Never Fade Away: Bigger Man (ch. 36) (Patreon)

"More details have come to light around the murder of- Oh, y'all don't give a damn about the fattest of fat cat politicians getting skinned, y'all got more important biz to worry about.

Like trains.

As most of y'all know, during the Konpeki Clash, the track for the Night City Metro got wrecked. At a few places. So the Metro shut down for a while. Not a big deal, I thought…

But some y'all went and lost your minds over it! Working stiffs, I could understand being upset, they gotta get to work after all, but the majority of people having a fit are just upset because they wanted to ride the train… just to ride the train.

Now, I'm a country girl at heart, so I thought I loved trains more than most, but some of you folks…

Anyway, the city's hauling ass to fix it. In the meantime, here's Hey Brother by Aviici.

~

Kaiden Alenko blew out a breath as he stepped foot on the streets of Night City. The flashes of neon illuminated the roads better than the busted out street lights ever could. He heard the unmistakable sounds of gunfire off in the distance -- something that used to put him on edge every time he heard it, expecting those bullets were meant for him. Now, he simply glanced in that direction before puzzling out how far away the shots were and decided that it wasn't his problem. Rolling his shoulders, and placing a reassuring hand on the gun at his belt, he was forced to remind himself that he had a much deadlier weapon on him at all times.

His biotics.

Turning away from the sounds of gunfire, he continued on to his destination -- Lizzie's. It had become something of a home away from home, Kaiden found. Jack was frequently there, and now a bunch of the kids were too. Probably not the best environment for them, if Kaiden was being completely honest with himself, but it was a good place for them to experience the overwhelming world that was Night City.

Venturing down the streets, he reflected just how much they had changed in his brief time out of the orphanage. They were worse than when he first saw them by a pretty big margin. As Nora liked to say, the streets were hot, and in the past few months, there hadn't been a day where they weren't sweltering. As he made his way, a car chase rounded the corner -- 6th Street and Tyger Claws. Biotic energy rippled around Kaiden and the few bystanders that stood by him, deflecting bullets that flew in a wide angle as the Tyger Claws… what was it… sprayed and prayed?

Frowning to himself, he lifted a hand up and the front end of the car the Tyger Claws were in followed, the back wheels spinning out as the car flipped due to its own momentum. Kaiden would have been content to leave it at that, but as the Tyger Claws got out of the car, they turned to him. "Target M acquired!" One of them announced and he realized who they were. Mercenaries. Arasaka soldiers that had been placed in Tyger Claw attire to slip into Night City. He wasn't sure if they were acting on Arasaka orders or if they had found new masters to serve.

Biotic energy condensed into the palm of his hands before he flung it out, skewering through a man and the car he tried to use for cover. It was a poor position for the small squad of mercenaries masquerading as gangsters, because the 6th Street band that they had been chasing for one reason or another had come to a screeching halt and unleashed a wave of gunfire in their direction. The streets became filled with the sound of gunfire, the car getting riddled with holes. The mercenaries did have quality implants, but there were just too many bullets flying at them.

They were ripped to shreds and Kaiden met the gaze of the leader of the 6th Dtreet group -- an older man with a cowboy hat on. There was a moment of tension before he inclined his head at Kaiden, which he returned. They went their separate ways before the 6th Street tossed a grenade into the car and blew it up, leaving it in the middle of the road. It was just another burnt out car. The drivers in the road barely looked at it on their way to where they were going.

"There is something wrong with this city," Kaiden muttered under his breath before glancing down at the palm of his hand. That something was getting worse. The streets were just unsafe, and calling them unsafe felt like an understatement. He wasn't really helping there, Kaiden admitted. He had just killed a man and walked away. It wasn't his first kill and it wouldn't be his last. In the time since L went under and the dissolvement of Arasaka, the attacks got a little more frequent, but Kaiden knew that there would be nothing on the squad. No trace of who was paying them.

Frowning to himself, he thought on what he saw. Adam Smasher. A ruined building afloat, flinging enough rubble that buildings across the docks were getting smacked and half destroyed. That was a power that was beyond him. Smasher had been in a completely different league. The battle was like something out of a legend and everyone was enraptured with it, even if it did destroy a chunk of the city to the extent that even days later, they were still pulling people out of the rubble. And that was with the help of biotics like himself.

Was.

