Persona Edgerunners: Providence - Orian_Durante (2024)

Chapter 1: Intervention of Fate

Chapter Text

Intervention of Fate

In the Domain of an immortal guide, in a realm between mind and matter, a creature that resembles a man sits at his wooden desk. He's a short man with pale skin and a long nose, dressed in a fine black suit. He's the spitting image of a fine gentleman, or a demon in the guise of one. Either way, he sits at his desk, reviewing a set of tarot Cards.

He was currently gazing at the world of Cyberpunk, and… has opinions about said world. Too many.

He lets out a sigh, and speaks in his high pitched voice. "Well, Humans have had quite a couple of years in this world, especially compared to the last few Millenia. The larger nations in the west have fallen apart. Millions travel the lands as nomads, scrounging a life for themselves in the open road and from the ruins of the old world. As for many cities…" He gazes to his right, looking to a city known as the city of Dreams. "Well, they're not much better. The power divide is immense; those with power suffer and struggle to keep until they die, while those without it suffer in search of any semblence of power. Either way, both lack any motivation beyond basic survival and self interest. They do not live, they just exist, they survive. Some manage to find a semblance of happiness, but they are few and far in between."

The guide shuffled the tarot cards once more. "Honestly I fail to see any future for humans in this world. Their self interest has gone too far in many cases. Some might blame it on the growth of cyberware, leading to the loss of the natural human form, but that, I think, is a faulty claim. Humanity has lost a part of itself, but not from its form but its soul. The soul to move forward, to unite people, to bring hope. This soul of humanity has been corrupted far more in the last few decades than ever before in human history."

"Now, some divine beings may be of the opinion to be done with them and start anew; wipe the slate clean, Burn the fields to replant, whatever turn of phrase you want to use, the plan is the same: humanity would die. Or, at least most of them. They've had their chance, and failed. They're not worth the effort. They're not worth our effort. And to that I must say…" The Gentleman grabs his tarot cards and slams them down on his desk.

"To. Hell. With. That. It's all a load of nonsense if there ever was one. As long as there's at least one person who wants to better the world, to bring hope to the hopeless, to offer food to the hungry, to shelter the homeless or to bring people together, Humanity has a chance to change course, no matter how dire that chance is. And believe me, for this world, it is very dire." He took out one of the tarot cards and twirled it in his hand. "If the chance of success is slim, then perhaps, those of a more divine nature, can… tip the scales in their favor. I've never been a fan of a rigged game, but here, I and my attendants have been given permission to… even the scales, ultimately in humanity's favor."

He placed the card on the table; on it was a picture of a vagabond in rags in the upright position. "For this game to start, just as it has been played many times before with other players or worlds, we need the fool, one who goes on a journey. This person will develop many bonds along their way, most of them allies but enemies can form bonds with them as well. Many people can qualify, but for this journet we seek one with high, untapped, positive, potential."

He drew a second card and set it next to the fool card; it depicts a skeleton riding a horse wielding a scythe, surrounded by corpses. The card was in the upright position. "Death, a concept shared by all living beings. In this case, it doesn't refer to the fool's physical end. Here it is a representation of a spiritual death, a profound change to one's own being. They acknowledge some aspect of themselves, come to a conclusion, and change, often for the better. Which leads to our final card for this reading…"

He drew a third and final card, and placed it next to the death card. It depicted a naked woman holding two spears, and standing upon planet earth. "The world. It is the final card of the typical 21 major Arcanas. It is the end of a cycle of life, but one that will begin again. Like the cycle of seasons, or months in a year, or the rising and setting of the sun and moon, Life continues. Always. It finds a way to exist, with or without humanity. In the upright position, the world is a sign of achievement, of succeeding a goal set. It also represents the infinite possibilities of what could be."

The Elder looks to the city once more; specifically, he gazes to a small apartment where a small date ends with a deadly confrontation. "I suppose I should prepare for the Fool's arrival; it would not do for him to die before his journey can begin in earnest." He snapped his fingers and summoned a data shard, a chip used for basic data transfers. He coated it in Azure fire and flicked it away; the shard floated in the air before zooming away.

"The fate of a world is about to change, hopefully for the better." The wise elder could only wait for the pieces to, hopefully, fall into place. And that his next charge would be… receptive to his offer.

Either way, the boy's future would never be the same after tonight.

_ Meanwhile _

'This is not my night. Then again it rarely is.' David thought as he was dropped by the large dark skinned man in front of him. David had just told Maine and his crew that he was Gloria's son and that she died in an accident less than a day ago. Lucy, the platinum haired netrunner David ran into earlier that day, stood to the side watching. She stood there with her smoke, seemingly without a care in the world.

"Tracks why she never buzzed us back." The taller woman to Maine's right, Dorio, said with a frown.

Maine huffed. "Condolences kid. That's tough, but still… Don't think for a second that makes things free'n 'easy for you."

David stared back at Maine. "Listen. I had no idea it was yours."

The lanky armed dude to Maine's left spoke up. "Yeah, I'member bein a squirt, chippin all the mil-spec chrome my ma left lyin' around. Good times, good times. Christ, this twerp clearly got a screw loose."

"Back off." Doria said. "He didn't know what he was doing." Maine huffed, and kept glaring at David.

David looked between the three of them. "So you guys… are cyberpunks aren't you?"

Maine brought his shades down to look David dead in the eye. "What's it to ya?"

David straightened up from where he was sitting on the floor. He realized there was only one way out of this situation without getting offed by Maine and his crew. "Let me keep the Sandy. Can't pay you back just now but I'll work it off. One gig at a time, as long as it takes."

"Not good enough." Maine growled. "sh*t's military grade. Can't just buy it off the shelf."

"Whatever you paid my mom, I'll get it back." David shot back.

"No deal." Main countered, and tightened his hold on his gun.

"I said no murder." Lucy chimed in. David wanted to believe she said that for his sake, but he knew better. The whole brain dance was likely a set up to keep him occupied while Maine and the others got to the apartment.

"Come on! At least give me a chance!" David pleaded.

Maine grunted. "Now that's funny. I look like I run a preschool to ya?"

"I'll fire up the Sandevistan." David claimed.

"Bullsh*t." Pilar but in. "Toddler like you can't boot it up without keelin over."

"This toddler's full of surprises." Lucy spoke up.

The three on the couch gave a 'Hmm?' in response, but Pilar denied it. "No way. Body his size'd sizzle up after two hits."

David grinned. "Try eight, no sizzle." The three turned to David.

"Come on!" Pilar said. "That's a load of bunk and we all know it."

"Yeah?" David said as he stood up. "Okay. Then how about I prove it?"

"Woah." Maine said as he, Dorio and Pilar drew their guns and leveled them at David. "Plant your scrawny ass back down."

"Yo! Chill out. Just gonna klep his cig real quick." 'This was it, make or break. And I ain't breaking today.' He revved up the Sandy… "Nothing up my sleeve…'' Before he could move, a speck of blue light flew under the door and dove straight for him. Everyone stared as a data shard coated in blue fire, zipped past them and slipped into David's neck. The force of it knocked him back into the couch.

"The hell was dat." Pilar asked, as David shook his head. Pilar nearly pulled the trigger, but Maine stopped him. They calmed down to assess.

"Don't know." the big man said. "Lucy, check him. I wanna make sure the Sandy's still good for me."

Lucy sighed. "Can do." She sat down next to David and moved to check his neck. When she reached for his neck, blue fire shot out from his neck and back. Lucy hissed as the fire lightly singed her hand. David rubbed his eyes and stood back up on shaking legs.

"Da hell was that?" he asked.

"That's what we'd like to know brat." Maine said. "Know anything you want to share?"

"I aint got a clue any more than you do." David said. "Probably meant nothin."

"..." Maine just stared David down. "You wanna bet your life on that, punk?" he tapped his gun.

David kept calm, and after a moment replied, "...Might as well. Risking everything on this. If I can use it well, you give me a shot. If I keel over or pass out, you can just kill me. Either way, you get the Sandevistan on your crew; only difference if I join or die."

Maine "…Fine. You prove that, I'll give you a chance to join. I owed Gloria that much."

David grinned. This was it, make or break. He activated the Sandevistan.

That's when everything he saw went up in flames. Literally.

As soon as he triggered it, blue sparks started to come from his back; they ignited into azure flames a second later. He didn't have time to even scream as flames engulfed Lucy and the Pilar jumped away, the latter screaming and cursing. Maine and Dorio moved back as well, but also started firing their guns at the flames where David was. The bullets seemed to burn up from the heat doing little to no damage.

As quickly and wild as the flames were, they fizzled away seconds later. Where David once stood lay ashes and the smell of heat and sulfur in the air. The four of them just stared at the spot David used to be in silence… for a few seconds until Pilar opened his mouth.

"Holy f*cking sh*t! What they actual backwards slagging f*ck was THAT?!" Pilar yelled, now hiding behind the couch.

Maine scowled. "Dorio, search the area. We ain't letting that brat ditch with my chrome." Dorio nodded and ducked out of the apportment. "Lucy, did you snag a tracker onto the kid?"

"Didn't think I'd need to. Wasn't expecting…" Lucy gestured to the couch where David was, now littered with ash. "...This."

"Well, f*ckin shiiiiiit." Pilar scratched his head. "I knew the kid was nuts, I called it cause I knew he was mad nuts. But suicide by hellfire… Oh boy, I should start prayin, cause this crap is cursed to hell and back."

"Uh uh. No WAY, I don't buy this for a second this was some death by hellfire, or any death at ALL." Maine ranted. "Kid was too confident that that would work, too sure that he'd be fine." He clenched his fist, hopin to strangle the would-be runner brat. "Not sure how he set it up, but he staged that lightshow to bail."

"Well however he gave us the slip…" Dorio spoke as she entered the apartment. "There's no trace of him. Maybe he got some support or backup to arrange an exit."

"I did a sweep as well, no dice." Lucy said. "Kids just gone. Don't know how he pulled the fireworks, but either way he made damn good use of it to get lost. Dumb luck really."

Maine rounded on her. "...you mean how you just, conveniently, forgot to put a tracer on him when you had the chance? That kinda DUMB luck?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"It MEANS…" Maine loomed over her now. "How do I know you didn't set this up and help the brat delta?"

"...Are you f*cking serious?" She seethed, when his words . "I called it in when I found him, clipped with your precious Sandy. Now that he bolted you're trying to pin this on me? f*ck you Maine! You know I don't screw people unless they screw me first."

"..." Maine stayed silent, still glaring at Lucy. She returned it with her own stare, cold as ice. He broke contact first. "Fine, maybe you didn't help him delta, then it had to do with that freakin, whatever it was, that zipped into him."

"...Are we done?"

Maine huffed. "Yeah, we done here." He, Dorio and Pilar left the apartment. He called the rest of the crew -Kiwi, Falco and Becca- to be on the lookout for the runner. One way or another, he'd catch the runt and get back what's his.

_ Later _

Maine, Dorio, and Pilar finally left her apartment, presumably to go home for the night. Lucy also figured that Maine, too angry to think at the moment, would try to search the city on his own for David. 'With any Luck, Dorio can smack some sense into the gonk.' She was still pissed that Maine accused her of helping David delta them, Even if he backtracked pretty fast. She wasn't even sure how the kid did it.

She wasn't sure why she bothered to show him the brain dance either. She's never shared it with anyone, not even Kiwi, her mentor and the person who brought her onto Maine's crew to start with.

Lucy looked out her window to the bright lights of Night City. She always heard that it was described as the City of dreams, a bright, hopeful title drawing people in. She knew better; it was a city where Dreams were broken, people were torn apart, and remained in until they died. It was a prison. She wanted out of it.

She didn't know that a demon wanted to change that, and had taken the first steps to healing their world, starting with their cesspool of a city of dreams, and a young man who may otherwise die on the edge.

Chapter 2: New Path, Goals and Training

Chapter Text

New Path, Goals and Training

David stumbles to the ground, the blue flames flicker out as he comes back to normal time. The Sandevistan felt different than the first few times he used it. Easier, in a weird sense.

He looks up to find himself in a room, He also spots the polished wood desk in the center, along with the old man seated behind it. He was a short man with a long nose and large eyes, and wore an immaculate black suit. Hands folded at his desk, he smiles and speaks in a squeaky, high pitched voice.

"Greetings David Martinez. My name is Igor." he raised his right hand, gesturing to their location. "Welcome to the Velvet Room."

'Nope! Not doing this!' It might have been paranoia from strangers, or adrenaline from escaping from Maine and his crew, or just the experience of being set on fire, not dying from it and getting brought there, but David's first response was to run. So he did. He got up, turned arround and ran.

Suddenly, a blue blur rushed him, grabbed him by the arm, and slammed him back into the ground. David groaned as he looked up to see a platinum blond with amber eyes, garbed in a blue uniform.

"My Employer summoned you here to speak. It is in your best interest to hear him out." She spoke in a cold tone. "Or, you could resist, and I would break your limbs. So by all means…" She gave a sinister smile. "Please resist. Give me some excitement."

David gulped. 'This chick's gotta have a Sandy, only way to catch me. Probably had it for far longer.' He weighed his options, but it wasn't hard. "Alright, I get it. No running." the girl gave him a look before helping him to his feet. David didn't fight her; he reasoned that he'd fail if he did. David saw the other seat across Igor's desk, and sat down.

"Thank you Regalla. You may leave now." Regala nodded and walked away. Igor turned to David. "I apologize for the rough handling. I understand that much has transpired on this day."

David narrowed his eyes. He wasn't sure where the hell he was, and couldn't spot a way out. On edge didn't begin to describe how he was feeling. "You sayin you were watching me?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes." Igor admitted. "You would have succeeded in convincing Maine to give you a chance, then you would have joined his team, become an edgerunner. You would even run the team after Maine. I know this for a fact. Even still, I believe you have so much potential that can be tapped into."

David huffed and leaned back into his seat. "Let's skip the ass kising get to the main score. What do you want from me, propin me up with all this 'leader-of-the-crew' and 'untapped-potential' sh*t?"

Igor nodded. "My role is that of a guide, often to youths. Often they would spend their days and nights living their lives while drawn towards some goal, whatever that goal becomes. End a supernatural threat to the world, the most common. Solve a mystery of murders, more rare. Expose the sins and crimes of the corrupt and powerful." Igor drew on. "I would offer them the power to aid them on their journeys. They would go about their lives, form connections-"

"Cut the Bullsh*t, ALL of it!" David snapped. "You take me for a damn fool? I don't know what kinda game you're playin, I don't know what's going on, but I know your full of it. You don't honestly expect me to buy this crap you're sellin do you? Why the hell would I believe anything you say? Why THE HELL, would a stranger bother to ever help me?"

"Because no other human in this hope forsaken, DOOMED city will give you the chance I can." Igor roared back slamming his fist into the desk. "And someone damn well should."

David flinched back. He wasn't expecting that kind of reaction.

"You humans have always been a fascination for me, especially those whom I have been tasked to watch over on their paths. I offer support. I watch. Observe. Offer counsel. I enjoy my role no matter what world, what dimension, what reality I am tasked with. The Human Soul is a wondrous thing that I am privileged to see at work time and time again." As he spoke, blue sparks and embers started to gather around them both. David flinched back, afraid to be swallowed by the flames once again.

"And yet…" Igor raised his arm, the flames stilled at his hand. "The humans of your world, Night City in particular, have, on average, lost that human spark, that drive to better themselves, the feeling of granting hope. you devolved to a Corporate pissing match, obsessed with the latest piece of chrome, the latest drug, the latest brain dance, or whatever mediocrity you people worship. You people waste your time on your own fleeting delights at the expense of everything and everyone ELSE. the bonds of mortals, more valued than diamonds, forsaken as if they were worthless trash. "

"You say your only worth is the piece of metal on your back; You say that people are only worth the chrome in their bodies or the families they come from. They are wrong, every single one of them, including yourself. A lying fool self deceived. You and every, single one of them."

"So yes, I want to give you a chance; a chance to prove you can be something greater than anyone can imagine. If you don't want to believe that… then I'm going to convince you otherwise, no matter how long it takes. Days, weeks, months… When you exist as long as I have, you gain a great deal of patience. Now the question remains… what the hell are you going to do about it?"

The silence between them was deafening at this point. By now the flames behind him were settling down. David wasn't sure what to make of his tirade. It wasn't clear what Igor wanted from him.

"…So…you're an alien then." David lamely said. What was he supposed to say after… all of that?

Igor sighed and then gave a light smile. "Alien in origin, I suppose." He seemed calmer now, having got all that off his chest. He then reached into his coat, pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his hand. "David, you are here to receive my support; whether you accept right this minute, in an hour, tomorrow morning, a week later or any other time hereafter. I am here, in this world, for you."

David just stared at Igor for a few more minutes. "...If you know what it's like to live in Night City, then you know exactly why it's not easy to take a stranger at their word."

Igor leaned back into his seat and sighed. "I really wish I could argue otherwise… but you're right." he snapped his fingers; David instantly noticed a bright white light come into being behind him. He turned around to see a door of pure light. "If you wish to leave, the exit is behind you. I will contact you again by other means."

David stood up and started walking, but he took his time, lost in thought. 'This guy's not from here; hell, I doubt he's even human. He literally teleported me here, just to speak to me. Me, a kid from Arroyo.' He stood right at the door, about to leave, except he started thinking how this could go. Odds are, he's spouting sh*t to waste me; on the other hand, if he was being serious…

"… One more question… Maybe two." David said as he turned around to face Igor. "If I said yes to your offer, how exactly would you help me?"

Igor brought a hand to his chin in contemplation. "Your situation is a bit different to past wildcards whom I have provided counsel to in the past. Ordinarily, I would slowly allow them access to a power that would allow them to channel the power of the Metaverse. "

"But in your case, before the supernatural comes into play in earnest, i will offer aid to you in three, practical ways: I will provide you with physical training to be able to fight; I will provide you a simple yet sure fire method to make cash and get paid, utilizing the training you would undergo; and I will provide you a temporary room you may stay in, At least until you can find another place."

David sighed. "You know about the rent at my place then."

Igor nodded. "Aside from that, I will provide counsel and guidance, specifically towards any goal you have."

'That's…much more concise than I expected.' David scratched the back of his head in thought. "Okay…and what if I just…don't have a goal or…" He trailed off, not sure how to say it.

"That is hardly an issue." Igor said with a calm smile. "We can discuss it then, narrow down your interests and derive a goal from those. Let's start with your schooling…" David flinched; Arasaka Academy was not his favorite subject, despite doing well. "Of the subjects you took, what were you most interested in? What subjects do you excel at?"

David shrugged. "Overall, I'm a top student, keeping in the top 10 of my grade. Best part is that unlike most of the corpo brats in my grade, I don't use data shards or neural implants to get there."

"And the subject that sparked your interest most?"

David gave a non committal hum. "Probably… history, though more from the few stories my mom told me than from school lessons."

