Never Fade Away: That Loved And Lost (ch. 23) (Patreon)

Things were progressing well. Almost too well, I thought as I looked out at T-7 and Kaiden, both of whom were currently basking in the sun. They both had optics, so there was no real danger of hurting their eyes by staring up at it for too long. They were joined by a good dozen others, all of them trying to adjust to the wide open spaces. Jack was with another group, as was David and Lucy. I honestly think I would be overwhelmed without them, because taking care of nearly two thousand children when I myself barely knew anything about the world was… it was a lot.

"Is it always like this?" T-7 asked, gaping up at the blue sky and the sun. He hadn't stopped saying 'I told you so' to everyone that he met when they cast doubt about the giant lightbulb.

"Nah, sometimes they switch the lights off, and there's a safety light called the moon," Kaiden explained, resting a hand on his shoulder. So far, most of the kids decided to stick with their designations rather than picking names. That could change in the future, but most of the kids just seemed confused about the idea of having a name in general. They were confused a lot in general. It was why I was forced to make info packets about stuff like what the sun was, what gangs were, and acceptable responses to certain situations.

"Those guys are looking at me weird. Can I kill them?" T-7 asked, bringing my attention down to the ground to see that we were being watched. A couple of goons sitting in a car at the end of a street. The reason why I picked this building was because it was in the middle of nowhere even in Pacifica. Since I had moved in, I rarely saw anyone on the streets.

But, without a doubt, they were watching us. Two dark skinned men in a nondescript ride. To an untrained eye, they wouldn't look out of place. Yet, there weren't any untrained eyes from the Orphans. "That's too much of an escalation out the gate, T. First, you ascertain their intentions. If you feel that they have ill intentions, then confront them. But, if you know they do, that's when you are free to engage with lethal force," I reminded T while my eyes flashed red. I breached their systems and typed out a simple message.

'Fuck off, Voodoo Boys.'

In response, the car slammed in reverse and the two fled. The Voodoo Boys were one of many gangs in Pacifica, but while they had a dominant presence in the district, so far, they stayed away from me. For that reason, I stayed away from them. If they were trying to poke their nose across the fence, then I'd make sure it got bitten off.

A knot of tension between my shoulder blades grew worse. Everything was going smoothly. The kids were adjusting, though some with more ease than others. There weren't any major conflicts. Night City itself was reeling from the Tyger Claws getting exterminated, but things hadn't descended into chaos like one would expect. Above all else…

Arasaka hadn't made a move. Militech hadn't made a move.

It made me nervous. More nervous than I cared to admit. It felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I didn't know where it would land. Here? Now? Ten minutes from now? When I tried to fall asleep? Or when I finally lowered my guard? Were they watching us right now? The Voodoo Boys were stuck looking at us in person, but Arasaka could have a satellite above us and I wouldn't have any idea. Worse, they didn't give any kind of indication that anything happened at all.

My foot was bouncing in place. It was utterly unthinkable that they would let us get away. Which is why I was trying to speed everything along. I- "L," Kaiden spoke up, catching my attention. He gestured to his face, "Your nose is bleeding."

It was. I was so distracted that I didn't even notice. Frowning as I blew out the excess blood, I realized that that was the third nosebleed in two days. I took my meds, mostly as a demonstration for all the other kids so they would trust the injections. Pulling up my meditech showed that everything was a little elevated, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be explained away. I was stressed out. My body was always fighting off an infection or virus, and it was only my meds that suppressed my symptoms. Still, it was starting to get worrisome. "Thanks," I told him, pinching off the excess blood. "I'm going to step inside to make sure they're not tearing up the place.

Kaiden gave me a concerned look but nodded, leaving me to enter the building. Stepping past my increasingly excessive security measures, I entered the main room to see that it was occupied by a number of faces. Many were coming and going, but all of them stopped to look at me as I passed them by. Not out of a sense of awe or gratitude… honestly, it reminded me far too much of how we used to look at Dr. K and Dr. D. Like they expected me to ask something of them.

It was a little disappointing, I thought, watching a group of boys and girls play a game called wall-ball. It was fiercely competitive based on a quick glance. The upper levels of the parking garage were converted into entertainment areas because the hotel designated ones simply weren't large enough. One of them called foul when someone used their biotics to catch the ball, but that just required a penalty of standing against the wall and letting someone pelt you with the ball. I didn't fail to notice that they talked louder and with more excitement when I was out of sight.

They weren't doing it on purpose. I was old. An adult in our world. Out of everyone we had rescued, there was no one older than us -- me, Jack, and Kaiden. The kids looked to us for guidance, me and Jack more so than Kaiden, meaning that we weren't… friends, even if we were a family.