A sigh escaped him as his feet carried him to his destination, a thousand and one things Weighing on his mind. A thousand and two things that needed doing. Slowly, the streets started to transform as he neared Lizzie's. It was a subtle thing at first, and it certainly didn't extend all over Chinatown, but things were… less terrible. Fewer burnt out cars. Fewer buildings covered with bullet holes. The reason for it was evident enough.

"Hey'ya, Kaiden!" The gap tooth smile of thirteen year old X-13 greeted him. He wore a child sized flack jacket, his mohawk was making a serious effort to be every single shade of the color spectrum while a sized down assault rifle hung from his shoulders. He was joined by a handful of other increasingly ridiculous looking kids that held down the corner. It was meant to be a safe assignment, but based on the pockmarks in the flack, that safety was relative.

"Keeping an eye out for trouble?" Kaiden greeted them.

"You betcha," X answered, and he would never forgive Nora for discovering country music because the accent acted like a disease with how infectious it was. Kaiden wasn't even sure why. "Ain't seen so much of a hair of 'em Claws. Ya' reckon that they'll try sumthin' soon?" X asked hopefully, looking off the way at the surveillance that the Claws had on the area. The kids were eager for violence.

L's example. An unwitting one. They saw how violence was glorified. They saw him attack those that had kept them in a cage. Before, they were ignorant of the highs of the world -- video games, drinking, hanging out, forms of self expression. They felt robbed. And they were looking to follow in L's footsteps by expressing themselves with violence and blood.

"I'd keep an eye out, but I wouldn't expect anything," Kaiden said, much to their immense disappointment. One of them kicked a piece of rubble, heads down until their chins were touching their chests.

"Are ya' sure?" X tried, "Won't be no trouble. We've been planning attacks all over Tyger Claws territory. There won't be any survivors. Honest!' X tried to haggle a yes and Kaiden wished he could say that he was surprised by the kids planning to destroy the Tyger Claws. After all, L did it. And, as far as they could see, L could do no wrong.

Kaiden felt a headache forming, reaching out and tapping X on the side of the head, hitting the amp that wrapped around the back of his skull. "No aggressive moves. The city is bad enough without dumping more fuel to the fire, yeah?"

"What you on about? Night City is great!" X protested, but didn't argue the direct order. They all had extensive military training. Every single one. It would be a big stretch to call them all soldiers, but the kids were comfortable with the chain of command. There was no official structure beyond L being at the top, himself and Jack being somewhere below him, and generally doing what those older than you said.

Kaiden let out a hum as X smacked his hand away when he went to ruffle his mohawk. He was a bit worried about the kids breaking ranks -- they had freedom, but they hadn't really tested boundaries yet. That would start happening soon. However, as a price to be on the streets, there were some basic implant requirements to ensure their safety. Those implants were high tier, but everyone was so used to seeing themselves getting taken apart that the inherent dangers of implants were lost on them. Add that to the fact that every kid was now a biotic? Well… he was more worried about the messes they would make than he was about them getting hurt.

Chuckling to himself, he let them be and continued on to the club that served as the HQ for the Mox. He saw other groups of kids, all armed to the teeth, and saw some of them talking with the sex workers that they protected. It was a symbiotic relationship, Kaiden figured. The kids weren't formally Mox, but they took the job of protecting the guys and girls extremely seriously. That gave the Mox strength. The sex workers, however… humanized the kids. Talked to them. Doted on them. They showed them what it was to live in the world -- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

"Yo, Kaiden," Rita, the door woman for the Mox, greeted him.

"Heya, Kaiden," A-15, or Ally greeted soon after.

"Hey. Anything I should know before I step in?" Kaiden greeted them and Rita just chuckled.

"A lot of scheming is going on. Oh, and we've been having some problems with your boy's poser gang. Most of them are alright because L said he liked the Mox. But some of em' are just wearing the threads to set shit on fire," Rita informed with a small shrug of her shoulders, as if to say 'what can you do?'

Not what he wanted to hear, but what he expected. "We'll take care of it," Kaiden reassured as he entered the club.

"Know you will, K." Rita said as he left. K. He remembered the K of his year. It felt weird getting called that. Dismissing the errant thought, he found that the club was in full swing despite the early and late hour. The music pumped, people danced, there were people zoned out as they got a BD. Despite the thumping of the music, Kaiden found that people stepped out of his way -- if not because they knew his face, then because the amp that marked the back of his skull was a sure sign. It was convenient, letting him continue down to Punching Judy's lair in the basement.

