Never Fade Away: Gr4ves (ch. 29) (Patreon)

"This is a bad idea. A bad fucking idea, all around," Panam made her opinion known, far and wide as the Aldecaldos gathered up around the fire. They didn't really have much in the way of a chain of command. Saul was the shot-caller, and for better or worse, what he said goes. Below him, however, you had the lead mechanics, the docs, the teachers for the kids and yada yada competing for second in command. All of it depended on who was shouting the loudest.

So, when it comes to powwows like this? Everyone got a say, and Panam knew she had a set of lungs if nothing else.

"So you've said. Repeatedly," Saul groused in her direction, his arms crossed as he stood on the other side of the fire. There was a clear rift in the clan at the moment. Everyone had their doubts, but as they got closer to Night City, one by one she was the only one left that had the balls to call a shit plan shit. Panam felt the wedge between her and the others forming. Peoples' patience was wearing thin.

They wouldn't drive her out, but there did come a point where she had to ask herself the question: did she swallow her reservations and stay? Or did she leave?

"Because you won't fucking listen. Biotech is a cancer that's going to kill us, Saul. I agree -- we had to leave the badlands. There wasn't anything there for us, but a mega-fucking-corp won't be our fucking saviors. We've seen this before with other clans!" She dug her heels in, meeting Saul's gaze. "It's a nice deal now, sure -- how long do you think until it becomes rotten? We can survive off of Night City! It'll be rough at first, sure, but it's always fucking rough."

Panam couldn't even tell how many times they had this same exact argument. They must have had it at least every few days, if not once a day, from the badlands all the way to Night City. It just went around in circles, and it was nearly time to start committing to it -- the offer from Biotech that lured them here in the first place. It would start off with a run here or a run there, nothing they couldn't handle or weren't already doing, with the only difference being they got paid three times the standard rate.

It would be fine for a while. Maybe a year. Maybe less, even. Sooner or later, Biotech would decide that they were worth sacrificing for something, and they wouldn't care how many of their bodies got stacked up.

"I gave you a shot, Panam. For your word that when it came time, you'd accept the decision," Saul argued.

"I'm pulling great! I'd be better if I had the fucking clan at my back instead of acting just as a solo! And how in the ever living fuck was I supposed to anticipate Arasaka locking down the city?!" Panam's temper flared -- she was doing runs in Night City to prove that they could do it. To prove that she could match the offer that Biotech put forth. She hadn't come close. It took time to build up a rep in Night City, but she had Rogue's ear now. A few more jobs, and she could blow Biotech's offer out of the water.

Mitch stepped forward, holding out his hands between them to stop either one from leaping over the fire to knock some sense into the other. "Enough of that, now -- Panam, no one is doubting that you busted your ass. No one. We all see it. But you did give your word," Mitch pointed out and she wanted to slap some sense into him. He was neutral. Not on Saul's side, not on her side -- he was on the clan's side, telling no lies and delivering harsh truths.

Panam clenched her jaw, frustrated. Mitch looked to Saul next, "And you know that too. You knew that the deal was next to impossible for her to fulfill way back when you made it -- how is she supposed to pull enough money alone to pay for the entire clan? Not to mention, when we got here, the city was in chaos and Arasaka had half closed the city down. You know that's not a fair shake, Saul." To that, Saul scowled but offered a curt nod, accepting that much. "Now, I know that none of you want to consider it… but there is another option on the table."

Panam shifted where she stood. "That's a big target, Mitch."

"We have him here," Mitch informed, making everyone sputter, and both she and Saul rounded on the old mechanic. "He came by with Falco, who was pleading the case. He's asking to speak to us before we make a decision. And, frankly, I think we oughta give him a listen before he decides to stop being polite."

Saul ran a hand through his dark hair, looking as stressed as Panam had ever seen him. He offered a small curt nod before Scorpion broke off the group to bring them up. Panam watched him go, her gaze heading up to Night City. It was a damn hideous thing, Panam decided, and not for the first time. She honestly couldn't tell what she hated more about the city -- the smell? The people? Or that massive spire of adverts that stopped anyone from within being able to see the stars?

Some minutes later, Scorpion led two figures up to the campfire, the one source of light in the area. Falco, Panam knew, was a Nomad. At some point. He was pretty guarded about his story, which told Panam all she needed to know, but it was also an old story. Dakota Smith had nothing but good to say about him when they asked around after the first meet.

The real guest of the hour was L. He wore a simple t-shirt with a weird graphic on it, cargo shorts, flip-flops, and what seemed to be an EMT jacket around his waist. Her attention was drawn to the long scars that went up and down his legs, and his lone arm. They were even on his neck -- near survival lines that followed muscle groupings. His left arm was silver and black steel, unlike any model that Panam could place. Above all else… young. He was young. Very young. Panam wouldn't put him at twenty. She probably wouldn't even put him at eighteen.