"Then perhaps you could become a teacher on the subject?"

"Screw that, I ain't good with kids."

"With your intellect, you could be a Scholar then."

"Nope. Too dull for my tastes."

"How about a place in Law enforcement?"

"In this City? f*ck No, I ain't workin with the pigs!"

Igor pinched his brow. He hasn't accepted yet, but they are still in discussion. Progress. "Let's try a different approach. Why did you put so much effort into your schooling to this point? What was your motivation for that?"

David gave a long sigh. "…My mom. She, ah… wanted me to climb up the ranks… stand on top of the Arasaka Tower. She wanted me to…" He took a breath to calm down, Emotions still raw from the incident. "She wanted me to have a better life than her."

Igor gave a slight nod. They settled into a solemn silence for a minute before the elder spoke again. "...The hope that their child will flourish past them is the hope of any good parent."

"..." David leaned back in his seat, and held his hands together to calm his nerves. "I guess… I just, don't have a goal right now."

Igor nodded. "That's fine." David gave him a look before he explained. "Lacking a goal is acceptable, so long as you admit it. For now, let's think short term."

David just gave him a look, torn between interest and disbelief. Igor kept a neutral but friendly smile on his face, but he was grinning on the inside. This was his chance! "Perhaps, for the moment, why not work to repay Maine for the Sandevistan?"

David narrowed his eyes. "Work for the gunk who was seconds away from flatlining me earlier?"

Igor shook his head. "I meant earning the eddies, from other means, and paying him back when you have the full amount; Specifically so he won't have cause to flatline you."

David pondered it; he did owe the big guy for the Sandy… and he did work with his mom…However… "How would I get the scratch to do it?"

"By working for me of course." The reply came way too easily for David's liking.

David just gave a dull 'ahh' at that. 'With how he talks and makes deals, maybe he is a demon after all. Then again… What do I got to lose?' "Fine, I'm in. What do you want me to do first?"

"Excellent." Igor snapped his fingers, causing a blue door to appear to his right. Regalla, who'd stood a distance behind Igor this whole time, proceeded through the door into the training room. "Before I assign you any tasks, I'll have you undergo a bit of training. Regalla will be your trainer."

"The platinum blond from before?" Igor nodded. "Fine. I ain't gonna be so easily pinned by her. This time, I'll take her down."

Igor grinned at that, pleased with his enthusiasm. Even if it would be short lived. "If you think you can fight her, even with the Sandevistan, then by all means be my guest." David accepted the challenge and walked through it to meet his sparring partner. Regalla grinned at the prospect of a proper target. Maybe his day - well his night by this point - was looking up.

_The Next Day_

"Uh, this is not my night!" A young man in an Arasaka School uniform groaned as he walked down the hall after class. He checked to make sure his monorail was still working. He pulled out the razor thin wire and inspected it, then flicked it out in front of him. Once he was sure his primary weapon was in working order, he called it back, combed his green hair with his hands, and continued his pace. He'd need to be at his best if he wanted to deal with the son of Arasaka's Director of Technology and Development.

"Katsuo Tanaka, a whiny corpo brat to rule them all…" he droned on. The young Tanaka had an ego and pride as big as the old net and he made that notion clear every chance he could; he certainly does think of himself as above the rest. He could almost appreciate his determination, if he wasn't so petty. He tries to come across as a big shot, but really, he comes across as more juvenile than younger children.

Most students - himself included - would bow their heads to his whims, if only to avoid his wrath. Well, more him being an utter pain.

The main bloody exception would be one David Martinez, who's been the subject of Katsuo's ire from day one. Rumor was that Katsuo tried to talk (IE: threaten or bully, as he wasn't subtle enoguh to manipulate) him into being one of his goons. David supposedly told him to f*ck off, leading Katsuo to resort to petty tactics to get him expelled ever since.

They never worked: David was hard working with solid grades, and Katsuo didn't have that kind of influence, no matter how much he bragged of having it.

'And I tend to stand right smack in the middle. Though some days I wish I could say f*ck it, and tell the R&D prince to go f*ck himself too.' He tried to avoid Katsuo whenever he could, but when that failed, he resorted to being the charming chatterbox to keep him happy.

Sometimes it worked, other times it got him a punch to the face. He always walked it off - the latter happened at most once or twice a month - and continued on as normal life. It helped that Katsuo spent most of his time trying to annoy or otherwise inconvenience Martinez.

Yet now Martinez is gone, having decked the sh*tstain in the face during a class, using some allegedly advanced chrome to do it. He's not sure how Martinez got his hands on a damned Sandevistan - it could be from his mom or a lucky deal with a Ripper, but he's not sure either way - but his stunt set the shiny pauper off. Now he has to deal with his rants; just his luck.

Chapter 3: Academics: Hostile, Friendly and O’Brian

Chapter Text

Academics: Hostile, Friendly and O’Brian

Katsuo seethed as he scratched his bruised cheek where Martinez. He was sitting on one of the unused rooms in the school, waiting for one of his underlings to bring him the. The fact that the . So what if his worthless mother was dead? As far as he was concerned, her life was worthless.

‘First I’ll have to find the worthless sh*t, then Martinez will suffer for thinking himself better than me!’ he raged in his head.’

His thoughts were interrupted by the opening door, and in walked O’Brian.

“O’Brian. Good, you’ve come.”

The verdette flashed him a smile. “Well, you did ask for me, and who am I to say no to you?” His words were subservient, but his tone was not. O’Brian walked the fine line that way. As far as Katsuo understood him, O’Brian never had the balls to insult him to his face, but would gladly do so in private.

Katsuo gave a smile, pretending to be pleasant. “It’s good that you know your place like the rest of the fodder, but I have a favor to ask of you.” He used the term to imply that, if he didn’t agree, Katsuo would make him regret it. He’s done it before, and he’ll do it again.

“Being?” the verdette asked. He wanted more info before he weighed his options. Either way, he’d leave after saying yes, but would decide how to proceed based on the task at hand.

Katsuo’s eye twitched. ‘The utter disrespect of this lowlife.’ “I want you to head out to where that bastard Martinez lives. Find something to make him go after you, so I can arrange an ambush.”

O’Brian, instead of agreeing imediately like a good dog, just sighed and asked questions. “How exactly? I’ve never even spoken to him. He has no reason to trust a single thing I say.”

Katsuo just narrowed his eyes. ‘How dare he!’ “I don’t care how you do it, make sure you get his attention and bring him back to the school.”

“You want to ambush him at school. You sure about that?” O’Brian shook his head. “Wouldn’t that cause more problems for your reputation? That is, if people from the school board found out. Why not draw him to another part of the city, away from prying eyes.”

Katsuo grit his teeth. Disrespectful bastard was right. “Fine. bring him somewere else. Get his attention, lure him somewhere secluded, contact me, and keep him there.”

Obrian crossed arms and hummed, as if he was think about doing it. As far as Katsuo was concerned, he had no choice in the matter. He then shrugged. “Sure, I’ll do it. I’ll let you know when I have a meeting.”

“Good.” Katsuo replied before standing up and pulling up his sleeve. “One more thing we need to establish.” he gave a feral grin.

O’Brian glanced back. “And that would be-” Katsuo decked him right in the face, knocking O’Brian flat on his back. Katsuo only had some light reinforcement in his arms, so it didn’t knock him out. Still hurt though.

“Next time you show such disrespect, you’ll be wasting what little eddies you have on your rehab. You’re garbage that I tolerate because you’re useful. Stop being useful, and I’ll have you disposed of. Understood?”

“...Yeah.” O’Brian picked himself up from the ground. “I gatcha.” he then turned around and walked out of the room. He only glanced at Katsuo as he grit his teeth in anger.

‘Just for that, he should die with Martinez.’ he thought as he made some calls. He decided to let trash dispose of other trash. Why should he lay a finger to deal with waste when it was their fault they didn’t deserve to exist? That thought just made him smile as he wasted his breath and money on gang goons to get the task done.

_Elsewhere_

David crashed into the wall with a loud thud. He then picked himself up, grabbed the wooden sword - Regala called it a Bokken right? - and charged at her again. Regala deftly deflected the slash and struck his stomach. He fell back a bit, but bounced back to his feet rather quickly. Regala smiled at that.

“Good, you’re still conscious. You need to watch your opponent and dodge at the last second. Your speed is your one major advantage… USE IT!” she charged at him with a downward swing. He dodged it and moved to swing at her head. She deftly countered it, forcing him back again.

The two have been in this repeating pattern for hours, long since Igor’s challenge. He thought fighting her would be easy with the Sandy, but that seemed like a dream after he was beaten into the ground… for the third time in a row a minute into the spar. He came to realize that, despite looking like a young punk girl, she seemed to have superhuman strength, speed and reflexes. No matter what angle he struck or trick he used, he couldn’t hit her.

On the plus side, he was getting better at dodging her attacks. At first, he got hit within a minute of the fight. Now, an hour into the training, he lasted nearly 2 minutes without getting hit. It was small, but it was progress. Now he just needed to be able to hit back.

The student and instructor continued their matches for an hour more. David was getting better at dodging attacks. Soon, Regalla called an end to their match. “That’s enough for now. Rest and recover, so we can proceed again another time.”

David groaned as he got up on shaky legs. “You just wanna hit me again, don’t you?”

Regalla just gave a feral grin in response.

David sighed and walked out of the training room to the main room. Igor sat at his desk as usual.

“I trust the training went well?”

Regalla gave a nod. “David is an utter weakling… but he can dodge, and improve.” Her words were as brutal as the beating he put David through.

“You really don’t mind if I stay here?” David asked, deciding to move past training.

Igor nodded. “I’d prefer it, honestly. You will need a secure place to rest and train.” When David just kept looking at him before the elder elaborated. “Maine and his crew will be on the lookout for you. They will track you to your home. Until your debt is settled, you will rest here.”

David huffed. “Afraid I’ll run?”

Igor waved him off. “Not anymore. Either way,” Igor snapped his fingers; in a swish of flames, a blue door appeared. It opened to reveal a bedroom, David’s room if Igor was to be believed. David glanced at Igor, who nodded and gestured for him to see for himself. “The room should have everything you’ll need.”

The room was larger than his own bedroom, about twice the size of his old room. Bed was still a twin size, but he was cool with that. There was a nightstand, a few shelves to put in clothes and other things and a monitor, presumably for TV.

David’s face brightened up at his accommodations. “Yeah. not like I had anything of worth in there. Except…” David’s eyes fell. “My mother’s ashes.”

“... You should go retrieve it then. Bring it here.” Igor said.

David thought twice about bringing it, but didn’t want to leave it there. Any gonk could break in and mess up the apartment. He’d go through hell before any gonk tried to mess with his mama’s remains. “...You sure it's fine if I crash here?”

Igor nodded. “I have permision from my supperior to allow you to rest here for a time. Not permanently, mind you, just long enough to settle your business and find a new home.” he snapped his fingers, and the same door to leave appeared behind him.

David was curious about his supposed superior’ but saved that for another time. He turned to the door and walked out into the real world.

_ Arroyo _

He ended up in a near empty street near his apartment building. He thought someone would notice him literally appear out of thin air; yet no one noticed. ‘Magic I guess…? Whatever.’

David enters his apartment building and heads to the shaft on the side. The rent hasn’t been paid since his mom died, so the front door’s locked. He’ll likely be kicked out in a week or less if he doesn’t pay. Considering he now has room and board with his… demon patron. ‘Weird to think of Igor like that, but he hasn’t made it clear what he is.’

He entered the apartment and quickly grabbed his Mama’s ashes. He considered taking it and going, but decided to… resolve something. For himself… and his mother. He set the ashes on the table and sat down, looking right at the canister as he spoke.

“Hey Mama. I’m not sure if you can hear me… but I gotta say it now.”

“I… don’t think I’ll be going back to Arasaka Academy. I don’t have a place there anymore. Don’t know what I want to do now. But I’m gonna keep living okay? I’m… I’m gonna keep going.”

“Gotta pay off Maine’s debt, that’s my goal for now. Seems like a Decent guy, cept that he wants my head for klepin the Sandy. Can’t worry ‘bout anythin else till that’s settled.”

“I hope you can forgive me. Love you.”

David took a deep breath and let it out. It… fealt good to say that, let things out. He relaxed himself, stood up and looked over the apartment.

‘If I'm crashing at Igor’s place - wherever that really is - then I don’t need to worry about the apartment.’ The apartment had nothing for him. Just a reminder of what he’d lost. “Then again… I might as well pack any other stuff I have.”

He grabbed some bags his mother had and started going through the apartment. He cleaned out his drawers for hsi own clothes and other miscellaneous items. He wasn’t sure about food, so just took some small things, like the ganic spices his mom had and his clothes. He didn’t have much, but it was enough to fill two duffle bags. One of them was his mom’s from work.

He also found her emergency stash of eddies: barely under 500 in hard cash. Still useful. ‘Thanks mom.’

He’s about to warp back to the Velvet room when he hears someone picking at the lock on his front door. He grabbedhis bags and tucked them into the vent he entered his room in. He then hid from the door. With the time dialaiton, moving around to avoid getting spotted was child’s play. So was grabbing his gear and warping back to Igor’s place. Before that, he wanted to know what gonk was breaking in.

Seconds later, the door opened. It had to have been hacked in. David couldn’t do it but a Netrunner or someone with basic Cyber hacks could.

Through the door walks a kid his age with green hair and wearing arasaka Academy duds. He had to be a classmate, but he doesn’t recognize him. ‘Probably from a different class.’

The teen in question, O’Brian, just looked around and sighed. What was he even doing here? ‘Oh, yeah… trying to bait a Street Gonk to deal with a Corpo idiot. So the Idiot will target the gonk instead of him. Makes perfect sense!’

O’Brian started going through the apartment, noting how… unkempt it was. Given what happened, he figured David hadn’t bothered to pick up. ‘Couldn’t blame him.’

Weirdly enough, when he turned around he felt a cool breeze… even when the windows didn’t open. He didn’t think much of it. “Probably nothin.”

David now stood outside the apartment building, with two duffle bags over his shoulders. He decided not to engage the student: he didn’t have any beef with him. Plus, he already got everything he wanted from the academy after decking Katsuo. No reason to waste anymore time. He walked to a spot with less people and warped back to the Velvet room, disappearing in a flash of blue fire.

Thus, O’Brian saw neither hide nor hair of his target, concluding that he made to exit after visiting his home. His task was a bust for now. Even when the landlord came by - for a surprise inspection for the Martinez families - and found O’Brian snooping around. It took a bit of sweet talking and bullsh*ting to convince him not to press charges for trespassing.

Either way, it’s really not his night.

Chapter 4: Avernus, Hellscape of Night City

Chapter Text

Avernus, Hellscape of Night City

O’Brian leaves the now abandoned apartment. No trace of Martinez, or anything that he might care about.

Now he just had to figure out a way to deal with Katsuo. ‘I could tell him the truth… and he’d just get pissy and blame me. I could say that David died… and he’d still blame me, even if it turned out to be true. Dammit, is there any answer that will satisfy that moron?’

In truth, he knew the answer; Katsuo was never satisfied with anything.

His head rings as he’s getting a call, he can tell it’s Tanaka, it’s got his name on it. He considers ignoring it, but figures that would just be asking for trouble. With a sigh, he answers, expecting more tantrums from the baby Corpo

He is thus surprised when he hears the voice of the elder Tanaka.

Tanaka: [ Good afternoon, young O’Brian. ]

O’Brian perked up at that. He can’t afford to piss off both Tanakas right now. He couldn’t afford that scenario period!

O’Brian: [ Good afternoon, Mr. Tanaka. To what do I owe the pleasure? ]

Tanaka: [ I understand that you’ve undertaken a task at the request of my son. Specifically relating to one David Martinez. ]

‘Of course he knows what his kid’s up to. Figures.’ Big league Corpos tended to keep a close eyes on all their assets, including their families. No one was spared from being a part of Corpo politics. He gulped, unsure of how this would play out.

O’Brian: [ Yes, I admit that is true. Do you have an, um… issue with this arrangement? ]

He kept his tone polite and neutral. The Exec would remember any annoyance or disrespect in his words.

Tanaka: [ Any issue I have would lay solely with my son. His petulance is a stain on my reputation. I would hope, he’d grow out of such behavior, but that remains to be seen. ]

O’Brian wasn’t sure what to make of that. On the one hand, he totally agreed: Katsuo spent more time lording over other students than he did at his own academics, and being an utter pratt about it. On the other hand… ‘he’s your son! You’re at least partially responsible for the manchild he’s become. Own up to it!’

O’Brian: [ That is most unfortunate. ]

Tanaka: [ Indeed. But that is not what I wished to discuss with you. I have a… task for you. Succeed, and I can promise that my wayward son will be the least of your concerns. ]

The verdette sighed in his head. This would eather

O’Brian: [ I’m listening. ]

He heard what Tanaka wanted… and agreed to do it. After the call ended, he called his parents, told them about his business with both Tanaka and asked them to consider… other options for employment. Both his folks were involved in Arasaka desk jobs, but knew that didn’t make them safe from Corporate abuse.

Then, he went over several options, including going through with the deal. He couldn’t make up his mind, so he decided to track down Martinez and hopefully come to a decision by then.

_The Next Day_

David woke up in his bedroom in the Velvet room, provided by Igor. True to his word, the room Igor left for him was guaranteed to grant him a good night’s rest. He hadn’t bothered to unpack any of his bags, just set them aside to do later. On the nightstand across the room was the container of his mother’s Ashes.

Deciding he slept enough, David got up and got dressed. He brought all his clothes and necessities from his old apartment. He just put on a pair of pants and a black tank top. Then came the ER Jacket. He was ready.

He walked into the main area of the Velvet room where Igor awaited him at his usual seat. What surprised him was the platter of food set on the table, right by his seat.

“What’s with the spread… is that food totally ganic?” David noted the smell was different from schlap.

Igor grinned. “Indead, all natural. What kind of host fails to feed their guest?”

David shrugged and sat down. He ate in silence, not having much to say. The breakfast was good, the best he’d ever had. Most food nowadays was flavored kibble or that artificial food made by the corpos. All natural ingredients were rare and highly valued, so only those with the eddies could afford it. like the Corpo execs and others in power.

Once breakfast was done, Igor gestured for him to stand. “With events as they are, I feel you are ready to enter the world I overlook.”

David hummed at that. “What world would that be exactly? Hell?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes, but let’s clarify.” David blinked at that. “You live in the physical world, governed by laws of nature. The world I speak of is supernatural and open to a select few at a time. It takes on many shapes and forms, based on the hearts and minds of mankind.”

It is recognized as the Metaverse. It takes many forms: A tower reaching the sky called Tartarus. A labyrinth in the guise of a Subway going deep into the earth. A dimension of Fog and mist accessible by walking into any television monitor.” David wasn’t sure what to make of it by his descriptions. He wanted to call BS, but considered otherwise.

