodged onto the shoulder on the highway and scraped down the side of a number of vehicles, I ignored the honks as I utterly disrespected other vehicles and the road.

The drive to Vik’s clinic was a blur, I was fairly certain I didn't run anyone over, but I honestly cannot recall. I’d spent the drive worrying too much about jostling the car.

The following hours are disjointed and unconnected whenever I try to recall them.

I remember tearing down the highway, driving through streets, stopping at Urmland street. I remember seeing Misty in the corner of my eye as I rushed through her store with my Mom in my arms.

I remembered pacing back and forth in the alleyway, I’d tried to help, but my hands were shaking too hard for it to be safe to be around my mom. I’d connected to the Net that ran Vik’s clinic and kept an eye on the tally of things.

Shattered ribs, a new lung, though Vik was able to reinflate the other, her kidneys had been in bad condition and the incident caused them to fail entirely. Her heart was bruised but with a minor application of nanites I’d jailbroken for him, Vik was able to save it.

Intestinal damage, liver failure, and that was before going into the spinal issues.

But Vik was as good as his word. He’d closed the app that calculated the cost, probably in an attempt to give me some peace of mind, but I kept a running tally.

Thirty thousand Eurodollars so far in parts alone.

Fuck. We did not have that kind of money. And mom would need time to heal after this, she wouldn't be able to work, she’d get fired, we’d lose the apartment, let alone staying in school.

My plan of saving up and opening my own business was over. I’d need to do something to keep Mom and David fed and with a roof over their heads. If I could make enough, I might even be able to keep David in school.

However, I couldn't go into a conventional job. Anything Corporate had too high a barrier to entry, and they wouldn't start paying enough for us to be self-sufficient until and unless I managed to climb high enough on the ladder, the bottom rungs paid worse than Mom’s meat wagon job.

There weren't enough independent businesses, and of those, I already worked for one that paid better than most thanks to Vik being one of the few worthwhile human beings that still existed in this shit pile of a world. If I used the totality of my paycheck, we may be able to keep the apartment, and so long as we rationed carefully, we should be able to keep ourselves fed.

And I wouldn’t be able to pay Vik back, not in any kind of reasonable timeframe.

No, to have any chance at climbing back from the abyss, I needed to do something drastic, something with a high reward.

I looked at the ground in the direction of my workstation.

There were ways to mitigate risk.

Misty had handed me Mom’s things, they were significantly heavier than clothes should be, especially since Mom didn’t keep a purse.

Holding a purse was a good way of getting shot in Night City.

Opening the bag, I felt around and immediately bumped my hand into a piece of metal.

Grabbing it and pulling it out, I beheld Mom’s Smartpaint EMT jacket, it was bundled around something. Unfolding the jacket, I saw a spinal implant.

Looking at its connectors and running a diagnostic on it, I saw it was, of all things, a fuckmothering Sandevistan, and judging by the numbers I was getting back, this one in particular made the QianT Mk IV look like a particularly poor-quality potato.

How the flying gangrenous fuck had Mom gotten her hands on a fucking Milspec Implant?

The why was obvious, she was going to flip it for cash, probably chump change. No way she'd see even ten percent of what it was actually worth.

Vik probably wouldn't want to touch this with a ten-foot pole, but he still had contacts, he could put me in contact with a Fixer that wouldn’t screw me over too badly.

But I’d still be lucky to get even twenty thousand out of the sale.

No, selling this thing would at best mitigate my issue, it wouldn’t solve it.

My eyes drifted in the direction of my workstation.

This was a bad idea. Literally crazy. I hated everything about the idea of being a Cyberpunk. I hated the way they were exploited; I hated the way they spread pain and sorrow wherever they went. I hated that they uselessly raged against ironclad corporate control instead of pooling their efforts into an actual form of resistance, all the while being pawns for the Corporate Overlords to use in their power games.

But they made money, the good ones made good money.

The ones with an Edge? Those made fortunes.

And what better Edge than my brainchild? Something that, as far as I knew, did not exist in the market? Yes, my plan had been to try and patent it, to use it to claw my way up to a stable living for me and my new family. But that long term goal would never arrive if we starved in the short term.

Survival was far more important than a pipe dream.

I headed down to my workstation, I grabbed the Netdriver Mk. V and the Kiroshi Kromatic. And lastly, I grabbed the Spinal/Neural rig I’d been working on. And set the terminal to jailbreaking the Netdriver while I prepared everything else.