All the same, as far as Night City was concerned, he was one of the most terrifying people to walk the face of the planet.

"Hello," L greeted them, almost sounding like an awkward kid that didn't know where to start. His gaze swept over all of them, making everyone tense. Panam wasn't any different. As far as anyone back in the Afterlife, and in Night City as a whole was concerned? L stood for Legend.

Living Legend, at that.

"... Hello," Saul broke the heavy silence that fell upon the meeting. "We were just discussing your offer." L didn't seem surprised, and Panam found herself increasingly paranoid. Had he already been listening? Who here had the tech in them that L could listen through? Mitch? Scorpion? Saul might. She was the only one clean of cybernetics outside of an OS needed for tech. Could that be used against her?

Falco placed a hand on L's shoulder, offering them a patient smile, "Look, I know it's a big ask but the compensation for the risk is more than fair. Two hundred kids -- fourteen to fifteen -- they can work, they have military training, and they have quality chrome. We aren't asking you to take dead weight here. They can contribute to the Clan. They just need to learn a little about the world first."

"We came to Night City because we're already struggling to feed the mouths that we have," Saul refuted, crossing his arms over his chest. "To be blunt? You have pissed off every single megacorp in the world. They're all coming for you. If they find out that we have your people? Then they're going to come for us."

Panam clenched her jaw, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to swallow her words.

"If it's a matter of resources, then here," L said, tossing Saul a can looking thing. It looked like a can of pop. "From what I saw, you use five hundred watts for all of your Clan -- that can produce a hundred thousand watts continuously. Clean renewable energy," L said, like he hadn't just thrown a nuclear reactor, "And this is my recycling tech -- fabrication and recycling. Toss anything into the recycler, and it'll break it down to its base components, while the fabricator will make anything you have a design for."

He held up the data chip between two fingers, leveling a heavy gaze at all of them. "You won't need to scavenge for parts ever again. Forget creating new parts -- you could fabricate entire vehicles." Panam felt the reaction to that, and she knew that Falco had told L the weak spot of any Nomad Clan.

Wear and tear. Being a Nomad was punishing on their vehicles, and some of them were held together with duct tape and prayer. Parts were a constant ever-present concern in the back of everyone's mind. CHOOM2 fuel was another constant worry -- they needed enough for their vehicles and to power their camps. If what L was offering wasn't bullshit? The money that went to parts, and the time spent scavenging for them, could go to more fuel or food. Same for the costs for the fuel that they would spend on the camp.

He just offered them a Nomad's wet dream.

"These kids," Panam found herself speaking up, far more interested in the offer now. "Who are they to you?" Falco had dodged questions like he was born to do it -- which made the request all the more weird. To just dump two hundred teenagers on a Nomad clan? Not to smuggle them across a border, but to simply… teach them? About the world? Were they a bunch of rich corpo kids that didn't know Jack from shit?

L met her gaze, "They're my family." He said, and that caused a ripple to go through them. "Falco says that you're good people. That I can trust you to protect them because Nomads look after their own. That's what I'm asking you to do. I know I’m asking you to take a risk. A big one. But, it’s mitigated by the fact that no one would know to look for them here unless one of you talks to Arasaka. And, if you do that, you’ll have a lot bigger problems to deal with.”

Saul glowered, “Is that a threat?”

In response, L pointed. Not at anyone, but at a direction. Just outside of Night City, where they were having this meeting. Rocky Ridge. Or, as Panam had been hearing it referred to as the Graveyard. In the weeks since the massacre, it had been picked over by scavs. The Aldecaldos included -- guns, implants, and vehicles… all that remained were demolished buildings and traces of a slaughter. L maintained eye contact before offering a small nod, “Yes.”

Panam could respect that, and she knew she wasn’t the only one. A Nomad clan was family, for better or worse. Everyone knew everyone and everyone was in everyone's business -- but, no matter how much they might fight and argue, at the end of the day, they were family. Anyone that messed with one of them messed with all of them. Threatening a Nomad clan for ratting out a member of their family? A threat like that would be the least any of them did.

“Can we see the goods before we agree to anything?” Panam spoke up, pointedly ignoring the look she got from Saul. L looked to Falco, who gave him a nod, and L flicked the datashard over to her with his prosthetic. Directly into the palm of her hand. That was precise. Everyone held their breath while Panam slotted it in… designs filtered across her contact lens, which was hooked up to the OS, letting her see it without the need of an optic eye. There was even a simple how to use video that showed L, putting something into the recycler, taking out a cube, then feeding it into the recycler to produce a spark plug.