Arriving at my desk at the very bottom of the parking garage, I grabbed some more meds. Immune boosters and symptom suppressors. Jabbing them into my thigh, I pressed down on the plunger after taking a seat. The headache started to clear up, but I still had to stuff a tissue up a nostril. Leaning back in my chair, I waited for the headache to fade away entirely, only to be hit with a buzzing. Lucy was calling.

"Everything okay?" I asked, suddenly fully alert. Had something happened? Was this it? Was-

"I'm letting you know that the lead on Kiwi was a deadend," Lucy informed, her tone soothing, likely keenly aware of why I was so panicked right out the gate. "The bolt holes I knew about are all clean. I'm not sure she's in the city anymore," Lucy confessed.

Kiwi. I didn't know how to feel about her. Was she okay? Why did she leave? Did something force her to? Someone? "Do we have any other leads?" I asked Lucy, since she was the one that was largely taking point on finding her. "Was she taken?"

"Kiwi was always cautious, L. She has skills, but she liked flying under the radar. She never wanted to be a Legend, like you and David are," Lucy began, and I knew that tone. "I think she's gone. If Kiwi was going to reach out, then she would have by now."

I pursed my lips, "If she could."

"L, she vanished after a job was done, and I know her. She left us," Lucy told me outright. Telling me that there was no point in trying to look. Kiwi wasn't as good of a runner as either me or Lucy, but if she really didn't want to be found, then we wouldn't find her. At least not without mountains of effort and time we didn't have.

My lips thinned, "Is it because of me?" I asked, my heart clenching in my chest. Kiwi left. I couldn't say that I knew her particularly well, but that was an active effort on her part. She never answered a question about her past or wanted to know anything about mine. We collaborated on the Skeleton Key for months, though, and I had liked her. She had a dry wit and she seemed nice if a bit aloof. I felt guilty for… I don't know, driving her away.

"I think she was always going to leave, L. I'm only shocked she didn't leave when Maine died," Lucy reassured, a small sigh in her voice. "I- hold on L," Lucy began, ending the call. My brow began to furrow but, a split second later, I got a message.

From V.

'Come outside. We need to talk, face to face.'

My mind instantly shifted into high gear. V was here. V was here. Arasaka knew where I was and they sent a member of counter intel. A trap? An opportunity to surrender? I'd kill them all first before I let a single one of us go back into one of those fucking rooms.

I leapt to my feet, grabbing my gun as I sent out messages to everyone. I broke into a dead sprint, heading out as fast as I could, looking through my cameras with my optics, trying to find Arasaka. The building didn't seem surrounded. Optic camo? I didn't have to try particularly hard to find V, though. As soon as the garage doors opened, I saw her standing in front of it. My home. She wore casual clothes, her red hair styled to the side, and her hands were in the air even before I leveled the gun at her.

"David's been taken by Arasaka," V stated before I could demand why she was here. The words were like a punch to the gut. "If you don't know that yet, then you should be finding out soon. They grabbed him and he's currently in Arasaka HQ. They're laying a trap for you," V continued, her voice clipped and cold.

"That's not possible," I refuted. I-

"You aren't the only one that had a finger in his systems," V continued, and that was the only possible way that I couldn't know something had happened to David. "A member of your crew gave access to David's systems. That's how a black ops team grabbed him and bounced. What you're getting now is a false positive."

It felt like my heart became a stone and fell into my gut because I quickly tapped into David's systems to see that it was false data. A false positive. I swallowed thickly, my heartbeat thundering in my ears. They had David. They had David while I was here, fretting over what they could be doing and I completely missed what they did. Kiwi… what did Kiwi do?

"I'm not here on Arasaka's behalf. I've been covering your tracks," V said, slowly lowering her hands. "Like how I covered up that crash Jack caused on the highway. They don't know about this place. Not yet. They're looking for you, and they will find you eventually, but they haven't found you yet because of me." Crash? What crash?

"Why are you here at all? You're taking a big fucking risk out of the goodness of your heart," I snapped at her, my gun unwavering as my mind raced.

"Not out of the goodness of my heart. Look, I'm a corpo piece of shit. I've lied, stole, and murdered to get where I am, and I don't regret any of it. But… fuck. You're just a bunch of kids. I'm not on board with that," V told me, the cold professionalism cracking for a moment. She sounded vulnerable, but I didn't know if I could trust that. She was Arasaka counter intel. A spy. "But, you're right. I wouldn't be taking a risk like this normally. The reason why I'm here is because I'm going to get caught. When they find you, they're going to realize I've been making false reports and sweeping others under the rug. It'll be my job and my ass."