There had been previous attempts to implant multiple types of cranial implants in a person, as far as I knew, they all ended badly. The neural load on a person’s system too much for it to handle.

So, I thought, why not put most of the load for those on something external?

My Spinal/Neural rig (name pending) was my answer. It was essentially an implant that other implants would slot into, it was little more than a line of processors and heat sinks hooked up to a painstakingly written OS. It should run both implants on its own, with minimal input from my brain, severely lowering the neural load on my meatware system.

Theoretically.

I'd run enough simulations that I was fairly certain the concept was solid. I'd even pushed my experimental prototype to the point that I’d been ready to move past simulations and into actual testing.

I'd had planned to pay a few bums on the street to slot it in and run a number of tests, which was why I’d constructed it to be as rugged as I could make it.

This bit of paranoia was now a blessing.

As I finished putting together the Frankenstein monster of an implant, I received a call from David.

I blinked tired eyes and absently accepted the call.

[Hey Alex. You at the junkyard? Are you going to bring dinner or should I get something? Kinda tired of waiting for you to get back.]

I blinked at David’s name on my visor’s HUD. Mom is hurt, I’m contemplating suicide with extra steps for her and his benefit, and the only thing this piece of shit brat can think about is what's for fucking dinner?

I took a deep breath to begin the mother of all tirades, when my tired mind caught up and informed me that I hadn’t kept David abreast of what happened.

Just another of my failures.

[Alex?] David said after so many seconds of listening to my uneven breathing. [You okay?]

I took a deep breath and held it for four seconds, then let it out slowly before answering. “No, David. I'm pretty fucking far from okay.”

[Why, what’s up?]

Concentrate on your breathing, Alex. Inhale, count to four, exhale, count to four, rinse and repeat. “There was a gang hit. Mom got hurt, bad, I took her to Vik. He's been working non-stop for…a while. The worst is past, I think.”

David made several choking noises before screaming. [What the fuck Alex!? You should have fucking told me!]

Inhale, count to four, exhale, count to four. “Yeah, yeah I should have, sorry, I got banged up, everything was just too much. I forgot.”

[Shit, choom.] David said, the wind leaving his sails. [I'm on my way, I’ll be there as soon as I can.]

“Yeah. See you when you get here, be safe.”

David hung up without another word. I ran one last simulation but got the same somewhat optimistic results. In theory, this piece of chrome should allow me to run the two implants simultaneously.

In practice, it may well cook my brain.

“Desperate times.” I sighed, then smirked at the monstrosity in front of me and muttered. “My name is Ozymandias, King of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair.”

“Kid, you holding up okay?” Vik asked, placing a hand on my shoulder, making me twitch in surprise.

In answer, I sighed and said. “Lay it on me, Vik.”

He was quiet for several seconds before speaking. “Kid, don't worry about the money. You’ve-”

“I run your inventory and your books old man.” I interrupted. “I asked as a formality, you cannot afford the goodwill, and we both know it.”

Vik sighed. “God save me from smart interns.”

“I've got a plan.” I said, and stepped aside so he could see what I had in front of me.

He hissed a breath. “Kid, no, you can’t! You said it wasn't finished.”

I shook my head. “I said it was ready for testing. No time like the present.”

“But kid!” Viktor began, then paused and ground his teeth. He might have been able to eat the charity case if Mom’s system had been stronger, but near-malnutrition and chronic exhaustion and high stress had broken her body down too far. He'd expended a lot to get her stable enough that she wouldn’t decline and die.

Too much.

Financially, it would have been better for her to die.

But that was unconscionable. He'd followed my lead. In panic and grief I’d made my bed, now I would lie in it.

Not that I’d make a different choice when calm. But I'd have realized the price from the get-go.

I picked up the ugly piece of chrome. “This will give me an edge, help me not die like a two eddie cyberpunk.”

Vik pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “You're sure it'll work?’

I shrugged. “Sure as I can be. Vik, I hate to be an ass, but if you don't chip this into me, I'll find someone who will. I will not let your goodwill be your downfall. Please Vik, it's the only way.”

Viktor Vektor stared hard at me for several seconds before sighing again. “Okay, come on, lay down on the chair. You won’t feel a thing, Alex.”

My shoulders sagged in relief. Unable to speak, I did my best to smile. “Thanks Vik. I owe you…too many.”

His return smile was the saddest expression I’d ever seen him make.