It worked. It could change absolutely everything for them. All the reasons to go to Biotech just vanished like smoke in the wind. Hell, even the reasons to stay in Night City were diminished considerably. This opened the path to true self-sufficiency.

Taking the shard out, she pinched it between her fingers and looked at L. She could give a fuck what the city said about him -- she could, but she wouldn't. All that Legend nonsense meant nothing to her. When she looked at him… "Saul… it's worth the risks," She told him. Underneath the neon and glimmer of Night City and his rep, L wasn't anything that she hadn't seen a million times before. He was just a bit deadlier than most.

He was just a guy trying to protect his family. He was trusting them with the people he cared about, and the ones Arasaka and Biotech would go after. The announcement he made was heard around the world.

L wasn't running in fear of the megacorporations. He was standing his ground, flipping them the bird, and challenging them on their own turf. It was pure, unrefined, undiluted, grade A 100% insanity, but Panam couldn't say that she wasn't rooting for him. Just a little bit.

Saul looked at the others, then down at the energy source in his hands -- a GN Drive, according to the shard. Panam could see him thinking it over, weighing the risks. The cost of failure or betrayal could be seen just over the ridge line. But, in their hands were the keys to their future. Download the specs for some hydroponics? Klep some quality soil? They could park themselves in the middle of the badlands, and never have to worry about a thing.

"If Arasaka does come sniffing around us? What then?" Saul asked, his voice even.

"If you protect my people? Then I'll kill every single one of them. I'll protect you too -- give you the time you need to escape," L responded, inclining his head to the traces of the battle outside of the Graveyard. Where he had made half an army kill themselves.

Saul had his doubts, but he was seeing the light. Panam knew that he didn't want to tie himself down to a megacorporation -- he understood what they did to clans like theirs, but he also didn't see a better option. Until now.

Saul nodded his head slowly, "Alright. We'll protect them. Teach them. They'll be part of the clan as far as I'm concerned," Saul voiced, earning a round of agreements. Falco patted L's back, looking relieved while L's lips thinned. He was anxious. It was kind of cute how anxious he was about some kids leaving the nest. Who would have thought he'd be such a mother hen? "Where are they?"

Despite initiating the deal, L nodded with some reluctance. "They're here already," L informed, placing something in the ground before taking a step back. And, one by one, from a little saucer dish, kids started appearing from it. Panam's jaw dropped at the sight as all of a sudden there were a dozen extra people in the clearing -- six boys, six girls. All of them had the same look about them, with shaved heads and wearing either medical scrubs or the same kind of clothing that L wore. Basically anything that could be found at the bottom of a bargain bin.

"They're-" L began, but a girl stepped forward.

"I'm N-15, but I've decided to be called Nora now," … Nora introduced herself, and that sounded like a story and a half. That prompted the others to introduce themselves -- E-13, Y-15, X-14. Some of them had names, like Nora, but they were in the minority.

Once they were all introduced, L passed Nora the thingamajig. "Release the others when you get to camp. I can't go with you. It's not safe," L told her, making Nora nod.

"Don't you worry 'bout a thing," Nora said, an oddly placed country twang in her voice that no one else seemed to share. "We'll take good care of 'em, I reckon. Just… be safe yourself, ya' hear? And save some for the rest of us. You ain't the only one that wants to take a shot at Arasaka."

For the briefest of seconds, Panam would say that L almost seemed uncertain. It quickly vanished, however. "Sure. Will do," he told her, giving them all a look and a nod. "Be seeing you," he told them before he walked away. Panam watched him go, the heavy darkness outside of Night City quickly swallowing him up until he was gone entirely. Leaving them with twelve of two hundred kids.

Nora seemed to be the one in charge, "So -- I hear you have something called a vehicle! I wanna see it!" Panam swallowed a smile at that, looking at the others as it started to dawn on them what they just agreed to.

"Hop in my ride, then," Panam said, gesturing for Nora to follow while her gaze met Saul's. He flicked her a message -- they would talk later. They would. They needed to. There was a whole lot to talk about.

"Woo wee, would'ya look at that!" Nora said, seeing her ride as everyone else loaded up. They ended up with two kids apiece, leaving J-14 in her back seat. He was calmer than Nora -- his head shaved, wearing scrubs, but the way he carried himself… he reminded her of Mitch and Scorpion when they were checking out a situation.

Now it was time to start fishing for some info on what the hell was going on with these youngsters. "First time in a car?" Panam asked as Nora started poking around at everything in the front seat.

"Yup! I seen 'em up on tha streets, but I ain't ever been in one," she replied, turning on the radio. Panam suppressed a flash of annoyance simply because the kid didn't seem to know any better. And she wasn't lying either. There was no faking that wide eyed excitement. She was practically shaking from it. Her eyes lit up when Panam revved the engine, following Saul and the others. "Woo!"