“Every now and then, entities try to enter the physical world by accessing the metaverse. Often trying to destroy or alter the real world to suit some goal or desire of theirs. Often, I guide a person to grow in strength, gain allies and eventually overcome the threat. My master and I had ways of choosing who would help in averting the calamity in question at the time. He chose to focus on Emperors, While I selected Fools.”

“Are you with me so far?”

David scratched his head: that was a lot to take in at once, but he got the general gist of it. “I think so… except for the bits with you and your master. That made zero sense to me.”

“That’s fine.” Igor waved it off. “Back to you. You know Night City better than I do. You lived on these streets, saw its people, breathed its air. What do you think the majority of people who live here see the city as in their hearts? Would they see Paradise of dreams, or…”

“They would see inferno. Hell.” He vaguely understood the reference; it was some Italian Poet who wrote about all three supernatural concepts - Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell- in a book due to his exile.

Igor nodded. He snapped his fingers; David felt a download in his head, showing ‘Inferno: Avernus Clearance.’

“The data I just sent you will grant you access to the first of nine floors. I will have Regalla guide you in. I want you to go in, look around, and return. If you find anything of value to take, all the better. Are you ready?”

David considered it. It sounded dangerous overall, but he wasn’t expected to stay long or do anything specific. He decided it was safe enough, and nodded. “Whenever the lady’s up to it.”

Regalla, who had arrived, just scowled at that. David learned pretty quickly that she didn’t like being called a lady, for some reason.

Igor paid the glares no mind. “Good. Explore the area you enter and gather anything of value. Also, if you encounter any creatures, run. Don’t fight, just evade them and return here.” David just gave an informal ‘yeah, sure,’ before following Regalla through the portal.

_The Metaverse_

The landscape was the same. One, many of the buildings were in ruins; walls and sections of them torn apart as if by centuries of time. Second, the sky was a burnt orange, like sunset except he didn’t see any sun.

David and Regalla entered through a portal of Azure flames, stepping foot on a small building overlooking a ruined street.

“Damn. This place looks more dead than the desert.”

Regalla just stood by the fiery blue portal that they entered through, gazing at the hellscape. “Go out and gather any goods you can. Don’t dally in any one spot for long; the Shadows will swarm humans they can sense close by, and are always moving in search of foreign souls.”

David glanced at her. “Shadows? What, are they like demons in this place?”

Regalla nodded. “Yes. You do not have the means to fight them as you are now. When you're done, return here and I will bring you back to Igor.”

David nodded, walking forward. He spotted some pipes, and ladders near the side of the building, old but still usable. He was about to start the trek down when Regalla spoke up again.

“One more thing…” David turned to her. “If you get into trouble, use the Sandevistan as a last resort. It is a tool not a crutch. Use it as appropriate.”

David mulled it over, and agreed with a curt nod. He didn’t like the idea, but had to admit she had a point. ‘Need to fight smart as well as hard. Got it.’

David dropped down from the building, going down the ruined ladders and stairs till he reached the ground floor. From there, he looked around to the wreckage around him; cars and buses totaled or flipped on their sides, lamps

Everything looked aged, like the city was destroyed hundreds of years ago. It was a harrowing thought that this is the subconscious version of Night City everyone thought it was.

He walked towards one of the wrecked cars, one with a few pipes sticking out of the front. He reached over and pulled out one of the long iron pipes. A few swings showed it was solid enough for his uses.

David used the iron to pry open the trunk of the car. He didn’t expect to find much. What he did find was an old news magazine dating back to the 2010s, and a bead necklace with a diamond cross.

He repeated the act with the other six cars in the street, getting a few other pieces of jewelry and more magazines. He wasn’t sure why that would be there, but didn’t question it too deeply.

After the 8th car, David glanced around the corner of a building and saw what he could only describe as a humanoid creature with mostly gray skin and glowing red eyes. It stood on two legs that had two joints each, like a raptor. Its arms ended in four sharp claws and it had curled horns on its head. It even sported a barbed tail.

David knew about Igor’s warning… but… ‘if I can kill it in a single surprise attack, it might be enough. Doesn’t seem dangerous.’ he brandished his iron pipe, grabbed a stone, and threw it at a car across the street, making a loud thud. The Demon reacted, turning to the spot and moving towards the noise.

When its back was turned, David dashed forward, getting right behind it and ramming the pipe by the sharp end right through it. The demon shook in surprise, and went still. David assumed it was dead.

He was wrong.

Seconds later, David was slammed backwards, landing on his back. He glanced at the creature, righting itself.

the demon turned to face him, the pipe still lodged into his chest. The demon roared, and charged at the teen. David quickly got to his feet and started dodging. He threw a fist to its face. He didn’t expect it to flinch from the attack, but it might faze him. It didn’t look or feel stronger than him.

Instead his fist practically phased through its head, doing nothing. David then saw the demon’s claw come seconds away from piercing his stomach. David instinctively activated the Sandy, moving at high speed away. Even as the Demon’s eyes tracked him, he fled to the other block.

David panted, having narrowly escaped from certain death. Those creatures didn’t operate by common knowledge; hell, the same could be applied to the rest of the freaky dream dimension he was in! And that wasn’t even the scariest thought in his head. ‘I couldn’t match Regalla in speed, even with the Sandevistan. What if the stronger demons could move faster?’

His thoughts were interrupted by the shaking ground. David immediately went behind a nearby car for cover. He was grateful for that, as it kept him out of sight of the dozen or so Demons that charged into the street clearing. They were all similar in shape to the one he fought, except the slightly taller one in front.

It had a fearsome red aura around it, one that imprinted one simple concept in his head. You cannot fight me. Run for your life.

David sighed at that. ‘Fighting these things really is pointless right now. I can’t even fight the lowlifes, let alone that boss looking one! Damn it!’

He looked around for anything he could use; he considered zooming out, but worried the larger Demon might be able to catch him. If that happened, he was dead meat.

David kept out of sight, waiting for a chance to leave. Fortunately for him, they didn’t stay for long. After a few tense minutes (for him), they lost interest in him and moved on.

The young Latino sighed in relief, and resolved to steer clear of them. He turned to leave… then stopped.

He blinked, confused by what he saw. David thought he saw another demon appear a few feet near him. Unlike the others, this one was a humanoid silhouette devoid of color, a shadow except for the glowing red of its eyes. Those eyes bore into him as it asked one question.

“What do you stand for?”

It then disappeared, fading away in blue fire.

David looked around before zooming away. ‘Not sure about that one, but not sticking around to find out!’ He spent a few minutes going through some other salvage and gaining a few more items before returning to the area where Regalla was standing guard.

Regalla stood by the portal, right where he left her. She simply nodded to him. “Good, you’re not dead yet.”

David snorted. “Try not to sound so disappointed.”

“I’d only be disappointed if I couldn’t… train you further.” Regalla countered with a smile.

David said nothing more as they returned to the Velvet room. Igor lightly admonished him for fighting the Shadow, but was overall more pleased that he survived and acquired goods to trade for Eddies. David just agreed to stay away from the Demons for now. Igor corrected him saying that they were Shadows, but David countered that they looked like Demons. Igor dropped the matter and promised that David would be able to stand against them soon enough.

He’d seen first hand why Igor warned him to avoid Shadows. The question remained, what could he do to change that? Only time would tell.

Chapter 5: The Magician and the Hierophant

Chapter Text

The Magician and the Hierophant

David entered the real world onto a near empty street. Nobody seemed to notice him appear out of thin air in a puff of smoke. Either people didn’t care enough to notice, or something about traveling between the real world and the metaverse made people less likely to notice.

It was surreal he could think like that; Real and unreal. He thought that was limited to Brain dances, but Igor blew that idea out of the water. A mirror dimension of Night City, and there were supposed to be 8 more versions - Circles of Hell as Igor called them - that he could potentially explore. If not for the escalating danger, he would call it exciting.

After meeting with Igor, the old man had tasked him with finding a vendar to sell his acquired goods, as well as get to a Ripperdoc to get his Sandevistan checked out. David agreed, but was annoyed with his fight with the demon (“Shadow” Igor would correct him) and how he couldn’t do anything. What was the point of training with Regalla if the enemies he was to fight couldn’t be harmed at all? Igor simply smiled and stated how the means to fight would reveal themselves in time. For now, he need only to focus on finding a buyer for his goods.

That brought him to his current goal for the day. ‘I need a Fixer. One who knows knick knacks that can be worth something to somebody.’

Fixers were the lifeblood of the Cyberpunk community. They handled the sale of goods, rumors and manpower, often forming webs of connections between themselves and others. Fencers with connections. Smugglers with goods to buy, take and sell. Info brokers with secrets worth keeping and killing over. They were merchants and employers who blurred the line between honest work and black market operations.

They gave jobs to mercs who wanted jobs. The Fixers and Mercs that survive long enough to have a name, are often the ones worth knowing about. He knew a few of the big names -Ibarra from Heywood and El Capitan from Santo Domingo were the two names he heard over the years- but he didn’t have any means to contact them. Even if he did, he didn’t think either would give him the time of day.

David huffed. ‘If I was looking to be an Edgerunner, I’d try to get one for jobs; now, I just need one to sell to or find someone to buy my sh*t.’

After scavenging in Avernus, he came across a few items, most of it antique. There were Some casette tapes, a few bits of Jewelry, a dozen magazines from the 2010s, and a toolkit full of chemicals. He figured the jewelry, cassettes and magazines could be worth something to the right buyer.

His thoughts were interrupted when he bumped into someone with a hood. the dude kept yammering apologies; David just sidestepped him and kept walking. Didn’t matter.

Everything was normal… until he heard someone call out his name.

“David Martinez!” David turned around and saw the same guy from yesterday. The greenette kid who broke into his place was now pointing a finger at him. In broad daylight. “I knew I’d find you again.”

David raised an eyebrow. “Congratulations. Bye.” He used the Sandy to zip around the corner.

When he thought about it, it wasn’t clear at first. Why would someone from Arasaka Academy be looking for him, enough to break into his apartment? No real reason… unless they were tied with Katsuo Tanaka. A Corpo-brat who hated his guts.

Therefore, he zipped to a different street and started walking away. When he turned a different corner after walking a few minutes, he saw the same greenette standing before him. David blinked, then turned around and started running.

Thus it went that David walked in the opposite direction of O’Brian, but O’Brian seemed to know where he was going and cut him off. He kept trying to ditch him, yet the gonk kept showing up!

David breathed deep, leaning against the side of a building. He’d been trying to ditch his tail for the last twenty minutes, but he couldn’t shake him. He turned a corner only to come face to face with the green haired kid. Thoroughly annoyed at this point, David grabbed O’Brian by his collar and slammed him into the wall. O’Brian raised his hands.

“Wait, wait! Hear me out!” David’s eye twitched. This was getting old damn fast! He turned to face the teen, holding his knees. David just crossed his arms and waited for him to regain air in his lungs. When he was done, O’Brian stood up. “You can keep ditching me, again and again until the sun goes down; but I’ll still find you because I am desperate. OR, you can give me five minutes, just five minutes, and then I’ll be out of your hair. Comprende?”

David just let out a breath and let go of his collar. “Three minutes, start talking.”

O’Brian nodded and smoothed out his jacket. “Full disclosure, Katsuo sent me. He wanted me to lure you back to school so he could get even. How exactly, I’m not sure, so best stear clear of the academy.”

David huffed at that. “Really? And here I was hoping to rent a data shard from the library, maybe even meet up with some old guys, flirt with some girls -” He then slammed his fist into the wall. “What made you think I’d ever go back after I punched him in the face in broad daylight during school hours!?”

O’Brian opened his mouth to retort; then closed his mouth. “Fair point. Now, I know you’re not looking into Corpo work, - fool’s errand after decking Katsuo, we know - so, I figure you’re looking to go Cyberpunk - or edgerunner, same thing - and I know a few gonks who could-”

“Look.” David held up a hand, cutting him off. “Whatever you’re trying to sell me, don’t. I’m not interested. If you feel you owe me for some reason, don’t. We’ve never spoken before and I got no beef with you. Same if you think I did something to you, I probably didn’t.” He rarely interacted with anyone outside of classrooms, focusign on his studies. The fact that Katsuo kinda painted a target on his back probably had to do with that. Either way, he was done with the academy. “Now, if ya don’t mind, I gotta find someone to buy some sh*t I found.”

“Hang on, Hang on!” O’Brian pleaded. “I still have 3 minutes, and I’ll make sure it’s not a waste of your time.”

David’s eye just twitched. “And yet, I have buyers to find, so I’d like to get to that now.”

The gears in O’Brian’s head were spinning with that last bit of info. He sped forward until he was in front of Martinez. “I can help with that, actually.”

Martinez crossed his arms. “How? Explain that in a minute.”

O’Brian did. “I know a small-time fixer who’s good for simple trinkets and baubles, decorum, and so on. Nothing heavy like Iron or combat chrome, just Civi stuff. He’s got a shop up in Northside.”

David hummed at that. That… sounded exactly like what he was looking for. ‘Something’s off… but he seemed honest enough. Just enough.’

“What’s your name?” O’Brian just tilted his head at the request. David scratched his head. “I only remember your last name from classes. So, if I’m gonna make a deal with you, I want your name.”

O’Brian smiled at that and extended his hand. “Lubbock O’Brian, a gonk from Northside. You?”

David shook his hand. “David Martinez, a gonk from Arroyo.” Names shared, “Pleasantries aside, how much can I expect in scratch?”

“Depends.” Lubbock retorted. “What do you have to sell?” David spent the next few minutes showing him his spoils from the metaverse. According to O’Brian, the Jewelry and Casettes could be worth a few hundred Eddies altogether, maybe more. He wasn’t sure what to do with the chemicals; he wasn’t sure what they were exactly, so couldn’t tell how valuable they were. They couldn’t sell it to a pharmacy without knowing what it was: they’d get ripped off for the price. Now they had to establish the cuts in profits. David decided to be… fair about it.

“60 / 40, my favor.” O’Brian raised an eyebrow at the generous deal, prompting David to shrug. “I provide the goods, you provide the buyer. I could probably find one on my own, but that would take time I ain’t got. Your 40 % ensures I don’t have to look for other connections, and can rely on you in the future.”

“Hmmm…” Lubbock thought about it then shrugged. “Fair enough. Depending on how much your goods make, we can profit. If we come across a really rare, expensive item, we can renegotiate the split. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” David then felt something slow in the air, and heard a familiar voice ring out in his Head; the same person who rocked his world in training. He also noticed a strange blue butterfly flutter about in front of him, before fading away. He couldn’t make out what she was saying though, but he could make out a few words: ‘ Bond ,’ ‘Heaven ,’ ‘ Hell ,’ ‘ Rise ,’... and ‘ Magician .’

David just glanced around quickly, unsure of what happened. ‘The Heck was that?’

“Dude, you okay?” Lubbock asked.

David blinked, noticing time flow normally again. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… thought I heard something. No biggy.” He definitely heard something, but couldnt’ exactly say anything to Lubbock. He’d just assume he was going crazy.

Lubbock held his chin in thought. “Side effects of the Sandy, perhaps?”

David sighed. He knew it wasn’t but would go with that. “Could be. Doc Borg wasn’t the most meticulous in setting it up.”

Lubbock blinked. “Hang on… You got your implant, a Sandevistan, done by Doc Borg? What are you, a masoch*st or an idiot?”

“I’m gonna smack you upside the head.” David drew closer, but Lubbock brought up his hands in surrender. David huffed. “Look, I was desperate and needed the edge. Doc told me he’d do it… and rip it out for free when I ‘couldn’t handle it anymore.’ I’m standing here now, alive, so clearly it was worth the risk.”

Lubbock shrugged. “Can’t argue with that logic. Still, you should get it checked out by a legit Ripper, someone who doesn’t want you dead for your Chrome, Dontcha think?”

“You’re the second person to tell me in the last few hours, I get it.” David sighed, and leaned against the wall. Igor had also tasked him to do just that, adding another errand to his list. “I’m in the market for a new Ripper though. Know any?”

Lubbock grinned and snapped his fingers. “Victor Vector. Watson. That’s the guy you want. Best Ripper in Night City. Also the only one who might let you pay him back later.”

David nodded. “Guess I’ll head there then.”

“And I’ll arrange a meet with a vendor or two. Stay alive till then.” Lubbock relaxed his hands, and sent his contact info to David. David did the same. They agreed to meet in a few hours if O’Brian could get in touch with a buyer. Both turned to head to their destinations. David to Watson and Lubbock to Northside.

“One more thing.” Lubbock turned to David. “How’d you keep finding me?”

Lubbock grinned, dove into his backpack, tugged at his backpack, and pulled out a worn gray sweater. David recognized it from the stranger he bumped into earlier. “I snuck a tracker on you when we bumped into each other. Knew you’d delta before I could talk.”

David nodded. “Cool, cool. Very clever…” He narrowed his eyes as he got closer. “Now take it out.” O’Brian gave a chuckle and did so, flicking his Monowire to remove the tracer he planted. David gave a curt thanks before walking away.

David then headed for Watson, walking the whole way. Didn’t want to run into any…picksockets on the metro. More one in particular.

The Doc’s place was apparently in a shopping area in the heart of the district. He asked around, and they directed him to an odd place called Misty’s Esoterica and Chakra Harmonization.

“Yes?” The owner appeared to be a friendly woman with a spiked collar and gothic/punk makeup.

“Um… I’m looking for Victor. I, ah, chipped in some high tier chrome from a sketchy guy, so…”

Misty got the picture. “Yeah, his office is down in the basem*nt. He should be watching a wrestling match ‘bout now, but he should be willing to see you.” David thanked her and headed down into the shop.

Down there he found the man, older, about in his 40s or 50s maybe but in fit shape. Like Misty said, he was immersed in a boxing match on the nearby monitor.

Compared to Borg, Vic’s office was that of a professional. Way cleaner, organized and all around more friendly than Borg. Then again, he set the bar pretty low for Rippers. At some point, the Doc noticed his new arrival.

“Hmm, you’re new.” Vic turned down the volume of the fight and faced David. The Doc looked David over. “Alright, what can I do for ya kid? I hope for your sake, you’re not about to ask me for some high level chrome, are ya?”

David smiled nervously and shook his head. “Nah, doc. I do need you to check some chrome I had chipped in though.”

Victor paused at that. “Two questions: What kinda chrome we talking about, and who’s the Ripper that put it in you?”

“It's a…” David sighed; he could tell this guy wouldn’t like it. “A military grade, prototype Sandevistan. Got installed by Doc Borg in Arroyo.”

Victor pinched his nose, took a deeo breath and sighed. “…Get in the seat before I f*ckin knock you out. Borg’s a nutcase that no sane gonk would ever trust with their chrome.”