That made more sense, I decided. "So, you want me to, what? Give myself up?"

"No. I have my own plan in motion, but it's dependent on Arasaka not finding you first. I'm here to tell you about the trap and the fact that you have about… a day, give or take, before David is out of Night City entirely. They're using him as a hostage to draw you out, but they're keeping him close until they know where you are. I can tell you where he's being held and how to get to him. You get him back, and I use the opportunity to save my own ass."

I didn't trust her. Not one bit.

However, when I got a call from Lucy, a call that could only be about one thing…

"Arasaka wants me? They'll fucking get me."

…

I almost felt like I was moving in a daze, my brain so full of plans and ideas that they seemed to blur together. V was gone, and the others had arrived. Lucy was fretting and panicked while Becca was the picture of fury.

"I-"

"If you fucking say you're going to give yourself up, I'm going to punch your lights out, gonk for brains," Becca snapped at me, making me fall silent because I had been about to do exactly that. I was making plans but every single one of them ended with colossal failure. Simply because even if we won, I lost. If we got David back? It meant that they found this place.

The only way we could win -- that the kids got to live out their lives -- was if Arasaka didn't come looking. Maybe that would be different if they were all adjusted and disguised with DNA cloakers. But, they didn't. It had been three days since we got everyone out. It just hadn't been enough time. Using the PYM Particles was a possibility, but that came with dangers and living in a jar was no different than living in a room.

"That fucking bitch," Becca snarled, her eyes flashing as her face twisted. "She sold us out. She sold David out! I'm gonna kill her!"

"How do we get David out?" Lucy interjected, looking down at the floor as if a long-standing fear had manifested. Given her history with Arasaka, that wasn't much of a shock.

Falco was trying to be the voice of reason that no one wanted to listen to, "Can we get him out? L, you're a terror as a runner, but this is Arasaka."

Jack rounded on him, looking like she was about to knock him out. They were looking to me. Kaiden was too.

"We're getting him out," I told him, my tone heavy and final. Even as I said the words, I was uncertain how. We had the element of surprise, to however slight of a degree. I imagine that Arasaka was prepared even if I had found out before they officially made their offer. We… we would need to flee the city, at the very least. Maybe head into the NUSA. Or perhaps we could become nomads. I… "We're going to get him out. No matter what, Lucy."

Lucy took in a bracing breath and offered a small curt nod of her head. Despite what Becca said, my brain kept coming to the same conclusion. "I'm going to verify V's information," Lucy decided, her voice thick with emotion as she stomped off. I could see the weight on her shoulders. She was scared. Terrified. She seemed absolutely sick with worry.

"We have a shit ton of fire power here, right? Let's go kick their fucking door in, Silverhand style," Becca said, earning an agreeing nod from Jack. I ran a hand through my hair as my eyes slid to the tank. "We bust David out. L, you flash your net running skills, and the corpos will decide it's not worth it and leave us alone." Becca didn't even sound like she believed that.

We had a deadline of twenty four hours, at best. That was with V covering our tracks. Twenty-four hours… it wasn't a lot of time. Hardly any. Not enough to prepare. Not enough to-

"L," Kaiden said, breaking through my thoughts that were beginning to spiral. "You're not alone anymore. You got us out, so let us help you like you helped us. The tank -- we can build it. You have a few thousand extra hands. Use them instead of trying to do this by yourself." The words struck a nerve as I met Kaiden's gaze, his expression serious but reassuring. He reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder, "Rely on us a little, would you?"

I wanted to argue. I was risking everyone's freedom by saving David. I knew that. And I knew that they would understand, but it didn't make it any less true. Kaiden saw that hesitation in my eyes, and continued. "We aren't people that you have to spend your life protecting from danger. We aren't helpless. How long would it take to finish the tank solo?"

I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Three days," I admitted quietly.

"And with us?" Kaiden asked, driving his point home.

"Twelve hours," I sighed. He was right. This wasn't a problem that I could solve on my own. I needed their help if I wanted to get David back, and more than anything in this world, I wanted him back. Kaiden simply nodded, giving my shoulder a slight squeeze, knowing that his point had been made.

"I'll start rounding up volunteers. We have the schematics," Kaiden told me, heading off. I took in a deep and bracing breath, looking at Jack, Becca, and Falco.

"Let's get him back," I told them and nothing more needed to be said.

But I had some preparations to make on my own.