"We got some info from L -- to protect you, look out for you, but what exactly are you wanting to get out of this? You were the first let out of… whatever that thing was," Panam said, gesturing at the thing. She had seen the videos of the attack on Arasaka tower -- a big ass tank shrinking down to the size of a baseball as it flew over the streets of Night City, then becoming full size again. "There a reason for that?"

"Cuz we're the oldest, and we passed the simulations that he set up! What ta do on the streets when someone tries to offer ya drugs or pulls a gun on you. Stuff like that. And he says we're the best at adjustin' to this wider world." That… really didn't make a lot of sense without context, Panam decided.

J, in the back spoke up, "She found country music. She hasn't dropped the accent since." There was a sigh in his voice and any doubts that they were family went right out the window.

"Darn tootin'," Nora agreed with a nod. "And to answer your inquiry, Miss Panam, we're testin' the waters. See if ya' can really be trusted with the others. If ya' can't… well… L'll just kill ya' all," Nora informed, offering a small shrug that said, 'What can you do?'

"Fair," Panam returned, idly realizing that she never gave her name. "I wouldn't do anything different in his shoes. So, he's an older brother to you?"

"Sumthin like that, I reckon," Nora agreed. "The boys know 'em better than the girls do, but he makes the decisions." To that, Panam glanced in her rearview to see J wore a frown.

"He's our savior. We were all going to die and he got us out of the corpo's hands. This is him trying to make sure we stay out of their hands," he elaborated a bit, and that just solidified her thoughts on L. He was just a man protecting his family. He was just crazy enough to take on the world to do it.

They were being deliberately obscure about the details, but a clear enough picture was being painted. It was interesting… but she wasn’t really looking to discuss L. Felt like he was the only one anyone was talking about lately. “What about you two? What do you want?” She asked, and a big goofy smile broke out on Nora’s face.

“I’mma be a radio host!” She declared, a woman with a plan. “Tha days of the Rockerboys are gone and dust! I wanna hear some good, ol’ fashion, country on this here radio.”

J made a sound that betrayed just how horrified he was by the mere thought of it. “I hope not. You’re bad enough. As for me… I don’t know. I’m good at killing people. I always did really well in the simulations, so… I guess I’ll do what I’m good at.” That was a little depressing, and horrifying to hear from a teenager. “I’ll do that retiring thing when I’m old. Twenty, or something.”

That got a sputter out of Panam, “Twenty is retiring age for you? Twenty is old?” She blurted, her eyebrows rising all the way to her hairline. What was that?

“Twenty is really old. L and Kaiden are really old at sixteen. Nineteen seems… I don’t know. I’m not sure that I want to live that long, to be honest. Not having to do work days might help a bit, by that point you’re more dead than alive, you know? Body is breaking down, nothing works as it should, and everyone knows that you’re on borrowed time. It always seemed better to go out while you’re young -- fifteen, sixteen at the oldest. But, without work days. Twenty seems like a good number to retire at. Maybe I’ll live to see twenty-three. No more than that, though.”

What in the actual fuck was she listening to? Why was Nora nodding like that made any amount of sense? “Kid. I’m twenty eight,” she told him and Panam could see that she blew his fucking mind with that revelation.

“What?! No way! That's- you’re ancient!” J sputtered, sounding like he genuinely couldn’t believe it, and Panam found herself so confused by the reaction that she couldn’t even be offended. “You have to be the oldest person in the world! I didn’t know people could even get that old!” Okay, she was starting to get a little offended.

“Jay, you lickspittle, people on the outside use impants to make themselves still look young,” Nora said and Panam had to find the words.

“I am young,” Panam defended, annoyed when Nora sent a pitying expression her way. “You’re not old until you hit like… eighty nowadays. Some of the guys in the clan are nearly a hundred,” Panam said and she was greeted with naked disbelief and skepticism. She genuinely didn’t know how to interpret that. Or what kind of upbringing the kids had that dying at nineteen was considered ‘too old.’ In time, she would learn more. But, for now…

For now, they were bickering like normal kids.

Panam found herself smiling as they made their way to camp. At least until Nora leaned over her to look out the window, "We're good, L! You can go on, now!" Nora said, and her jaw dropped when she saw what Nora was looking at.

L was in the sky -- she almost missed him entirely, if it wasn't for his EMT jacket. He stood there, looking down at them, as he stood on… was that his arm?

L must have heard Nora because he offered a small nod before he banked, and yes. He was flying in the bottom half of his prosthetic arm, only a dull jet of flame marking his distance as he flew back to Night City.

What a guy.