David did as instructed. From what he heard and what he could see from Victor himself, the guy was a veteran Ripper. He knew chrome could offer options based on what worked and had a network of clients he could rely on. Best of all, he generally kept his patient’s health - be it mental and physical - in mind when he made recommendations or treatments. You had him as your doc, odds of Cyberpsychosis went down.

David soon laid down on his stomach, he grit his teeth, but then noticed something. “Eh Doc… Where’s the bite bar?”

Victor just sighed, sounding tired. “Christ, kid. Just relax, You’ll be knocked out by the Anesthetics, no Bite bar needed. f*ckin sickos…” the last bit said to himself as he set up his systems.

David relaxed in the seat, and felt the anesthetics kick in. seconds later, he was out like a light.

_ 10 minutes Later _

The Next thing David knew, he was up. He fealt preem, like He looked to Vic, who was scratching his head, thoroughly confused. He kept glancing between readings on a screen, and David himself.

“Despite all logic dictating otherwise, you seem to be in decent health. The nerves in your back and the Sandevistan seem to be recalibrating to you, Like it's trying to fix everything that Doc Borg messed up… on purpose by the looks of it. I added some antibiotics to help smooth things over. Should be fully calibrated within the next day or two.”

David didn’t think he heard him right. “Seriously? Do other models do that? And what about Immunosupressants?”

Vic huffed at that. “Hell no. You weren’t jokin when you said this thing’s a damn prototype; things built like nothing I've ever seen, and I've seen alot. Also, Immunosupressants suppress symptoms of rejection for chrome. Right now, you don’t need any… yet at least. Damn thing’s recalibrating to you, adapting to improve itself and by extension, you. Never seen anything like that before.”

David mulled that over. “Could the Sandy have some sort of… AI attached to it or something?”

Vic scratched his head. “Honestly? I can’t say yes or no, cause I can’t tell. It's a possibility, but it's too soon to tell for sure.”

David nodded. Needless to say, he was not heading back to Borg for any new chrome. “How much for the check up?”

Victor crossed his arms. “Can you pay it off?”

David grimaced at that. “...Depends how much. Gotta pay back a Cyberpunk for the Sandy. I… my mom sold it to him, and I didn’t know until after he found me. Now I gotta pay him back.”

“Would the Cyberpunk in question happen to be Maine Nelson?” David flinched at that. Victor just dropped his arms and sighed. “Look, it's not my business, so I won’t ask questions. I also won’t mention anything to him, so long as you’re honest about paying him back. We don’t talk much anyways.”

David got up from the seat and stretched out his arms and legs. “You never mentioned the price. Big or small, I intend to pay it back.”

Victor just huffed at that. “Good to hear, kid… Why’d you chip in the Sandy anyways?”

David stopped his stretches to look at Vik. he “I, was in a bad place when… my mom died. I felt that the Sandevistan would give me options. And it helped me get back at the corpo pissant that was dissing her after she died. Petty, I know, but it kept me going.” he let out a breath as he finished. It felt… calming… talking about it to someone.

“Hmmm.” Victor mulled it over. ‘A decent kid with issues and an experimental Sandy. Definitely some mental trauma. Maybe… to hell with maybes. The kid seems to have the guts for it. Besides, Stone-edge and Matoi Jr. could use the extra sparring partner.’

David waited, before sighing in irritation. “Look, give me a price, and I’ll try and meet it. so-”

“I got an offer for ya, kid.” David perked up at that. “First, you ditch Borg and stick with me; I wanna run some tests on that Sandy, just to make sure everything’s still green. Second, You said you got into a fight, and you seem healthy enough, so I’ll train you until you can fight in the ring. I’ll earn back what you owe when you win matches. You can settle this debt for me that way.”

That… forced him to think. The first part he was planning on anyways, but the latter… He already was training with Regalla, but she never said he couldn’t find training from other sources. ‘He’s offering it, and seems honest enough. I might as well agree.’ In the end, it was a good deal.

David nodded, and sent him his contact info. “Sure, I’m in. I might be busy for a few days, but after that… let me know when you want me for training… or when to come in for the next check up.” Just like before with Lubbock, he felt time slow down briefly, saw a blue butterfly in his vision before it faded away, and heard the voice of his primary trainer in his head. But this time, he could clearly hear the words as time breifly froze around him.

‘ I am Thou… Thou art I… Thou hast established a new Bond.’

‘Let your soul be lifted up to your destination, making a Heaven of any Hell you know.’

‘Now rise up, Empowered with the Heirophant Arcana. May your bonds lead you to your Salvation. ’

‘Again?’ David nearly glanced around as time resumed as normal, but kept himself from doing so. It wouldn’t do any good anyways.

Vik raised an eyebrow. “You good?”

David waved him off. “Fine, fine. Just… pleasantly surprised.” Vic asked a couple more questions about the Sandevistan and how he used it after getting it chipped. Vic spent a few minutes ranting about Unliscensed and improper Rippers before giving his verdict.

“I want you back here in a week’s time, for more tests. as for uses…” Victor’s face looked conflicted, mainly about his next words. “You used it 9 times within 24 hours, 7 within 2 hours. That would kill most gonks, but not you… appearantly. Until I say otherwise, outside of extreme emergencies, limit it to 2 uses per day, 3 at most but that’s it. Your body can handle the strain well enough but your brain can’t. And unless I say otherwise, don’t even THINK about any new Chrome. Got it?”

David nodded; he couldn’t afford chrome anyways, or worry about it with Igor. ‘Doubt it would help against metaverse monsters anyway.’ “Got it. And thanks… for the checkup and the offer to train me.”

Vik sighed and went back to his match. “Consider it the whim of an old man. Or that your luck’s turning positive for a bit. Hell, the fact you lived through Borg’s sh*tty treatment means that you must have the Devil’s luck.”

David chuckled at that. ‘Or I got him as my patron.’ Either way, he said his goodbyes and left Vik’s shop. He got a call from O’Brian. He managed to get in touch with a buyer up in Northside. David took the tram and headed there.

Despite the heartache and pain of losing his mama… Despite the confrontation with Maine… Things were looking up for him.

_ Elsewhere _

Katsuo scowled. Things were not going to plan! ‘O’Brian should have contacted him by now, but nooo, the sh*t is ghosting him. Him! He’d die for that, him and his worthless maggot parents will suffer.’

He was currently in his room in his father’s home, overlooking part of the city. Millions of peasants and plebeians wondered about going about their worthless lives. They were ants to him, each and every one of them. If they were near him, and proved useful, he would keep them around.

But there were those above him, many in fact, who stood above the world like dragons among sheep. His father was among them. He held power that would someday be his. Till then, he’d focus on his studies and be the dutiful, model student.

All while ensuring his control within the Academy. It was his world, his Domain , dammit!

With any luck the sh*ts he wasted eddies on would, in turn, waste Martinez and O’Brian.

‘While that’s going on, who should I… target next?’ the Saka school did offer some… adequate females for him to sate his desires on or males to break, teaching them they were beneath him. Some knew not to question him when he called on them; he speaks, they obey, that is how things function in an Empire. The Emperor stands over them like the ants they are. ‘Bringing them in to break was always a joy.’

In his fantasies, Katsuo’s enemies burned in the ground, he had all the power he desired, and he could never fall.

Chapter 6: Corpo-Brat’s Ploy & Fool’s Resolve

Chapter Text

Corpo-Brat’s Ploy & Fool’s Resolve

Afternoon rolled around and David met O’Brian and his Fixer contact. true to his word, he introduced him to a solid buyer; He was a small-time fixer working under Regina Jones. She apparently allows him to operate on her turf in exchange for a small cut of his profits, and some favors from time to time.

Apparently, Roman used to be a Cyberpunk before he took in a daughter, Neo. From there, he shifted to being a vendor and then a fixer working with Jones. O’Brian met him a few times while running errands for his folks.

Roman offered 1100 Eddies for the jewelry, and cassettes together. David promised O’Brian that he’d have a stable supply to offer the next day. He also promised the fixer that he’d be back with more stuff to sell. Roman agreed to see any items he had and haggle the prices there.

After making the deal, he heard Regalla’s voice again. It was the same except Roman was the ‘Hanged Man’ Arcana. He still wasn’t sure what any of it meant; but at least he could hear it fully that time.

O’Brian offered to get them something to eat, as a means to make up for lost time. Seemed a bit off, but David decided to humor him before meeting with Igor. They headed down to a spot he knows in Japantown, A mexican place with some decent sandwiches and burritos.

He heard Regalla’s voice in his head three times that day, with the first time being mostly garbled in static. The first was with Lubbock, the second was with Vik, and the most recent one was when he spoke with Roman. Each time, he heard a different term mentioned in a bond; He wasn’t sure, but it sounded like some Arcana fortune telling stuff. He wanted to talk with Igor and Regalla for details.

“Sooo…” O’Brian said as he took a bite of his synth burrito. “Where’d you get your loot?”

David sighed, and put down his sandwich. It was the third time O’Brian asked that, this time being blunt about it. “For the last time, I ain’t talkin about it.”

“Oh come on!” Lubbock whined. “You mentioned you’d have a supply of similar goods. I just wanna know how and possibly help to ensure a profit. So spill, what’s your secret?”

‘I made a pact with a demon that believes in humans more than I do. He then sent me to hell where I scavenged all my products to sell for scratch. Yeah, you’ll totally believe that.’ David huffed as he took another bite; tasted decent enough. “You wouldn’t believe me if I said it straight.”

O’Brian leaned back pondering how to get the deets, but decided against it with a shrug. “Uh huh. Fine, keep your sources to yourself. We’ll see how well it works when-” the door to the diner was slammed open, as two members of the Tygerclaws entered the establishment.

The two Saka Students didn’t think much of the Tygerclaws; they were a common sight in Japantown. Except one of the Claws walked right over to the booth the two were eating at.

“Which one of you is David Martinez?” the Claw said, leaning on the table.

David and O’Brian shared a quick glance before David starred the gonk back. “Depends on who’s interested.”

The Claw slid into the booth right next to David, effectively cutting off his escape route. He glanced at O’Brian. “You. beat it.”

O’Brian glanced at David, who nodded. He then got up and left the shop. His eyes flashed as he made a call. He opened the call to David, who accepted.

O’Brian: [ Stall for 5 minutes, then meet me out front. I’ll arrange an exit by then. ]

David just raised an eyebrow but said nothing; if He wanted to help, he’d accept it. he just turned to the Claw, a lanky man with a basic gun. “Can’t say I recognize you. Anything you want with me?”

The Claw just waved his gun around. “Only the payday for bringing you in. You got an interested classmate who wants to talk.”

“Thanks.” David said, confusing the gang punk. David decided to stall him with some bullsh*t. “Before you escort me, want to talk? I’d like to know who’s escorting me to meet my old friend… and who gets more eddies for doing that.”

The Tyger grinned at that and sat down. David wasn’t sure if the punk would play along with his bluff and stay, rather than just drag him out. The punk clearly wasn’t that street smart.

He decided to play it cool, and let the Tyger talk. He seemed to be real chatty, bragging about a woman he was gonna do and drugs he’d get after bringing me in. A full 3 minutes of that passed, until O’Brian, thankfully, came in with the all clear.

O’Brian: [ Good to go. Meet me outside, now! ]

David revved up the Sandevistan and zoomed out of the shop and into the open street. He came outside, standing as time resumed. Just as he did, O’Brian drove in in a blue car.

“Where’d you nab the wheels?” David asked as he got into the shotgun seat.

O’Brian set the car into drive and hit the gas, taking the duo away from the shop and towards Northside. “Klept it from one of the claws inside. They should really keep an eye on their things.” Some other Tygers came out and started pointing guns at them and started shooting. Thankfully, the car had some strong plating, but they weren’t sticking around to test it.

Once they were on the road, O’Brian the duo were followed by a tygerclaws in their car. O’Brian glanced back through the mirror at the Claws in pursuit. Seconds later, it was taken apart by a stray bullet. O’Brian grunted at that, but focused on driving. “Who the hell hired Tygerclaws to gun for us!?”

“Better question…” David said as he held onto his seat. “How much did a Corpo brat we both know pay for it?”

O’Brian groaned at that. Of course the little Corpo-brat baby was behind this. ‘Of all the rotten luck, it had to be now!? We were bonding!’

“Head for the city Center. Claws won’t be so bold there.” David said O’Brian nodded and drove there. Claws were known to have off the books support from Saka, so odds were that they wouldn’t start sh*t near their main tower.

At least, that was what should have happened.

Yet they still followed. They also seemed to multiply; one car was joined by , all of them carrying angry Tygers that would most likely gut them.

That’s when they opened fire. David and O’Brian ducked trying to avoid the spray of bullets.

“We’re dead, We’re dead, We are so Dead.” O’Brian was panicking as he drove on.

David kept quiet, but was just as afraid. Cars all around them, guns blazing, gang goons being their violent selves… ‘just like then.’ When his mother died.

‘NO!’ David shook his head. “We’re not gonna go like that.” O’Brian paid him little mind, focused on the road. And the many tygerclaws driving around them….

While O’Brian kept driving, David acted. He had the one resource no other gonk in the city had: a literal way to escape to another world. It might have been hell, but he coils survive that better than here. Thus, he acted fast.

David grabbed O’Brian, activated the Sandevistan, and Flashwarped the both of them into the Metaverse, leaving the car and the world around them behind.

_The Metaverse, 1st Circle Avernus_

David opened his eyes to the familiar Burnt skies of Avernus. They seemed to have landed in a trash heap somewhere in the City Center Area. his bones ached from the crash, but he was still alive. And so was Lubbock.

He honestly wasn’t sure if warping into the Metaverse with Lubbock in tow would work. Speaking of the greenette….

“What the hell is this place!?” O’Brian said as he frantically glanced around. Considering he stood in a burnt and ruined version of Night City, he understood his confusion.

David stood up and groaned. “You kinda gave the answer when you said Hell.”

O’Brian turned on him and drew his Monowire. “Don’t get smart with me, Martinez!”

David held up his hands. “Choom, relax. The truth is gonna be a hard pill to swallow, so take a breath and calm down. Alright?”

O’Brian looked weary, but eventually hid away his Monowire and sighed. “Alright. Start talking.”

So he did. David explained how he first met Igor, a demon that wanted him as his champion or something. He explained how his attendant led him into this dimension, where he spent his time running from seemingly immortal demons.

O’Brian just stood there, taking it in. He seemed to be taking it in stride “WHAAT?! Are you kidding ME!?”

‘Nevermind, he wasn’t taking it well at all.’ David just crossed his arms. “Need me to repeat it?”

“No, I just don’t believe you. Even if you’re telling the truth! That sounds insane, utterly and completely insane!” David should have expected that; he reacted similarly when he first met Igor.

David just sighed. “Believe it or not, that’s the truth. Make of it what you will.” He looked around for another pipe and found one lodged in a car tire. He pulled it out and started walking away. “I’m gonna head in this direction; Feel free to follow. Or, you can wait around for the Demons to attack and eat your flesh… your call!”

O’Brian went from frustrated ranting, to disbelief, to crying despair and then to grumbling acceptance; all in the span of a minute. He then followed after David.

The duo trekked forward in silence. Neither of them felt like talking, especially when David mentioned the threat of honest-to-god demons.

A few blocks away, they noticed something sticking out. It was a Marble white Palace with high Walls, a gate, towers, and what looked like a… Roman Palace? Even the sky above it seemed different: instead of the burnt Orange sky devoid of clouds or sun, there was a bright Blue atmosphere above the Palace, clasing with the burnt sky of the rest of Avernus.

“Got an explanation for that?” O’Brian asked, pointing to the Roman Palace sticking out among the common Hellscape.

“Nope.” David thought it looked more… friendly than the rest of Avernus. But that could easily be a lie, meant to draw suckers in. “Sounds like a trick. Best avoid it.”

“Or…” O’Brian came to a different conclusion. “It could be a safe area until we find a way out of this… dimension.” he still didn’t want to admit it,

David shook his head. “Safe or not, I doubt it would lead to a way out. I can lead us out when the Navigator recharges. Should take less than an hour at this point.”

Lubbock huffed at that. “Yeah, well, I’m gonna go check out that place. You can join me or meander about.” he then went straight for the out-of-place Roman fortress in the distance. David just sighed and followed.

The duo entered through the main gate into an open garden of some sort. Lots of fruits and other plants grew in seed beds, with straight paths between sections. It was a sight neither of the Saka students had ever seen before.

Lubbock reached down and plucked one of the flowers. “Damn, is this what a ganic plant smells like?” Such things were rare in NC.

David went to pluck one as well, but noticed the stomping of feet, getting closer. He stood up as dozens of soldiers surrounded them. Lubbock cried out as they charged at the two of them.

“Oh sh*t! RUN!” David tried to rush to grab Lubbock, Using the Sandy’s speed to do it. Before he could, he was tackled by two of the soldiers and struck upside the head. The last thing he saw as he drifted into unconsciousness was Lubbock yelling and kicking the Roman Soldiers until he joined him.

_Later_

David groaned as he woke up. He wasn’t sure what hit him, but he still felt it. He noticed he was outside, on a balcony of some sort, overlooking the courtyard of the palace. Lubbock was also there, tied to the wall adjacent to him. He was awake and gave him a weak smile. He was gonna ask what happened but a voice broke the silence.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the sh*t Stains who are giving me so many problems. Come to deliver yourselves to me, beg for mercy? You never did deserve it, not then and not now.”

The annoying voice was the only thing he vividly recognized. It looked to be Katsuo, but dressed way different; he wore odd pure white armor, all fancy and white like some Roman official. It looked gaudy as hell; David could honestly see Katsuo in that kind of getup and act arrogantly proud in it.

He also had an odd… Aura about him, mainly around his eyes. They were partially black. It… it reminded him of the boss tier shadow demon he faced before, the one with the deadly red aura. Even still, David just glared at him.

“But simply executing you quickly is too much of a mercy to you. ” Katsuo snapped his fingers, causing the shackles around his arms and legs to be disabled. “ I’m going to beat and burn the lesson into you, until you realize how far beneath me you really are.”

Not going to just take that, David got up. His instincts told him to run, but he wasn’t gonna give Katsuo that satisfaction. Not anymore. So he charged, and threw a fist…

Katsuo caught his fist in his hand, and with his other he struck David right in his gut. David tried to kick him, but that was swiftly batted away. He kept trying to land hits, but each was deflected or blocked. David used the Sandevistan speed to land a blow… only for that to be countered as well. His attacks failed, but Katsuo’s hits kept coming.

Unlike their confrontation before, when he punched him with the force of the Sandevistan, this was a repeat of past matches. Instead of the choreographed moves from his chipware, Katsuo was fighting like a true warrior.

This guy fought like an actual martial artist. Every move David made, even with the Sandevistan’s speed, was countered and beaten back, like a prodigy. Even through the pain, David knew Katsuo would never bother to train to that level, not even to spite him. That could only mean…

‘This isn’t Katsu… It's a shadow that looks like him! Probably related to the real one.’ he vaguely thought as he was kneed in the gut then slammed into the ground.