…

"No way in hell, kid," Viktor said, his expression horrified as he looked at me from behind his tinted sunglasses. "Not a chance in a million years. This isn't swapping out some optics or giving yourself a grip -- that's just some plug and play. These… this is some serious chrome, L. One of these and you'd need six months of rest time. And that's being generous with the estimate."

"I understand what you're saying, Viktor," I told him, laid out on his operating chair, the screen in front of me. Viktor's selection of chrome had dramatically increased since I last visited -- something that was probably because of me, in all honesty. Between the Tyger Claws and the Arasaka personnel, scavs had their pickings of top of the line implants to klep. Meaning that military-grade implants were flooding the streets. Which also meant that I could buy something, and I made my selection.

There was no time to design my own implants like I did my optics and grip. Or my Cyberdeck and OS. Meaning that I had to go with what was on the streets for this.

A Kerenzikov. Detoxifier. Adrenaline Booster. Limbic System Enhancement. Synaptic Accelerator.

Some were more physically taxing than others, but all of them were pretty invasive.

“If you did, then you wouldn’t be asking this. This is a fast pass straight to cyberpsycho territory, L. I get that you’re made of some stern stuff, but this…” Viktor shook his head, visibly disturbed by the idea. Especially when his gaze landed on the last piece of tech that I had presented to him, the one thing that I had brought in myself. A Sandevistan. One that I had designed for David, but one I would be chipping in to rescue him. I had to use it simply because a Sandy from off of the shelf wouldn’t mesh with my cyberdeck. “I don’t know what’s got you so scared, but slotting in tech like this is a one way street.”

“That’s fine,” I told Viktor, making him go very still. “Vik… Death has always scared the hell out of me… but it’s never been my death that frightened me,” I told him, meeting his gaze, my voice low but even. “I understand if you don’t want to do it, and I won’t force you too. I’ll find someone that will.”

His lips thinned as he looked away, his hands curling into fists. I expected him to say no in that moment. I think he expected to say no too, because he seemed surprised by what came out of his mouth. “Fine. If this is your choice… if you feel like you have to do this… then fine. I want you to promise me something, though,” he said, getting up and grabbing a syringe and injecting a compound that would prevent his hand from trembling.

Relief flooded me, “What?” I asked him as he pulled a chair up, grabbing another syringe. Despite what I said, I genuinely don’t think I could trust anyone but Viktor to do this surgery. I was too hot, I had too many enemies. I would be out of it for about twelve hours. Enough time for the tank to be built and for me to make some rough designs for an extra surprise for Arasaka when the operation commenced.

“When this job is done -- whatever it is -- you come back here and you downsize. The Sandy needs to be taken out at the very least. I like you, kid. Probably more than I should -- you got heart. I don’t want to see you on the news wiping out half the city because you went psycho.” He told me, waiting for a nod before he injected the syringe.

“I promise,” I told him, having no idea if the words were a lie or not.

He pushed down on the plunger, filling my veins with…

…

…

…

I returned to consciousness through a sea of fog, my head feeling woozy and my body numb. Lurching forward, I felt a hand place itself on my chest, “Easy there. You’re still feeling the side effects of the drugs, but I guess we know the detoxifier is working.”

My body felt like it belonged to someone else, but I still managed to stumble to my feet after brushing away Viktor’s hand. Reaching back, I felt the metallic spine that protruded from my back. I didn’t feel any pain, but the numbness wasn’t that much better. Pulling up my OS, I checked the time to see that I had overslept by an hour. Not great, but I was able to speed up the filtration of the drugs in my bloodstream.

“L, when I was chipping you in, I saw a lot of damage to your organs,” Viktor said, catching my attention as the throbbing pain started to ache where he slotted in the mods. I shrugged on my shirt, and I already knew I was bleeding through it. “Almost bad enough that I started pulling them out. I might have if it wasn’t for the fact I knew you’re working on a time schedule,” Viktor told me.

The nosebleeds.

“Will it kill me by the end of the day?” I asked him, rolling my shoulders. I checked in with Lucy and the others to see that they were on schedule. I was the one holding everything up.

“No. But it will by the end of the month if we don’t swap out most of your vital organs,” he told me, taking off his sunglasses to reveal a set of tired eyes. “Your DNA is still encrypted, but you either need to crack the code or find the cipher if we want to find the source of what’s going on with you.” The source? Fifteen years of experimental cyberware, drugs, and invasive surgeries. That was the cause.

“I’ll look into it,” I told him, and I could tell that he was a little annoyed that I wasn’t taking it seriously. I was. I just had more pressing issues to deal with. “Thanks, Vik. I’ll see ya’ later,” I told him, heading outside.

I heard him sigh.

“Give ‘em hell, kid.”