"-way out of my league. I didn't even want to be the boss of the Mox, and now… what? You want-" Kaiden heard Judy say before he rounded the corner. She cut herself off to look at him, and instantly, he felt all eyes on him -- Becca, Jack, and Yorinobu. Falco was off taking care of the Aldecaldo's kids. The source of the Texan infestation.

He knew the question they all had. "He's fine. He needs some space, but he's fine." Kaiden said, not entirely sure if the words were true. L… he was his best friend. They grew up together -- were forced to -- but even when they had been M and L 5, they had been friends. They didn't know him, Kaiden was forced to remind himself. They didn't know the him from before. Before his ability manifested. Before that glimmer of hope that they could escape ignited and all of it rested on his shoulders.

Becca face-palmed, "Why am I exclusively attracted to idiots?" She grumbled, running her temples with her fingers, trying to soothe the headache that was brewing. "Not so much as a 'hey, I'm not in a coma anymore?'" She grumbled and Jack was right there with her.

Yorinobu paid them little mind, however, seemingly vaguely relieved but not much more. "Did L-san say anything about his plans going forward?" Yorinobu asked, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Judy roll her eyes to the ceiling. It seemed like the conversation had been going in circles and, ultimately, it all hinged on L and his actions.

"Nothing concrete beyond that he'll be there if Militech tries to retake the city," Kaiden said, closing the door and leaning on the wall next to it. Yorinobu was a weird guy. They had mutual goals, but every time Kaiden spoke to the man, he felt… corpo.

"The city is in shambles," Yorinobu began, sitting straight in his seat with his hands clasped together in his lap. "As things are, the collapse of Night City is imminent. Night Corp has been surprisingly effective in picking up the pieces, but they alone cannot hope to stabilize the city. I was speaking to Alvarez-san about expanding her control beyond Chinatown." He began but Judy was quick to interject.

"We aren't the police. We're a protection gang, sure, but for sex workers and dolls," Judy dug her heels in. She didn't want the responsibility. It was evident enough. And fair. According to Becca, Judy was more than happy to stay a porn editor.

"I'm afraid that you're already more effective than the police," Yorinobu replied, his tone mournful. "Their budget came from Arasaka. They managed to coast in fumes for a week, but now they're just another gang on the streets. Only a handful have proven any dedication to the oaths that they took."

Kaiden tilted his head at that, "Got any names?" He asked, bringingYorinobu's attention to him.

"River Ward and his immediate associates. As far as I can see, he has a keen eye for picking out the clean members amongst the police force. It is tense now, but when the funding for the police on all levels runs out, we will see them get… creative in finding ways to pay their salaries," Yorinobu said and Kaiden believed him on that. He had heard a lot about it on the streets. Cops were already corrupt according to everyone, but now that thin veneer of legitimacy was being tossed out the window. There were cops that went around collecting protection fees, shaking down pedestrians and threatening them with jail time unless they paid to stay out of prison.

At least, that's what he heard. He hadn't seen it himself, but that could just be because he avoided the cops as a matter of principle. They had been largely funded by Arasaka, after all.

"The police are necessary. If not the police, then another policing force because they were the ones that would show up if you got into a gunfight on a busy street.  Soon… people will be able to act with complete immunity. It will be total anarchy in Night City and, at that point, it would be better if the NUSA did reclaim it." Yorinobu stated in no uncertain terms, making Becca's expression twist while Judy bit her lip.

Jack, however, was less than convinced. "Been that way since the start. The city is just being a little more honest now."

Yorinobu's lips thinned. "You benefit from the current circumstances. You are a biotic and, until recently, you were the strongest one." Jack bristled, clenching her jaw. She didn't care for being dethroned. Especially in such an irrefutable way. "Millions will not. They have suffered needlessly already. Things will get worse before they get better, and if nothing is done, it won't ever get better. Night City will be condemned as a Combat Zone. The only consolation is that the NUSA is unlikely to build a wall around the city out of fear of L."

Judy looked away when Yorinobu looked at her, uncomfortable with the responsibility being placed on her shoulders. Kaiden met his gaze, however. The weight of lives was a familiar one to him. The difference between him and L, though… was that it was a lot harder for him to draw a line between those he cared about and those he didn't. "I hear you," Kaiden replied and Yorinobu did seem relieved at that, letting out a breath that he had been holding. "I think Night City getting condemned as a Combat Zone is a forgone conclusion, though. At the very least, we'd end up being treated like one."