“That’s what you get for daring to stand against me. Pain and suffering, that’s it! Hope you enjoy the taste of it!” Katsuo lit his hand on fire and grabbed David’s

David screamed as the fire burned his skin. Katsuo suddenly got tired of hearing him, and slammed him back into the ground. David groaned in agony, breathing hard.

“Now then. ” Katsuo drew his sword, a silver gladius, and pointed it at David’s Exposed neck. “ Time to make it clear what you are… a corpse tossed away with the trash.”

“Wait!” O’Brian called out. “You can’t kill him. Your father won’t like that!”

Katsuo sneered at that. “What would you know of my father’s desires?”

David perked up at that. Lubbock might be trying to spew some bullsh*t to save him from Katsuo. Or…

“Your Dad contacted me. Said he was interested in David for something; I think he wants him as some experimental test subject, but I’m not sure. I don’t know what, but it sounded important. He offered me a lot of eddies if I could convince him to meet with him in person and win him over for it.”

…Or that. If David weren’t at risk of dying, he’d knock his lights out for that.

Katsuo just tilted his head at that. “That so?” He snapped his fingers; one of the Shadow Soldiers stepped forward and gave him a javelin. Katsuo spun it around in his hand, before driving it deep into Lubbock’s leg.

“GAAAHHH!” Lubbock screamed, breathing hard as Katsuo drove it deeper until it went into the ground. He twisted it for good measure, causing Lubbock to wince.

“That’s what you get for assuming what I care about. Lies like that are useless against my Mind! Using my father to do it is just pathetic!” Apparently, Katsuo didn’t believe him.

He then walked back to David and grabbed his head. Katsuo started ranting, something about him and his mom being worthless, another thing about dirt and sh*t - basically nothing new. David wasn’t listening to him; his focus was on the voice in his head.

‘What do you stand for?’

David heard his own voice, distorted and stern, in his mind as Katsuo smashed his head into the ground. He did this a few times before growing bored, and tossing him aside. He could faintly make out Katsuo ranting about him being less than a man, just an animal that didn’t know better.

“Hey, Leave him Alone! I don’t know him much, but I know he’s twice the man you are, ya retarded pissant!” Katsuo sneered at that. He lit his hand in Crimson black fire, and grabbed onto Lubbock’s head, burning him.

David dragged himself to the fountain and gazed into it. He saw his reflection, darkened as just a shadowy figure with his build. A shadowy reflection of himself.

‘What do you stand for?’

David glared at his reflection and yelled at it out of spite. “Stand for What!? Can’t you see I don’t have anything to stand FOR?”

His reflection just stared back, and asked a different question. ‘Then what will you STAND FOR!?’

David saw one of the blue butterflies flutter near his face before flying towards his torn Yellow ER jacket… the one his mother wore. She wore it when she toiled to keep him in the Academy. Then it clicked, like pieces falling into place.

She stood up for him, loved him and believed he could rise up, live a better life. Her dream was for him to move on to a better place than where they were. At the top, there was no better place to be, that’s what she said. But he could never go along with it; part of it was that it wasn’t his dream. Another part saw through the lie.

It was an illusion the City sold people. An illusion his mom believed, up until her death. It lied to anyone who lived there. His mama lived and died believing it.

The city deceived the one person he cared for most, and then took her from him. It thought nothing of her. The city would pay. This city would be proven wrong . He would rise above it. To do that…

David spat out some blood, and wiped his chin. His choice was clear: “If there’s no better place to go, I’ll make one.”

So he’d do exactly that. He’ll stand up. “Hey! Katsuo!”

The Shadow of Katsuo let go of Lubbock’s head, leaving him sagging for breath. Katsuo turned to face David; The Latino stood on his feet with his fists held firm..

“All this time, you talk as if you know so much… even when you don’t got a damn clue.”

Katsuo just narrowed his eyes. “What?”

David went on. “You think you’re worth something cause you were born into a corpo, like they’ll ever give a damn about you. You whine about being the best when you didn’t do a damn thing to earn anything. And you treat everyone like they’re beneath you, because of something they couldn’t control. And you have the gall to enjoy it.”

Katsuo just shrugged at that. “sh*t is sh*t no matter who says otherwise. Someone has to set the standard, and put people like you in their place. Filth like you has no purpose or value to this world, so you might as well stop being a part of it.”

David stood up, finding his resolve. “There’s only one thing you said that I agree with… that SOMEONE has to set the standard. People need the model for how society should behave. If you stand for the world as it is now…” Azure flames started to flicker around him. “Then I’m gonna stand for what the world can BE!”

The azure flames roared to life around him. The resulting wind forced Katsuo back. When the flames finally settled and disappeared, David’s outfit was altered to the extreme.

He wore greaves, sandals, a Greek style cuirass armor on his chest and a shoulder guard and vambraces on his left arm. His right arm was wrapped in white sports tape and a black glove. He wore a yellow sash wrapped around his forehead and a silver face mask that covered his eyes and the sides of his face but left his mouth exposed.

Held in his hand a 5.5 foot long spear; the bladed end formed a straight, two sided blade, while the other end was blunt with glowing blue lights causing small sparks. He had a recurve bow tied to his back.

‘I won’t back down. I chose this path; I’ll see it through to the bitter end!’ He brandished his Spear at Katsuo… “Let’s settle this!” And rushed forward.

Chapter 7: Sailing King & Deciding Truths

Chapter Text

Sailing King & Deciding Truths (U)

David made the first move, surging forward to pierce Katsuo. Katsuo barely managed to block the blow with his own scepter, still getting grazed. Katsuo’s glare was outright murderous. “You cretin. You dare-”

David didn’t dare, he just acted. He struck him again with the side of his spear, knocking him to the side. His focus was solely on the fight; no words were needed. He’d heard enough of Katsuo’s bullsh*t to last a lifetime.

Katsuo started to get a clue, bringing up his scepter to block or counter. The two traded blows. David’s spear clashed with Katsuo’s staff. At some point, David split his staff to avoid a grapple, and wielded the two pieces as dual weapons: the sharp stake and the blunted end, glowing with sparks.

Katsuo drew his own shortswords, lit on fire, and charged. David lunged with his Stake, but was deflected by one of Katsuo’s swords. He tried to slash David with the other, but David blocked it with the Electric Blunt, forcing Katsuo back. Both scowled, and pressed on the attack, neither willing to back away. They clashed, blade against blade, once, twice and again, neither side giving ground.

As fierce as the battle was, Lubbock wasn’t sure how long David would last. He’d side with David over Katsuo anyday, but wasn’t sure if he’d live past that. Katsuo had the powers he’d never seen before and David gained similar powers to combat him.

That’s when David summoned a demon of his own.

David backed away, and called out a name Lubbock vaguely remembered from some old stories he knew and cartoons he’d seen.

“Clear the Path, Odysseus!” behind him, a pillar of blue fire rose up before dissipating, revealing a tall humanoid figure in full cybernetic armor. He was decked out in gunmetal gray armor, inlaid with red and gold along his chest, arms and legs. His helmet had a glowing Blue visor that glowed with ominous fury, and a red scarf that changed to gold at the edges. He looked almost like a full on borg, but human. Attached to each of his arms were massive curved blades, thrice the size of any Mantis blade. Around him, the winds blew, as if heralding an oncoming storm.

Both David and the man behind him seemed to yell out the same word - Garu - before a large gust of wind shot forward, knocking Katsuo back. He screamed as he fell to the open courtyard they were captured in. When it was clear that Katsuo wasn’t gonna be an issue, the spirit then disappeared behind him. David then fell to his knees. The spirit then disappeared behind him.

From his spot on the floor, Lubbock watched in stilled awe. He wasn’t sure what David did to get the armor or spear, or the spirit creature that backed him up. but he wasn’t complaining. When he saw Katsuo knocked off the balcony, his only thought was if he was gonna survive. Seconds ago, the threat was Katsuo, now… he

Lubbock tried to pry the Javelin from his leg, but it wouldn’t budge. Desperate, he called out. “David! I need your help.”

David got up from his spot on the floor. He looked tired, but still could move. He walked over and stood there, just staring at Lubbock. The greenette wasn’t sure when or how, but he was in deep sh*t.

Eventually, David just breathed out, spit his spear in two, and stowed both parts away on his back. He picked Lubbock up and carried him over his shoulder, and ran.

David ran down the stairs and through the corridors. He ran past dozens of Soldiers. He ran across the main garden, even as Katsuo got up at some point to yell at and rave at them. He ran, and the winds were at his steps, pushing him along.

At some point, they reached the main streets of Avernus, the hellish city under a burning sky. David still had Lubbock over his shoulder. While running, he came across one of the same demons from before, the small ones that nearly killed him the last time. It charged at him, wanting to finish the job.

David didn’t even think as he pointed his spear and ran towards it. All it took to stop the demon was running it through with his spear. When he did, the demon’s form convulsed and changed; now, it resembled some weird ghost creature with the head of a pumpkin and a lantern in its hand.

Crypt dwelling Pyro - David knew its name and attacked it with the same wind spell he used earlier. Unlike his first encounter, it dealt a massive blow to the shadow creature. He didn’t let up, and attacked with his wind magic. It screamed and fell, then faded away shortly thereafter. After that, David kept running. He ran until he was in a secluded alleyway in between a few buildings.

David went through the data that Igor sent him; Metaverse Navigator. He set it to return them. The two of them then appeared in one of the backstreets of Little China, a short distance from Victor’s Clinic.

Lubbock groaned as he looked around, still in the supernatural Hellscape David dragged him into. He checked his leg; the wound looked partially healed, but still hurt. He could at least stand on it. ‘Result of leaving… Hell maybe? God, that's so weird to think about.’ David stood across from him, looking at something.

Lubbock wasn’t sure what he was thinking, so just asked the question burning in his head. “Back there, on the balcony, and now… Why help me?”

Trauma Team came that day, but ignored his mom in favor of their clients, the ones with eddies to spend. He called out to them but they didn’t care. She couldv’e survived if…

David forced the memory away and kept a stoic expression. “Because you asked for help… And I did.”

Once they entered the real world, a back alley in Watson, David set O’Brian down against the wall. His leg still looked bad, but it was worse before the healing spell. “Victor’s clinic should be a minute away from here. I trust you know the way. He’ll take care of that leg, so get going.”

“Hang on!” Lubbock stood up on shaky legs and grabbed his shoulder. “I, I want to-” David cut him off.

He grabbed Lubbock by the collar and slammed him into the wall. “What? You want to do what?” Lubbock kept silent. By the look in David’s eyes, good chance he was gonna get decked if He misspoke. David eventually let him go and turned to walk away.

David glanced at him one more time before revving up the Sandy and dashed away. He kept moving until he ended up in the Velvet room.

_Later _

David entered the Velvet room, feeling… totally wiped. Meeting Lubbock and then Victor, trading with Roman for scratch, runnin from Tygers, confronting Katsuo’s Shadow - what else could it have been - and literally running from it all back to reality. It

Stepping into the abode of his patron felt different this time. Before, it was dark, without much to see; just Igor and his desk, and sometimes the glowing doors adjacent to it. Now… It looked like the inside of an office, the one stationed in a corp’s highest tower. The walls, curtains and decorum were still blue. It looked brighter too, like there was actual sunlight. All and all, it looked like one of the High class offices of a Corpo… just like his mother hoped he’d arrive at.

It had been a long day, with a lot going on. Gaining a Persona and beating Katsuo made up for some of it. Even so, he had a lot to ask his patron.

Igor greeted him as usual. “Welcome once again, David. It would seem you have taken the first step to understanding the metaverse; unlocking your other self, your Persona. I assume you have questions, Yes?”

David just gave him a blank look. “Yes.”

“Ask away.” Igor seemed pleased when David finally sat down and relaxed.

“First off: Shadows and Personas, what the hell are they?”

“A good place to start.” Igor admitted, and summoned two cups of tea. He offered one to David, who took a sip. Igor did the same before speaking. “...Humans all have desires, dreams and cognitive concepts of how the world works. Those thoughts, dreams and cognitions affect the metaverse. A shadow is a creature born of the dreams and cognitive thoughts of humans. They are the creatures that dwell in the Metaverse, whatever its form. Some are even the formation of people”

“That’s why they’re called shadows, not Demons?” It would explain why Igor was so insistent on calling them Shadows.

Igor nodded. “A shadow has two forms: the form you see as its outer appearance and its true self. A shadow’s true self is their natural form. Often, they take the form of creatures or figures from cultural or mythological roots. ”

“Its outer appearance is determined by their location and the cognition of humans. In a palace, it is based on the ruler’s cognition. In Avernus, it is the collective cognition of the inhabitants of Night city; how they see their hidden truths, is how they can appear in the metaverse.”

“So, like… they look like demons in Avernus but look like Roman soldiers in Katsuo’s palace?” David asked.

Igor grinned. The young wildcard was getting it. “Indeed. To defeat a shadow, you must reveal its true self; rip away the surface appearance to see the true creature within.”

“That’s why I couldn’t fight it the first time.” David facepalmed at that, with Igor nodding. “So, the spear and armor is a side effect of gaining a Persona.”

“Correct. You must strike at the true self, the shadow in its original form. Your appearance changed in accordance with your acceptance of your shadow; it represents your will to overcome the world as it is. It allows you to fight them in the metaverse. Only those who have unlocked the power of Persona can possibly do this.” ‘It was always so nice to have a wildcard who could use their head. It was always nice.’

David leaned back, mulling it over in his head. “The ‘Katsuo’ I fought in that castle… that was his own shadow right? The twisted way he sees the world, Arasaka Academy… his own territory to rule and abuse as he likes.”

Igor’s grin couldn’t be any wider. “Exactly my young Runner. Every person has a shadow somewhere in the metaverse; it will manifest if the person’s desires become distorted. When the distortion grows to vast, a palace is formed. The palace is the representation of their mind and soul.

David could just imagine the kinds of people with distorted desires; he guessed they were the majority of folks in NC. “So is distortion code for evil?”

Igor shook his head. “Not necessarily, though there is some overlap. It's very circ*mstantial.”

David decided that was enough for that; Igor could be trusted to fill in any gaps as needed. He crossed his arms and leaned back. “What about Regalla’s weird… message, when I spoke to certain people? Victor, Roman, even… Lubbock, though his was garbled.”

“That would be the spoken aria when you form a bond. The power of the Wildcard is based in part on the bonds you hold with others.”

David jolted up at that, “Wha- wait a sec… you mean to say this power is… what, based on the power of friendship… the kind you’d find in a damn kid’s show? Seriously?!”

Igor shook his head. “It is more of the bonds you hold: the connections you make and understandings you come to with others. They grant you power, resolve to face adversity on your journey. It offers the same to those you form deep bonds with.”

David just gave him a blank look. “...You didn’t deny what I just said.”

“Yes, but people take ‘power of bonds’ more seriously than ‘the power of friendship.’” Igor said the last bit with air quotes. “What you heard, the aria provided, was the Wildcard’s sign that a bond is formed. You made a connection with Victor, and Roman, resulting in the Hierophant and Hanged Man Arcana bonds. The aria came out muffled for O’Brian because you two weren’t totally honest about your dealings.”

David scoffed. “Yeah. Bastard was planning to sell me out to Katsuo’s dad. I shouldn’t have trusted him.”

“That’s not necessarily true.” Igor spoke. “The aria could mean that either one or both of you questioned the connection-”

“Doesn’t matter!” David snapped at him. “I trusted him and he, he messed with that. He lied to me, kept things hidden for his own gain, just like- like-”

“Like Lucy.” David bristled at that. “You were hurt and have a right to be angry, in both cases. Though Lucy’s situation is complicated further by the Sandevistan.” David couldn’t argue with that; he knew he technically stole it, but he didn’t know his mom made a deal with Maine. He already decided to pay him back - even if Maine doesn’t know that- and settle things with him later on.

Igor pressed on. “I want you to ask yourself… is it so much that they cannot be forgiven? Think long and hard on your answer.”

“You want me to forgive them?” David scoffed. “Just like that?”

“I want you to consider your options towards your standing with O’Brian. Lucy can be addressed later.” Igor reached into his pocket and took out a card, fiddling with it in his hand. “He did help you escape the Tygerclaws, did he not?”

David rolled his eyes. “Course the gonk had to. He promised Tanaka senior to lure me into some trap.” He should have punched him in the alleyway, but he didn’t, for some reason. “He was gonna sell me out! That was his plan from the start-”

“And, under threat of death, why would he reveal his deal with Katsuo’s father? Why would he draw Katsuo’s ire from you to himself?” David gave a confused expression. Igor elaborated. “There was no reason to reveal his arrangement with the Elder Tanaka. The only sensible reason would be to prevent Katsuo from killing you. It failed, but he still tried. Do you think otherwise?”

David took a breath and considered it… despite his anger, he had to concede the point. ‘Lubbock knew I wouldn’t trust him after finding out, yet he still…’ he didn’t have to like it, not one bit. “Fine, maybe you’re right, but it still stings.”

Igor hummed at that, pleased he wasn’t blinded by emotion. “Consider Lubbock, his motives and his actions, then determine if you want to reform the connection, honestly this time. He may reach out to you to settle things, or he may disengage. It is your choice on how to respond. Amnesty, or hostility.”

David recalled how Igor addressed him when they first met, barely a few days ago. He frowned at that. “Again with your high horse bullsh*t. This is Night f*cking City. Everyone here cares for themselves, because no one else will. It's a man eat man world, with everyone trying to get an edge, be it through chrome or connections. It's the kinda place that punishes you for having dreams and-”

“And that, THAT, right there...” Igor cut in, pointing his finger at David. “...Is what I want changed about your city.”

Igor placed the card on the table, and slid it to him. It was the Magician arcana. “Men and women who wouldn’t think twice about sacrificing those they could for their own gain. Parents that sell out their children for profit. Rippers that sell the chrome of their dead patients for shards. Corporations that view humans as statistics on a board, sacrificed for their own gain. These are the villains of Night City, the irredeemables, the purely corrupted.”

“There are many people in the world who qualify as the kind of beings that Can Never be forgiven for their ways…”

His voice took on a darker, more sinister tone as he spoke and trailed off on those last words. David tensed, his instincts telling him to run. It was similar to when he faced the shadow with the red aura… only a hundred times worse.

Thankfully, the tension in the air ceased as Igor breathed in before continuing.

“From what you recall of either of them, Lucy or Lubbock… did either of them strike you as heartless monsters that would betray you for their own expense, Just because they could? The kind that can never be accepted or forgiven?”

“...” David didn’t answer him, he wasn’t sure where to begin. Instead, he took the card from the table, stood up and walked out of the Velvet room, towards the training area to the side.

Regalla stood patiently, her wooden sword. Upon seeing David, she tossed a second one his way.

David, instead of catching it, batted it away with his spear, summoned into his hand with ease. He then equipped his metaverse outfit and got into a fighting stance. “I want to fight with my Persona. That cool?”

Regalla grinned. “Naturally. Let’s see what you got, little Latino.” Thus, they resumed their fight. They fought for an hour. He lost but got the hang of using some of his Persona skills.

Slumping into his bed, tired from the failed matches, he had to think. He’d always done as he was told, though never for the School or corps. Only his Mama could drive him to action.

Igor never said what he should do; he made arguments and implications, but left the final call to David. It was… reassuring, to be trusted to make decisions on his own.

David wasn’t sure about Lucy, or how to address that… too much conflict with Maine right now. In comparison to that though, Lubbock became a whole lot easier to think about.

_Meanwhile _

“Say that again? I don’t think I heard you right.” Maine pinched his nose in frustration. He, Pilar and Becca were at Lizzie’s, trying to brainstorm how to catch Martinez. Becca suggested they just let the punk on the team, give him a shot for the upcoming gig for Faraday. Maine scowled at that. He didn’t want to give up Sandevistan, and yelled as such at her. That argument led to Pilar mentioning the Tyger’s he noticed chasing a car through City Center, of all places. And a number of Tygers got caught up in the crash.

Maine couldn’t care less about some… until Pilar mentioned that Gloria’s kid was in the car leading the chase.

Pilar, still seeming freaked out, spoke up. “Saw that Gonk runner that sent himself to hell is still alive!”

“Yeah! Crazy gonk and some buddy of his were runnin from Tygers.” Rebecca added. She was an edgerunner She was around 21, but looked younger due to some… unfortunate choices earlier in life. Some not her own.

The siblings went on to describe how the car crashed, but the bodies- those of David and his driver- weren’t found. They couldn’t tell what happened, as if they weren’t there when the car crashed in Downtown.

“Is there anything else that can help us find them?” Maine asked.

“Err…” Pilar fiddled with his hands. “I got a picture of them?” Maine’s stone cold look caused Pilar to back away. Rebecca’s goading for him to fight her brother did not help Pilar’s mood. Or Maine’s.

A few minutes later, Kiwi and Dorio entered. They found David’s apartment and went to check it out. If they found him, Kiwi would stun him with her Cyberhacks so Dorio could knock him out. Dorio took her seat beside Maine, while Kiwi stood across from them.

“Anything from his place?” Maine asked, hopeful for a lead on the Sandevistan.

Kiwi shook her head. “Nada. Kid was smart enough to clear out and delta before we got there.”

Dorio nodded. “Asked around; no one’s seen him. But they did notice a green haired kid askin about him.”

Maine groaned at that. David’s gone off the grid, so he could be anywhere in the city by now. “Pilar, send the photo you took of their joyride to Kiwi. Kiwi, think you can find the deets on the kid next to David?”

Kiwi looked over the photo, it was slightly blurry but she could make out the verdette driving the car. “Gonna need more data on him. The photo doesn’t narrow it down much.”

Rebecca jumped up. “Oh! Do ya think he was a fellow student? You mentioned he dropped out of Saka Academy; maybe they knew each other from there.”

Maine grinned at that. “Good call. Try to look up the records there, but be discreet.”

Kiwi took a drag of her smoke. “Kay… school database narrows it down, but it will still take time.”

“How much time?!” Maine growled, getting impatient. Dorio frowned at that.

Kiwi just gave Maine a blank look. “... give me a few hours, I should at least have a name and address by then.”

Maine grumbled at that, but told her to do it. He got up and left the bar, needing some fresh air.

‘No, that ain’t what I need.’ He wanted the Sandy, needed it for the next job. He was already the strongest on the team; with it, he’d be the fastest as well. Nothing could stop him or hurt his crew then.

“Maybe we should drop it.” Dorio said. Maine wirled to look at his second and Output.

“Drop what? You mean let the kid go!?” He narrowed his eyes on her. “That’s not gonna happen. Gloria’s kid or not, he stole my chrome. I’m getting it back.”

“I don’t think you should chip in the Sandy Period!” Dorio shot back.

“Dorio, I’ll be fine.” Maine tried to reassure her. “If the runt could take the punishment, I can too. I’m twice his size and am used to chrome-”

“So was the last gonk who chipped the damn thing, and he had nearly as much chrome as you!” Dorio shot back. “He still lost his goddamn mind and was gunned down by Maxtec. You wanna go out like that, too?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Dorio’s eyes hardened at that. “We’re gonna find him, break his legs so the f*cker can’t run, and rip the damn piece from his back. End of discussion.”

“...Assuming he doesn’t pull the same, disappearing fire trick a second time.” Dorio sighed. She’d help track David down but still wanted Maine to forgo the Sandevistan.

Maine didn’t respond, just kept going. He needed to get better. Stronger. ‘No one on the crew’s gonna end up like Sasha. No one else on his crew, cause he’ll be strong enough to prevent their deaths. That’s a promise.’

Chapter 8: Secure the Triumph, Faithful General!

Chapter Text

Secure the Triumph, Faithful General!

O’Brian leaned against the wall as the sun started rising over the horizon. The previous day had been… Intense for lack of a better word. He’d dragged himself to Vic’s Clinic, got healed a bit, and headed home to sleep. He ignored calls from both Tanakas and just dozed off.

The fact he survived was only because David fought to make it so. Thinking back to it, David had every right to leave him to die. He could've killed him with his spear himself if he felt vengeful; or just walked away and let Katsuo or his minions do it. He didn’t.

“Gonks like that are a rare sight in this city.” Often the case, they die off while playing hero in a city that kills heroes. They didn’t survive long, unless they played by the city’s rules, or stopped being the hero. Whichever came first.

He glanced at the newest app he got, and knew what he had to do. He already agreed to meet him, he might as well get going. He had to settle matters with David; he owed him that much…

And he knew exactly where to go to do that.

_Meanwhile _

David pierced the third Crypt Dwelling Pyromaniac he could find. Those specific demons were basically prey to him; their weakness to Wind made cutting them down child’s play. And the best part: Unlike his mad dash from Katsuo’s Palace, he could enjoy these kills. He still had to avoid the stronger shadows but the weaker ones- Crypt-Dwelling Pyromaniac , Beguiling Girl and Apprentice in a Jug - were all fair game to him.

He’d already gone through another training session with Regalla that morning, still using his metaverse outfit and weapons. He did much better in terms of evading, but still lost. It was clear that Regalla was his better - mainly with weapons, raw power and just plain experience - but he still fought well. After that, he dove straight into Hell.

He did speak with Igor before heading into Avernus to hunt shadows, and the old man had apparently gifted him with something called the eyes of the soul. From what he could tell, they allowed him to see through Shadows to their true selves, and could also allow him to see through Metaverse Deception; whatever that meant, because Igor just said it would be useful in time.

He’d gotten the hang of fighting with the Spear, despite never training with it beforehand. Side effect of the Metaverse he supposed.

After spending an hour hunting, he took a break in a safe clearing in Avernus. Igor mentioned that there were often safe zones where Shadows didn’t wander into. While going over his loot and spoils from hunts, he got a text from Lubbock, saying he wants to meet.

David… agreed. He wasn’t sure what he was planning, but would deal with anything Lubbock sends at him as it came. With any luck, he’d be fast enough to escape if it's a trap.

He arrived at the destination - a bazaar in Kabuki - and waited. He bought some food - he had scratch from the Metaverse - and waited. A pat on the back caused him to turn around.

Lubbock was standing behind him, drinking some soda. “Hey.”

David just crossed his arms. “What do you want?”

Lubbock just threw the soda away in a nearby trash can. “You probably found some software that lets you warp into the… metaverse right?” David nodded. “Well, going through my systems, I found something similar. ‘Metaverse Navigator:’ I think its function speaks for itself right.”

David just stood with his hands in his pockets. He still wasn’t sure what Lubbock was thinking. “What are you getting at?”

Lubbock went on. “That world you dragged us into, it works on metaphysical levels, reflecting the real world based on human perception. The Katsuo we met wasn’t the same as the one we dealt to school, right…? So if assholes have hellish counterparts… I should have one as well.”

David had to blink at that. ‘He must have figured this out on his own.’ “So… you want me to take you back to meet your shadow?”

“Noooo.” Lubbock shook his head. “ I want to take you back and watch me meet my shadow.”

Lubbock activated the Nav, and walked. David followed; he honestly wanted to see what was gonna happen. He could tell that Lubbock’s shadow would be nothing like Katsuo’s. The latter was an unrepentant dick with an annoying ego, while the former was a laid back dude with a penchant for mischief.

They two left the city and entered the Ruined city of Avernus once again. When David entered the Metaverse, he appeared in the same armor he wore before.

They two walked in silence, neither having much to say. Lubbock didn’t even comment on his outfit. Their silence was broken when a pack of Shadows stormed into their path. David grabs Lubbock and hides. Lubbock takes the hint and quiets down.

“What do we do now?” Lubbock whispered.

David raised an eyebrow. “You’re asking me?”

Lubbock nodded. “You’re the expert, or rather, know more than me.”

David sighed, but agreed. He briefly explained how Shadows/Demons operate in the Metaverse and recommended they avoid combat. From there, Lubbock followed David's lead.

They spent the next half hour sneaking around shadows. David could see their auras; White meant they were weaker than him, but red & black meant they were stronger.

Eventually, the duo arrived at their destination; a building falling apart, with a clearing in the main lobby. Light filtered in from holes in the walls and roof. Lubbock saw his target, sighed, then moved in.

Down in the clearing, the ravaged but mostly intact remains of the building’s lobby area, stood a Carbon copy of Lubbock, except with an ominous black aura.

“Well, well, well… it’s about time.” Lubbock’s doppelganger said. He looked exactly like the normal Lubbock… except for the pitch black eyes with red irises and the menacing aura about him.

Lubbock just waved at him. He slid down the debris, until he was in the pit a few feet away from him “Yo.”

Lubbock’s shadow grinned. “Do you really think you can do anything to hurt me? I’m the truth you deny, the failures you hide away from.”

Lubbock just tilted his head. “…Okay…”

“You always wanted to be the hero, but instead you're nothing more than a backstage nobody. A hopeless suck up who can’t do anything on his own. First Katsuo, then his father. You’d do anything to survive, no matter who you sell out to do it.” The shadow glanced at David as he said the last part.

“Uh huh…” Lubbock gestured for his shadow to go on. David just raised an eyebrow at how calm Lubbock was being; if it was him, he’d have thrown a punch by now.

The Shadow continued. “You’re a coward who shies away from intimacy. You couldn’t convince a girl to like you as a friend, let alone a lover, if your life depended on it. Your parents don’t need or want you, not when they have your older brothers to rely on. ”

Lubbock’s response was curt and even. “Neat.”

Now the shadow’s eye started to twitch. It was getting annoyed with the lack of any real response. “That’s It… What’s with that reaction? Aren’t you gonna say anything else!?”

Lubbock shrugged. “Painful as it is to say this… Katsuo got more of a reaction out of me than you, and you’re supposed to be the deepest truths I hide away, made manifest to stand before me. Honestly… not impressed.”

The shadow just reeled back at that in shock. “I wha- bu- What?”

“Yeaaah.” Lubbock rubbed the back of his head. “You haven’t said anything I didn’t already think about, you’re also not trying to kill me, so there’s that.” Lubbock walked forward until he was right in front of his shadow. The shadow flinched as Lubbock put a hand on his shoulder. The shadow looked unsure of what was going on. David had a similar confused look.

“Let’s break it down then, for clarity.” He then hung his arm around his shadow’s shoulder, as if they were the best of friends. David just looked on, going from confused to amused due to the shadow’s bewildered expression.

“I confess to being a suck up and coward, more so the latter than the former. I stayed out of conflicts by keeping my nose down. Sometimes that involved kowtowing to other Corpo brights from more prominent families. Never close anyone either. It’s true that my folks rely on my brothers more than me, but that’s by choice. Even then, I still help out when I can.”

“As for relationships… Yeah I kinda suck at those right now. Had a deep crush that never went anywhere, and was attracted to others that I might pine after, but those went about the same. Never could ask a girl out to even hang out, even as friends. Hell, I never even flirted with a girl in the academy. Never felt comfortable doing it there. Hopefully that can change.”

The shadow had enough and pushed Lubbock away. “You think that makes up for all your issues?”

Lubbock just waved him off with another shrug. “I got my issues, sure, plain as that. But those alone don’t define me. My story ain't over till I’m dead, so I’ll be whatever I want to be. Support, hero, confidant, rogue…” He glanced at David. “A friend. I’ll see what role I fit, and stick with what works.”

“Besides, the only person without issues is a dead person, and I very much enjoy being alive…” Lubbock extended a hand to his shadow. “Don’t you?”

The shadow just looked between David and Lubbock before letting out a breath. He then smiled. “Yeah… I do.” He took his hand.

The second he did, Lubbock was covered in azure flames along with his shadow.

When the flames died down, Lubbock’s appearance had transformed. Instead of the white button down shirt he wore a gray shirt, with leather straps, across his shoulders and waists, each holstering dozens of daggers. Over that, he wore a long dark green coat with a fur hood. His gray school pants were replaced with black cargo pants, and his plain sneakers became black with red lace.

He now wore Silver clawed gauntlets, with each finger producing a razor thin wire.

Behind him, a warrior general appeared, one with the head of an Eagle, his eyes pulsing with cursed power. He stood in Byzantine Segmented armor of bronze, with red leather in between. He held a decorated spear in his right hand and a sword in his left. From his back sprouted bird wings, the feathers matching his avian head.

David looked over O’Brian’s new attire. “Nice threads. Now… how do you feel?”

O’Brian just adjusted his goggles. “Like I was a puppet on strings… but now they’ve been cut… and I’m set free.” he then extended his hand towards a nearby boulder. From each of his fingers extended a thin silver wire that shot out to wrap around a boulder, then he pulled. The boulder was sliced up into

“Hahahaha, HAHAHA…” Lubbock slashed his wires around, slicing up some other debris around him. “This is Awesome! IF this is what you”

David caught his attention with an abrupt cough, causing Lubbock to calm down. He then stopped laughing, getting serious. “Look about yesterday with the Tanakas… I just, er wanna say-”

David held up a hand, causing O’Brian to quiet down. David had already made up his mind. “Look, you did what you had to. Neither of the Tanakas would have left you alone otherwise. It was messy, but you did the best you could. You were also honest when it mattered.” Lubbock didn’t have to mention the deal he made with Tanaka Senior, but he did, all to try and save him. It didn’t work, but it had to count for something.

David extended his hand. “Let’s call it even and start over. Names David, a gonk with issues, a debt to pay and a score to settle with a certain Corpo brat.”

Once again, Lubbock took his hand. “Lubbock O’Brian, a gonk with free time, finesse, and skills that can help settle scores, especially if it relates to anyone whose last name ends in Tanaka.”

David then felt… something in the air. Time slowed briefly and he heard Regalla’s voice in the air once more. Unlike the last time with Lubbock, the message was crystal clear.

‘ I am Thou… Thou art I… Thou hast established a new Bond.’

‘Let your soul be lifted up to your destination, making a Heaven of any Hell you know.’

‘Now rise up, Empowered with the Magician Arcana. May your bonds lead you to your Salvation. ’

“Um…” This time, O’Brian seemed to be looking around in shock. “What was that?”

David blinked. “You heard her too?” That hadn’t happened with Victor or Roman.

O’Brian just raised an eyebrow. “Heard who? I just felt… er, something. Not sure what.”

David shook his head. “I’ll explain another time. For now…” he turned his attention to the white palace. From atop the building he could see it as a white blot farther away. ‘Payback time.’

He turned to his new partner in crime and grinned. “Wanna go rob Katsuo’s Palace?”

O’Brian just grinned at that. “And profit at his expense? Hell yeah!” Their issues resolved, the two former saka students made their way. They had a wannabe emperor to steal from.

_ Elsewhere _

Lucy blew out another drag of her smoke. She was overlooking the ocean from a spot in Little China. She could make out the damn Saka Waterfront from her spot. Anything made by Saka earned her ire.

She’d done a bit of kleping on the rails, picked some shards off a few Corpos and already cashed them in. decent pocket change. It was… quiet, not much to think about. Eject shards, swipe, rinse and repeat. Barely worth thinking about, unlike that time.

‘When David was eager to impress me.’ She’d done it to keep his attention. She escorted him to Doc Borg as a show of trust. She brought him to her place to keep him there until Maine arrived… All so Maine could get back the piece that David stole. He didn’t know that his mom sold it to Maine, but Maine didn’t care that much. But did she care?

She cut her pondering and made a call. Maine may not have wanted her to track David, but she could still keep an eye out.

Lucy: [ Anything? ]

Kiwi: [ I found the other student's name and info. Sent it to Maine so he can find the brat from the boy. Now we just hope he settles his sh*t and calms the f*ck down. ]

Lucy: [ And Maine still doesn’t want any help from me? ]

Kiwi: [ Nope. You could scroll the net, though I got it covered. Either way, I think Maine’s still blaming you for the brat leaving. ]

Lucy groaned at that, and flicked her finished Cigarette into the bay. ‘Damn Maine and his paranoia. So much for trust among the crew.’ Didn’t matter if she enjoyed her time with David, she’d still helped Maine by keeping David around. It wasn’t her fault he literally disappeared into thin air. ‘More like a flesh of blue flames, but still.’

Her stomach sunk at the thought. Maine was obsessed with the Sandevistan, and probably would have flatlined David to get it. She’d pretended not to care when Maine and the others arrived at her place and threatened to kill David for the Spinal implant.

Lucy: [ We’ll See if Maine can catch David again. ]

Kiwi: [ Riiight… What’s your take on the kid? ]

She had to pause at that. What was he to her? Aside from a headache for the crew she was a part of, that is. She was just trying to keep him occupied. Although… Was it all just to get Maine’s Chrome… or was there more to it for her? She rolled around the question in her head, but she already knew the answer.

‘I… enjoyed it. From klepping corpos, to escaping on the freeway, to talking at my place and showing him around the Moon… I enjoyed every minute of it… until the end when Maine interrupted us. I showed him the Moon Brain Dance… because I thought he’d enjoy it with me. He did.’ she’d never shared that BD with anyone, not even Kiwi whom she was closest to. But seeing David down she brought him there, with the hopes of cheering him up. She didn’t have to, but she did.

She wasn’t sure what to make of it. Rather… She knew what she might think of him, but wasn’t sure what to do with that. She’d never felt that way before.

Lucy: [ He stole Maine’s Sandy and pissed off Maine. Nuff said. ]

Kiwi: [ I really doubt that’s all you think of him… but good answer. ]

Lucy huffed. Of course Kiwi would approve that kind of response; it's the kind of bland answer that the older netrunner would give in her situation.