Combat Zones were where law and order had completely collapsed. No one was allowed in, no one was allowed out. No shipments of food, water, or supplies. The Combat Zones were simply packaged up, shelved, and occasionally checked on to see if enough people had died to retake the territory.

Arasaka had pulled funding, but a number of other megacorporations were still here. But, when L turned his sights to them, they would quickly scatter and cut their losses. After all, it would only be a matter of time before they were forced out.

Yorinobu's lips thinned, but he didn't disagree, so Kaiden continued. "What do you need? What's your plan?" He asked, agreeing something had to be done. What that something was… was self-sufficiency. L wouldn't like it. It would just be a bigger cage to him, but Night City getting condemned as a Combat Zone could work in their favor if they were ready for it.

"With the murder of Mayor Royce, the position is open," Yorinobu began. Mayor Royce. Kaiden didn't know a damn thing about the man, but what he did know was that there were a lot of questions about his death. He saw a glimpse of the murder scene from a BD -- the walls were painted with blood and Royce had been torn apart limb from limb. "Jefferson Peralez has announced his candidacy and… I will run against him. I have the name, the funding, and with a little luck, I can gather what is left of my father's company and bring it to Night City."

Arasaka hadn't been able to sell everything. Not all at once. There were bits and pieces that were free floating, ripped off from the greater whole. "Will you be that lucky?"

"I thought you hated being a corpo," Jack asked, her tone sharp with disdain.

"I hate what my father's company did. How it destroyed lives for the sake of profits," Yorinobu replied, his tone just as sharp. "And it will be unlikely that I get all of it, or convince most to move to Night City. Still, it will be something. What I need from L-san, however, is… something. Something to campaign on. Technology that can rebuild the city, such as the GN drive." Yorinobu stated and…

L's tech was to destroy. To kill. Big lasers. Implants made to survive a fight or to hit harder. Everything he had built was to destroy the enemy and the enemy was the world, if felt like at times. Anything that could create or sustain was an unintended side effect of that goal. And with everything… the timeframe that David gave was coming up in a few weeks. If that wasn't enough, then L… L was dying. Only he, Vik, and L knew it.

L had enough on his plate.

"I'll try to talk him around on giving a mark one GN Drive to the city," he wouldn't give a more advanced model simply because he feared it being used against him. A Mk. 1 would be something he had on hand, most likely. No need to create something new. No need to use another charge. L didn't need to take another step toward death.

"I dare not ask for more. My thanks, Alenko-san," Yorinobu offered him a small bow. His gaze slid to Judy, who held up a hand.

"I'll do what I can, but I'm not going to make any promises. The kids are with the Mox for safety and cuz L wanted them out of trouble. I can't go ordering them to put on badges and patrol the neighborhoods." No, but if Kaiden was being honest, they were a few days away from doing that anyway. “My people come first. Hate to say it, but that’s how it is.” Kaiden understood that too.

It was easy to deny help when helping another, someone you didn’t know, someone who could end up being a threat, when it could put the people that you care about in danger. All the same, sometimes not offering that helping hand could make the danger worse.

“I’ll reach out to River Ward,” Kaiden decided. If the police were going to collapse into another gang, then he might as well pick the diamonds out of the pile of shit and see if he could set something up. “It’d be good to have a contact in the police no matter what.”

Yorinobu wasn’t surprised by the decision. If Kaiden had to guess, that offer was fully expected because he had an answer ready. “He is currently investigating the death of Mayor Royce. As I understand, there are no leads. Beyond the fact that it was possibly a wild animal that killed him.” That… was a little odd, to Kaiden’s understanding. Animals were dead. Well, not all of them, but in Night City, the only animals you were likely to see were pets for rich people. Kaiden would have sooner expected that they'd accuse Maelstrom or the other Animals, the steroid junkies.

Kaiden nodded, accepting the information before his gaze slid to Becca and Jack. They shared a look before Judy spoke up. “They have their own thing going. A favor for me,” Judy said, her tone guarded, telling Kaiden that any questions would be unwelcome. Becca offered a small nod, and he took that as a sign that they had it handled.

A small sigh escaped him as he pushed off the door. “I’ll get to work then,” he said, giving everyone a wave goodbye. He was taking his slice of the pie. His fair share of the work needed to secure the future. If L was dying… if he couldn’t save himself… then they needed a plan B. L was determined to take the lion's share of the work, and Kaiden couldn’t even imagine how tiring that must be because he already felt exhausted.

Still, it was work worth doing.