Kiwi: [ Whatever the case, I suggest you steer clear of him and Maine until this whole mess is sorted out. Maine will chill once he gets his chrome. Best for you to keep out of trouble till then. ]

Her sort-of mentor hung up the call, leaving Lucy to stew in her own thoughts.

She knew that Kiwi had a point, David’s situation , and getting involved would only cause her more problems. But on the other hand… if David did settle his affairs with Maine, then maybe they could…

Lucy slapped her cheeks, clearing her head. She then took off, heading for the city. Right now, her best bet was looking around the city until she, hopefully, spotted him. If David was still walking around wearing his mother’s jacket, she wouldn’t miss him.

One way or another, she’d face David again.

Chapter 9: Progress, Conflicts of Interests, and Boxing

Chapter Text

Progress, Conflicts of Interests, and Boxing

The newly formed duo headed back down the streets of Avernus, heading for the white palace that represented Katsuo’s mind and soul. It took them some time, but they made it back to the marble palace. Though this time, they didn’t go through the front gate; Since his stunt with the Shadow Katsuo, it was swarming with guards.

The shadows there, soldiers in Roman armor, seemed to be on high alert. Considering the beat down David served the ruler the day prior, that made perfect sense.

They snuck around and found a weak point in the defenses. They found one that they could use; a bunker leading out, used for disposing trash. Seemed… odd that demons would need that. Lubbock had a theory for that: “Could just be the cognitions; human soldiers use sanitation, so they use it to resemble humans.”

David led the way. As they moved, he told O’Brian what little he knew of the Metaverse, Shadows, and Palaces. O’Brian seemed to understand most of what he was saying, even relating it to some other real world science. Cognitive Psience, he called it.

“Ready?” David whispered as they stood on a ledge overlooking one of the Shadow soldiers below them. Lubbock nodded, and they ambushed the soldier.

Lubbock extends his gauntlets, letting his steel wires bind the soldier in his threads. In shock, the shadow’s form seemed to melt and change. Gone was the roman soldier; in its place, appeared a humanoid figure with a leaf dress and a flower on its head. its appearance changed, but it was still trapped in Lubbock's threads. Gallows Flower - David could see its name in his mind.

David summons his power and strikes the shadow with a Garu Spell. It takes the hit, but doesn’t seem to take any damage.

“Wind doesn’t work, let me try!” Lubbock yelled before recalling his threads and summoning his persona. The eagle winged general swung its sword, sending Curses at the Gallows Flower. Unlike the wind attack, this one did harm it, causing it to scream in agony. David finished it off with a spear thrust.

The threads from O’Brian’s claws were far more deadly and versatile than regular Monowire. They made disabling traps or opening doors with locks a breeze. He could even bind weaker shadows in them.

“Did you get eddies from that too?” David asked while checking his account; sure enough, he received 20 Eddies from the kill. Lubbock’s nod suggested he got the same. ‘Talk to Igor later, explore now.’

After that, they continued to explore the Palace. Katsuo’s palace was decked out like a Roman Palace divided among four floors. The garden, main hall, bath houses, kitchens, and barracks were all on the first floor. They’d explored all of the first floor except the barracks; more shadows in larger groups.

They fought a few other Shadows so far, always in an ambush. Crypt-Dwelling Pyros, Beguiling Girl, Apprentice in a Jug, and Dirty Two-Horned Beast were among the Shadows they faced. Apparently, they could see a Shadow’s name when its true self is revealed.

“What’s with the names of these Shadows? They’re ridiculous.” Lubbock complained.

David shrugged. “Beats me. It's probably something stupid.”

They made their way to the Barracks, at the east section of the Palace. at the archway leading there, they saw another Soldier Shadow, this one emitting an angry red aura. David explained it would be stronger than the ones they faced, but they agreed they should explore the barracks, which meant they had to get through him.

Lubbock climbed the archway while David readied himself from the side. At his signal, Lubbock dropped down from the arch, and bound the shadow in his threads. Like before, its form melted away, revealing a Humanoid figure with red skin, a horse’s head, and fire in its fur and mane. Burning-Breath Horse Demon.

It seemed to take damage from it, but not much. The Demon gripped the wires around it and pulled, freeing itself and pulling Lubbock down to the ground. He yelped as he hit the ground hard.

David dove in and slashed at the demon with his spear, causing a gash on its chest. It responded by belching out tons of fire at him. David dodged the worst of it but still felt the heat.

Lubbock got up and fired a bast of cursed energy, the spell arcing forward as red and black bolts of energy. It impacted the Demon’s back and dissipated… it was barely affected. Lubbock tried again only for it to be neutralized the same way. ‘Resistance to Curse. Damn…’

The Demon had other plans; it stomped the ground, causing a shock wave that struck both David and Lubbock. David got up but felt… slower. Burning Beast grinned at that, rushing David and punching him hard enough to send him flying into a wall. The beast surged forward and tried to smash David’s head in.

The demon’s arm was held back. Lubbock had managed to wrap the beasts arms in his wires, holding him back. Seconds later, Burning Breath pulled back harder; his strength surpassed Lubbock, sending the rogue flying. David caught Lubbock before he hit the wall.

David glanced at Burning Breath, who seemed to be glaring at them. “Our spells aren’t working!”

“No sh*t!” Lubbock shot back. “Got any suggestions?” They considered their options, just as it started breathing fire at them. They dodged each to the side, avoiding the flames. When the Burning Breath stopped, David tried to charge at it with his spear. Lubbock joined him, making a hatchet out of his threads.

And then Burning Breath roared; it was so intense that it knocked both of them back. It didn’t deal them any damage, but it would signify the moment the battle was lost.

Seconds later, other shadow soldiers arrive and help; a half dozen Brutal Cavalrymen surround David and Lubbock. They brandish their spears at the duo, and charge. Burning Breath joins their charge.

David saw the writing on the wall; they were outgunned. He grabbed Lubbock and ran. The Lancer bolted all the way, using the Sandevistan thrice to get them a few streets away from the Palace. Lubbock leaned against the wall while David sat down across from him.

“Daaamn.” Lubbock cursed. “You weren’t kidding about that one being strong.”

David sighed. “Yeah, Not our best moment.”

“It’s a full on mini boss, and we don’t have a chance.” Lubbock shook his head. “Just us vs Burning Breath… We’re not gonna win that match up. It resists Curse and Wind, both our elements.”

David agreed. “He’s tough. Best we avoid him-”

“but we got no choice but to take him down.” David just looked at him confused, before Lubbock explained. “You don’t put a mini boss level threat somewhere for no reason. I get the feeling it's guarding something we need.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

After their escape they decided to look around the palace further before calling it a day. Fighting the Burning-Breath Horse Demon, and losing horribly, they chose to rely on stealth to get around. They managed to explore the 2nd floor, slipping around Shadows, without issues. They reached a roadblock coming from the library.

And, after listening in on the Shadow Soldiers talking - more complaining about their jobs - they learned that the key to access the third floor was kept in the Barracks… The place guarded by the Burning-Breath Horse Demon. Lubbock grinned at being proven right.

They couldn’t get into the next area without fighting him, so they called it quits for now.

When they left the Metaverse, they ended up in Japantown just as the sun was setting. O’Brian offered to sell some of their loot, but David asked they wait till tomorrow. O’Brian headed to his rest spot, the Bushijima Inn. David headed back to the Velvet room to rest and ask about

‘The more I learn the more questions I get.’ Igor answered his questions as best he could. After that, he trained with Regalla before getting some sleep.

_The Next Day_

The next day, the two hell runners - Lubbock insisted on the name, and David agreed it was fitting - had tried three more times to bring down Burning Breath, to no avail. Every time, he would hit them with that damn slowing spell, and then attack, either with fire or its fists. Then it would roar, calling in reinforcements.

If they had the time, they might be able to whittle him down, but they didn’t. 3 minutes after each encounter, Burning Breath would just let out a call for reinforcements. They could barely hold their own against him on their own; add in the swarm of other enemies, and they would be finished.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere!” Lubbock groaned after their third attempt. The two of them had left the metaverse and were eating out in a quiet spot in Japan Town. The Bushijima inn, a hotel that doubled as a

Lubbock took a gulp of his synth co*ke and sighed. “Has that patron of yours got any solutions for this, or some powerup we could use?”

David shrugged. “Igor is explaining more about how Palaces work and what I can expect, including some new abilities he mentioned.”

“Will it be useful against Burning Breath?”

“No idea, though it has something to do with weaker shadows.”

They finished their meal and left… not before Lubbock tried flirting with the daughter of the inn’s manager. She bluntly replied that she’d agree if he impressed her in a duel. Lubbock backed down after that; he explained how he heard horror stories about the last few times she ‘dueled’ someone. On their way out, the verdette

The two of them hashed out other ideas for how to deal with him. David picked pretty quickly how realworld items can be used in the Metaverse. Neither of them had fire attacks, but they could theoretically use them if they had the right tool. Such as Napalm, or a flamethrower… either would be good for one attack but it would still do minor fire damage to the enemy.

Pity Burning Breath wasn’t weak to fire.

From there, they went through possible traps to contain or weaken him. From what Igor mentioned, conventional methods wouldn’t hold against the stronger Shadows, so no telling if it would work in Burning Breath.

“Want to try to explore the area in Avernus instead? We kinda started obsessing about the palace, but shadows in Avernus are plentiful too.” David mused.

O’Brian shook his head. “Can’t. Got an appointment with Doc for maintenance on my Monowire.” They chatted a bit before going their separate ways.

David left for the Velvet room, probably for another training session with Regalla.

_20 Minutes Later, Little China_

“What exactly have you been using these implants for?” Victor asked as he finished his work. He recalibrated them and refitted the wires as normal, but they were… stronger now. Strange thing was, they showed extensive use under pressure, but minimal wear from it. It made no sense.

Lubbock just shrugged. “Nothing much. just some… business ventures.”

Victor hummed at that. “Riiight.”

After a few more minutes of inspection, Victor concluded his chrome was in solid condition. Lubbock paid his fee and walked out of Vic’s office and into Misty’s place of work.

The second he walked out of the Esoterica, he was grabbed by a tall, blond haired, brown skinned, built like a goliath edgerunner. Maine.

“I think you know what I want.” Maine said as he dragged the verdette out of Misty’s shop. “David Martinez, where is he?”

Lubbock nervously chuckled and tried to slip from the big man’s grip. “I don’t know who you are.”

Maine just chuckled at that and lifted him up by his arm. Lubbock flailed about. That ended when Maine leveled his arm cannon at him. “Wrong answer, punk. Next one better be right.”

“Threatening a kid for chrome; that’s a new low for you, Nelson.” Lubbock and Maine both turned to the interloper, who happened to be Victor himself. Misty spotted Maine and contacted Vic for help. He obliged.

Victor huffed at the sight before him. “Hassling my clients right outside my residence… you really have fallen far, haven’t you…”

Maine glared at the ripper. “This ain’t got nothin to do with you. This bout’s between me and his punk ass friend who stole my chrome.”

“I think it does concern me…” Victor stepped forward, unafraid. “...since both kids are some of my clients.”

Maine didn’t budge. “Vic, you do good work, but this kid’s bud stole my tech. I’m just tryin to get it back. If he agrees, I’ll buy him a replacement spine, and ask you to install it. Seems fair, especially given the headaches he’s caused me. Now, why don’t you head back down to your boxing matches and let me ”

“You wanna off yourself via cyberpsychosis, be my f*cking guest.” Vic cut in. “but keep your chrome obsessed tantrums away from my clients and away from my business. Or else your newest piece of metal will be the least of your worries.”

Maine sighed; Vic has lasted as an independent ripper in NC for a reason. He had the connections to stay independent, but also to make good on his threat. He let go of Lubbock, who shot a grateful look at the ripper before bolting away. Maine’ called his people to follow him; he’d lead them straight to David.

Maine: [ Dorio, Kiwi follow the punk. I gotta talk with Vic. ]

Kiwi: [ Got a lock on him. ]

Dorio: [ Take your time, babe. We won’t lose him. ]

Maine watched the brat run off. Then, he pointed his arm cannon at Vic. “Couldn’t keep out of things, mind your own f*ckin business, could ya?”

Well…” Vic didn’t seem to care about the cannon in his face and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a cig, lit it, and took a puff. “When junkies are starting sh*t near my place of work, it becomes my business.”

“Ain’t nobody like me.” Maine growled

Vic flicked the used bud to the ground and stomped on it. “Gonks like you are everywhere in NC. Only difference is if they alive or dead.”

“Reputation is everything in NC. I’m defending mine.” Maine argued.

“No.” Vic countered. “It’s just your addiction to the next piece of chrome. I don’t care what it does to you, but keep it away from my place of business, or else. Got it?”

Maine glared at him for a few seconds more, before lowering his arm, hiding away the cannon. He walked away. Vic sighed and did the same, returning to his place of work.

Maine: [ Alright, give me the good news. ]

Dorio: [ Yeah… about that… ]

Kiwi: [ We lost him. ]

Maine: [ The f*ck?! ]

Maine spent the next hour ranting about that… until Dorio talked some sense into him and he calmed down. They’d keep looking, Maine would make sure of it.

_The Next Day_

Lubbock’s runnin with Maine made it clear they needed to settle David’s debt to Maine. The only reason Lubbock slipped past them so easily was because he warped into Avernus the first chance he could. Common shadows didn’t offer much in terms of eddies; barely 20-50 eddies a shadow. There were some other items from them, but nothing worth more than 30 eddies to a vendor.

David tried looking around in Avernus for salvage like he did the first time, but barely found anything worthwhile.

That led them back to Katsuo’s Palace. According to Igor, the deepest part of the Palace held a treasure worth enough eddies to pay off the debt. David would need to ask one of Maine’s people for details, about how much his mom sold the Sandy for. Igor emphasized that taking the treasure would grant them an item they could sell for alot of eddies… enough to pay back Maine for the Sandevistan.

They couldn’t get past Burning Breath with just the two of them, so considered expanding. They agreed they needed more manpower in the metaverse.

Fortunately for them, Victor mentioned he’d introduce David to some of his other trainees.

David arrived at the gym the minute he got the call from Vic. According to the good Saint Ripper, it was a neutral spot in Heywood that most cyberpunks and gangs left alone. It was one of the low chrome gyms, so the folks with little to no physical chrome were more common there.

He looked around the small gym. There were a few people at the weights, some on the treadmills and others on the plain sparring mats and elevated wrestling rings. He saw Victor sitting by one of the rings.

“Good ya made it kid.” Vic welcomed him in by tossing him a pair of boxing tape rolls, for his hands no doubt. “Let’s get you ready.” He wrapped them around his hands, and showed David how to do the same.

David’s gaze was drawn to the two teens wrestling in the ring behind Vic. He watched as the redhead threw the girl into the ropes, then fell down on the mat.

The girl stood up, and brought up her fists. She seemed shorter than him, by a few inches. She had blue-black hair of medium length with a single, left-swept red highlight on her bangs. Her blue eyes bore into her opponent. She didn’t wear much, just a black sports bra, jean shorts, and sports tape around her fists and feet.

The dude on the other guy was a muscular teen around his age, with spiky red hair and red eyes, and the same kind of sports tape around his hands and feet. His chest was bare, and he wore baggy pants. He braced himself for her attacks and threw a few punches

They two of them charged, trading blows. The girl was faster and sent multiple jabs at him. The red head braced himself and countered when he got the chance. They kept up their spar until Vic called out to them. “Stones! Matoi Jr! Come meet your newest sparring partner!”

“Okay-” the red head shouted but was cut off. The girl took advantage of the red head’s distraction and charged at him. She swept him off his feet and slammed him into the ground. The red head groaned but instead of being mad, just sighed and gave a light chuckle.

“...Really Ryuko?”

The Bluenette shifted a bit, looking slightly guilty, but still grinning. “I told you I was gonna knock you down a peg, Kiri, and I did.”

The red head, Kiri, just looked confused. “Right… But I’m still ahead, 5 to 3 wins this week.”

“Shut up.” Ryuko extended her hand; Kiri took it and she pulled him up. The two then walked to David and Vic.

David just watched the whole thing with a slight grin. He could practically see Igor grinning as much as him at this development.

He and Lubbock had hit a roadblock they couldn’t get past with just the two of them. Days later, he gets a call from a confidant and runs into two teens who said confidant can vouch for… two teens who could be potential metaverse allies? ‘Ain’t no better fortune than that.’

David introduced himself, prompting the redhead to give his full name, but preferred Kirishima to his friends. They get along fairly well; Kiri showed him some shadow boxing before Vic told him to save it for the ring.

Ryuko just gave her full name, all the while glaring at David. David glared back but without much heat to it. They could settle things in the ring. Vic showed him some stances and how to throw a punch. He then set him against Kiri in a spar. Then with Ryuko.

David held his own, better than Vic was expecting; but he still lost to both of them. Vic instructed and set them to spar again. Rinse and repeat for the rest of the day.

And that roughly summarized his meeting with Ryuko Matoi and Eijiro Kirishima.

Chapter 10: Recruitment & Cyberpunk Zealots

Chapter Text

Recruitment, & Cyberpunk Zealots

David knew how to punch like a street punk; Very few folks from Santo Domingo ever got by without at least getting caught up in one fight in their lives. Even if it was a brief scuffle, a mad chase or a full on brawl, no one was except from the violence of NC. He could throw a mean right hook… or so he thought.

Eijiro taught him to punch like a middleweight fighter. The guy was around his age and height, but was built like a brick wall. Ryuko was lighter on her feet and proved herself a menace in the ring. She also critiqued his footwork until it was solid… by knocking him on the ground until he figured out a more solid stance.

Of the three of them, Ryuko was probably the most experienced in all out brawls, with Eijiro being close to her in terms of close quarters skill. She kept him on his toes for every second of their spars.

Eijiro on the other hand was like a brick wall he tried to move but couldn’t. He wasn’t as flexible as Ryuko, but he was a hell of alot stronger than her. He also hit like a truck and was quick enough on his feet. He was

David had learned all of that from sparing with the two of them. He’d often. Thankfully, he had the stamina for several bouts with each of them. He spent a few hours that day in the gym, either training directly with Victor or sparring with either Kirishima or Ryuko.

Thanks to his training with Regall, he was able to keep pace with the two of them at first. But apparently, metaverse training didn’t carry over directly to the real world as much as he had hoped. After the first hour, he had to stop and catch his breath.

Thankfully, the breaks in between gave him the chance to talk with them one at a time.

“How you holding up?” Eijiro asked from the doorway.

David grinned at him. “Doin’ ok. Just gotta get used to it.”

Eijiro liked that answer, “That’s the spirit. Nothin like a day of training to really push yourself to your best.”

David got an idea of who Eijiro was from their fights. “You take your training seriously, with passion to spare. Not many folks would do the same; they’d probably swap ganic muscle for chrome.”

Eijiro nodded. “Yeah, I get that. Sad thing is, most guys rely on their chrome too much, to the point of ignoring our natural strength. Sure, a pair of guerilla arms could land a strong punch and lift, but if the rest of you isn’t as strong, it can do serious damage to your core muscles. But some gonks just don’t care about that.”

David could tell he was being honest. “Yeah, I get that.”

Eijiro shrugged. “Some people can handle it better than others, but every man’s got their limit.”

“And we find that by pushing ourselves to our natural limits right?”

“Exactly!” Kiri went on to explain a few other weaknesses of relying on Chrome, mostly the mental strain it puts on the user. He wasn’t against Chrome - he himself had reinforced Knuckles installed - but was cautious of it.

He called for David to join him in the ring again, but David stopped him. “Hang on Kiri.” David tried to explain that he had a job, without giving the full details. He didn’t want to freak him out with the Metaverse.

Eijiro just stared at him with a blank expression before speaking up. “You ask for my help on a job, yet you refuse to go into details unless I agree. That right?”

“Um…” David could see where this was going. “Yes?”

Eijiro’s expression turned serious as he placed a hand on David’s shoulder. “You do realize how sketchy that sounds, right?”

David blinked; he had to concede the point, begrudgingly. By his tone, David guessed he wasn’t interested. “…You’re right, sorry. Thanks for being honest about it.”

Kirishima nodded, and brightened up. “No prob man. Let’s get back to the pit and get to punching.”

He turned down his offer, but was pretty chill about it. David figured he could get him to agree… if he worded it differently.

Ryuko was… a different story.

He tried to mention that he had a job and wanted her and Eijiro to help. Her response: “f*ck off, I ain’t falling for your sketchy job. You try to con Eijiro into it, and I’ll rip off your arm and beat you to a pulp with it. Got it?”

David would’ve found her attitude amusing if it weren’t a threat against him. He just nodded, at which point Ryuko brushed past him.

After that, it was more of the same. He sparred with both Kirishima and Ryuko, then got some hints from Victor on how to improve, from his stance to his breathing. All in the hopes of turning a street punk into a more adept fighter.

_Later_

“Do you really think you can win them over?” Lubbock asked the Latino. They were eating out at the same spot as before, mostly because it was Safe neutral turf. The Bushijima Inn was technically allied with the lady of Westbrook, Wakako, who made certain anyone who started sh*t there regretted it. It was no Afterlife, but it would do for her.

After David finished sparring with them, he met with Lubbock there. He told the rogue about his… progress. “I could probably convince them, if I’m honest. Assuming they believe anything I say about the metaverse.”

“And how long will that take?” Lubbock asked,

David shrugged. “Not sure. It will definitely take more than a few days to gain their trust.”

“We don’t have a lot of time though.” Lubbock said, sagging in his seat. “Maine’s on the warpath, and wants the chrome in your back. We need to get the eddies, so Katsuo’s palace is the way to go.”

“Look.” David wasn’t gonna have this argument again. “Unless you can find one or more people who could join, we don’t have that many options.”

Lubbock thought about that, and glanced around. He spotted something, grinned and looked back to David. “As a matter of fact… I just might.”

David sighed. ‘If you did, then start with that.’ He kept quiet though; if Lubbock found another ally, he sure as hell wasn’t going to complain.

Lubbock subtly motioned behind him, to one of the girls taking orders around the main floor of the restaurant. “Remember that girl I flirted with yesterday?”

“You mean the one who asked for a duel that you chickened out of?”

“Yeah that one.” Lubbock nodded. “Back at the academy, I heard that one of our seniors tried asking her out, and she proposed the same thing to him; fight her in a duel, with the condition that she’d agree if said student beat her. He agreed and they fought… or rather, she wiped the floor with the corpobrat. If you fight her, you might be able to convince her to join us.”

David just narrowed his eyes. “...You just want to flirt with her more, don’t you?”

Lubbock chuckled at that. “Tempting, sure… but no. I’d rather not get sliced in half.”

David slumped back in his seat. “Alright, how do we win her over?”

“We don’t.” Lubbock countered. “You walk up to her and ask for a fight.”

David blinked. “That’s it? Seriously?”

Lubbock shrugged. “I think she’s a battle nut who wants a good fight. Give her one and she’ll be on your side.”

David just shook his head, but decided to give it a shot. He got up and looked around until he spotted the girl in question. She was tall with long purple hair and bright blue eyes, in a white button down shirt, green skirt, & thigh high socks and sneakers. There was a Japanese term for gals like her: he didn’t know it but . That opinion only became more accurate when she spoke up in a calm, refined way. “Can I help you?”

David decided to be blunt. “I want to fight you.”

The girl seemed taken aback by that. Not angry, just surprised. He could tell by the look in her eye that she was interested. “Give me 10 minutes to end my shift, then I’ll take you to the dojo’s out back. We fight there.”

David grinned. “Deal.”

Ten minutes later, she led them into a dojo. She tosses him a Bokken and takes one for herself. No more words are spoken as they stand on the mat, wooden swords in hand, and facing each other.

“What’s your name?”

“David Martinez. You?”

“Saeko Bushijima.” she charges at him, going for a down swing at his head. He deflected it with his own sword, and goes, she dodges it, starts to smile at him.

For the next few minutes, they match blade for blade. They dodge, thrust and reposition again and again, each of them trying to land a blow. David was able to match her in speed and strength. Saeko had the better form, but David was adapting to her style. Compared to Regalla, he could keep pace with her.

David could've beaten her instantly by using the sandevistan, but that wouldn’t be a proper fight. Not for this. Saeko’s mad grin made it clear she was enjoying this. David was too, though not as much as her.

David’s eyes lit up…but not from excitement.

A call from Kirishima… that would make him lose the fight.

_Saeko _

David was knocked to the ground by Saeko’s ruthless strike.

She wasn’t sure what to expect from him, going into the fight. She thought he was like others, hoping to charm her into their bed. She always enjoyed beating them bloody and sending them on their way. The rush of destroying their bodies, their pride, their sense of self worth…

She felt a similar, yet different urge when David fought back. Instead of the urge to break an insect, she had the urge to match her skills against another, like two stones clashing and carving into each other, making both stronger. It excited her, like nothing else ever could.

Then David lost the match because of a call. A heightened battle of wills, hers against his, ended because some gonk wanted to call him. ‘How… disappointing.’

Saeko frowned as David got up and started talking to his friend, Kirishima by the sounds of it. ‘I don’t know who you are, but you will pay for standing between me, and the best fight I’ve had in a long time.’

David seemed to end the call, and got back to his feet. She thought she struck him pretty hard, but David bounced back like it was nothing; either she held back subconsciously or David was tougher than he looked. She prayed it was the latter. “Everything alright?”

David glanced at her. “Yeah. Sorry something came up. I gotta go help out a friend.”

“Wha-” David was already out the door, but Saeko followed. She would have followed them into the city… if her father hadn’t asked her to get back to her shift. She cursed her ill fortune but regained her composure. She would face David on the battlefield, properly and without interruption. ‘Even if… no especially if I have to go through someone else to make it happen.’

_David & Lubbock _

David and Lubbock ran to the address that Kirishima sent, the latter lagging behind at times but still keeping pace. They rushed through the streets, cutting through alleyways and side roads until they arrived at their destination: a warehouse up in Northside.

Across from the warehouse was Kirishima, decked out in a red shirt, light blue sweater and black baggy pants. He was peering over at the warehouse from across a corner. He jolted when David tapped his shoulder, but relaxed when he saw David.

“Oh thank god.” Kirishima hugged David, surprising him. “I need your help.”

David nodded. “You mentioned Ryuko’s in trouble, what happened?”

Kirishima sighed. “It was Maelstrom, they came to the gym and started sh*t there, asking for Ryuko. I think she recognized them, or atleast what they wanted with her.” His hands were shaking; whether from fear or rage, David couldn’t tell.

“I- I wanted to fight with her, but… she turned me down, told me to run. Probably would’ve got me killed otherwise. I ran, but also kept watch from afar. I called you and followed them here.” Kirishima “I, ah… I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

David understood. They only met a day ago, now he’s calling on them for help.

“Already on it.” Lubbock sighed. He could already tell what David was thinking as the red head spoke. He took out a low tier cyberdeck and scanned the local tech around the area.His skill with netrunning was amateurish at best, but it was enough for abandoned warehouses. “Low security. I think we can get in through one of the side doors.”

They proceeded in silence from then on, David leading them in. They snuck in through the back doors and made their way around other thugs prowling around.

The warehouse had dozens of crates and half filled shelves, as well as a few metal stairs leading up to the second floor. some goons were looking around. By the amount of chrome they had, they were definitely from Maelstrom.

The trio slipped past them and made their way to the walkways above. They came across a pair of Maelstrom thugs overlooking the ground floor from above.

David and Lubbock shared a glance; and moved in sync. They snuck behind the thugs, one for each. Lubbock swiftly brought out his monowire, strung it tight in his hands, and wrapped them around his throat, Slicing his neck like a garrote wire. Simultaneously, David locked the other goon in a chokehold, and knocked him out. They then moved past the fallen bodies, one alive and one dead.

David didn’t think much of it at the time, but he’d never learned how to do that before. As a Soldier of the Greek Alliance in Troy, and even from his training to be king of Ithaca, such acts came natural to as cunning a soldier as Odysseus. David blinked; weird thought to have at a time like this.

The trio continued on their way until they overlooked a clearing at the other side of the warehouse.

Ryuko stood in the middle of the clearing. A dozen Maelstrom goons surrounded her, yelling and jeering at her as she fought one of the bigger thugs. Those cheers kept on, drowning out anything above them.

“How are we gonna get her out?” Kirishima whispered. “There’s dozens of Chrome heads down there, armed to the teeth.”

David and Lubbock shared a glance, and the former spoke up. “We can escape the same way we did from the car chase.”

Lubbock nodded. “I’ll grab Eijiro, you grab Ryuko, and we bolt. Also…” Lubbock took out an item from his bag; it looked like a lightbulb with a set of wires inside, as well as a coil on the outside. “I got these from a Trash hermit a few days ago. Should give us an opening to disappear.”

“Hey, Guys!” Kiri cut in, thoroughly confused. “First off, what? I don’t get it, how are you-”

“Do you trust me?” David countered. “We can rescue her, but we’ll need a detour before heading home. You good to help?”

Kirishima thought about it and honestly… no, not fully. But they did offer to help his friend out of a bind, so… “Yeah I trust you. What’s the plan?”

Down on the ground, three guys, all Maelstrom, knocked out cold on the ground around her, including the thug she just brought down. She waved around her right arm, mantis blade ready for more. “Who’s next?!”

Her threat was answered by the… ‘mastermind’ of this operation. A cyberpunk on the edge of madness without being a cyberpsycho.

“You’re a tuff freaking Bitch, ya know that? Like seriously, you just don’t give up.” The obnoxious taunts came from the man glaring at her. He had blond hair, Eyes, and a crazed look on his face that screamed trouble. He wore a long coat with a sword hung on his waist and a gold cross around his neck. He clapped “All I really want right now is to break you, yet here you are, unbroken. I Like breaking people, and I like getting paid, so right now, Am I doing somethin wrong here?”

“Yeah.” Ryuko said before getting up. She lost feeling in her left arm, but could still fight with her remaining limb. “Your mom dropped you on your head one too many times. Now you’re a brain dead pissant.”

“Nooo… that’s not it.” The blonde disagreed. “I shouldn’t have wasted time giving you a shot. You seem to thrive in a fight, so breaking you that way’s out. Let’s try a classic method. boys grab her down. I’m busting out my torture knives, AAALLL SIXTY SIX OF THEM!”

The thugs did as told as the Blond let out a deranged laugh.

Before they could reach her, a figure jumped down from above. Ryuko recognized him instantly, though the spear was new. “Ryuko, Get Down!”

Ryuko went to the ground as David swung his spear, forcing the maelstrom thugs back. With them forced back, David pulls Ryuko up. She’s too dazed to fight against it, though by the glare she’s throwing his way, she was thinking about it.

“Come on, we gotta go!” David called out as he pulled her up.

“Lights out f*ckers!” As he called out, Lubbock threw his payload- a handful of flash grenades. Between the bright lights and the ringing left the maelstrom thugs dazed and confused. some goons fell down, knocking others with them.

The blinding lights gave David and Lubbock the chance to slip away into the metaverse with their new comrades.

When the dust settled, David and Ryuko were gone. Same with Eijiro and Lubbock.

Freed Sellzen had only one logical thing to say…

“Where the f*cking, sh*t f*ck did those f*cking sh*tstains Go?!”

_Eijiro _

‘Was the sky always such an angry red?’ It was the first thing that came to mind when he woke up on top of a ruined car, gazing up to the sky. He could tell something was off with wherever he wound up; He couldn’t explain it, but the air felt… different, for lack of a better term. NC air wasn’t the cleanest of places to be, but folks like him were used to it.

Grunting, he got up and down from the car’s roof and glanced around, still trying to figure out where he was.

“Edge, you good?” A voice called out. Kiri turned to see David pulling himself from the rubble nearby.

“Yeah I’m fi…” He stared at him for a minute. “Dude, what are you wearing?” Kiri blinked at David’s new getup. It looked like he added armor to his usual getup, along with a metallic mask.

“Figured, that’s what gets your attention.” Next to him another figure stood beside David. Eijiro’s pretty sure it's the verdette who was with David - Lubbock - except he was different as well. The most notable changes were the long fur coat, metal claw gauntlets and crimson goggles with gray tint lenses.

Getting over the shock, Kiri brushed it aside. “Yeah I’m fine. The car broke my fall.”

Lubbock shrugged. “Pretty sure falling wasn’t part of the plan.”

David sighed. “We’ll figure it out later. Right now we need to find Ryuko and get outta here.”

Kiri glanced around. “You’re right! We have to look! We gotta find her! We gotta-“

Lubbock tapped his shoulder and then pointed across from them. “Found her.” Similar to Kiri, Ryuko landed on a car as well, one on the other side of the road. Kiri brushed past them to check on her. She was out cold but still breathing.

Kiri was glad he called David for help. He was confused as to where they were, but that could wait. Right now they needed her awake.

“Come on, Ryuko. Wake up.” He gently patted her face as he spoke. When that didn’t work, he resorted to drastic measures: he kept patting her cheek until she woke up. Seconds later, she did.

“Uhh…” Ryuko grumbled as she woke up. When she saw Kiri, and felt him poking her face, she hit him hard enough to knock him off her and to the ground.

“Ow!” Kirishima got up and then he scowled at Ryuko. “What the hell was that for?!”

“Dude, I’m Awake! You don’t have to smack my head so many times!” Ryuko yelled back.

Unconvinced, he crossed his arms. “Oh yeah? Well how many times have you woke me up with a smack to the head?”

Ryuko scoffed. “You sleep like a rock, of course I’m gonna smack you awake!”

“Ahem.” David got both their attention.

Ryuko recovered first and got down from the car’s dented roof. “You rescued us from Freed and his flunkies.” It was less an accusation and more a statement.

“Yeah, that’s right. I know you got questions, but right now we gotta move.” Ryuko glared at him and walked towards him; Kiri could tell she was looking to pick a fight and gave her a look: ‘not now.’ His intentions were clear, and Ryuko nodded.

The four of them ran, with David taking the lead while Lubbock covered the rear. When they came across one or two of the demon creatures, David disposed of them. If there were more of them, they snuck around. they hightailed it into a spot where the demons didn’t tread.

Ten minutes of travel and he led them to a safe area. they hightailed it into an abandoned building. They made their way to one of the higher floors.

Once they were safe - as safe as they could be - Ryuko got up close and grabbed David by the collar. “Start talking, David. Where the f*ck are we?”

Lubbock laughed at that, backing away from her. Ryuko glared at him, and he backed away. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just, I’m surprised you didn’t ask where the hell-”

He screamed in pain as he’s blasted forward with a surge of light. Lubbock was blasted forward, landing just by the edge of the roof.

His assailant laughed as he started firing his gun at the three of them; Eijiro tackled Ryuko to the ground, only getting grazed. David used his Sandevistan to avoid all the bullets and get into a fighting stance as he faced their ambusher.

Before them stands Freed Sellzen, a dark aura emanating from him. The mark of a Shadow. And he drew a sword of light and grinned at them. “That makes one shitty heretic to deal with! Time to kill the rest!”

Freed lunged at Ryuko with his Sword. Before he could, David intercepted him with his spear. The two clashed, to the point where Freed was annoyed by the lack of an easy kill.

Changing tactics, Freed shot a psychic blast at David just as he got close. David howled as the blow struck him, made of yellow, light blue and lavender lights. The bizarre attack paralyzed him, forcing him to the ground.

Grinning, Freed pressed his advantage, beating him down with the flat side of his sword like a club. When it looked like the effect was wearing off, Freed reapplied the psychic attack, giving him free reign to attack at his pleasure. All while Eijiro and Ryuko watched.

Kiri met Ryuko’s gaze and got into a stance. Ryuko saw it and nodded. They knew each well enough to know pretty well what the other was thinking; especially when it came in the heat of a fight.

Freed laughed as he stood over David and prepared to drive his sword into his back. “I’m gonna enjoy killing you, just like I killed your friend.” Before he could, Freed was tackled to the ground by Ryuko and Kirishima. They started punching him and tried to pin him down so they could better strike at him.

Freed only seemed to get annoyed by this, and shook the both of them off. Ryuko tried to tackle Freed again, but was knocked back into a pile of debris. Kiri threw a punch at him, only for Freed to catch it with little effort. He then threw Kirishima onto his back.

Then he stabbed Kirishima through the shoulder. Kirishima howled in pain. He tried to stay conscious, but the pain was too much for him. It made him delirious and

As his mind drifted, he thought back to the people in his life. His parents, his friends, his comrades in the academy, and ‘Dying in hell due to a zealot. Not how I saw my life end. Not at all…’

He tried to stay standing as Freed pulls his sword from his shoulder; he tries to hold the blade and stop him but Freed proves stronger than him.

Even as he’s kicked in the gut, knocked back into a pile of debris and about to fall unconscious, one thought repeats itself in his mind. A mantra to keep him going. ‘I won’t give up…’

Chapter 11: Raging Onna-Musha & Guardian King

Chapter Text

Raging Onna-Musha & Guardian King

Ryuko didn’t have much experience with family life- or rather, family of her own blood. Growing up, it was just her and her dad, a popular ripperdoc from the big Apple itself. She had fond memories of him, but it was mostly when she was young.

That was before he sent her away to boarding school. Petty bullies were commonplace, so she learned to fight and stand her ground against any gonk who’d try to mess with her. She got good at it, good enough that most punks steered clear of her. She liked winning any bout she got in, and built her image on that. She liked competition, and proving she was the best; she lost a lot of sports and games, but was satisfied with playing drums, guitar, wrestling and… sewing.

One of the guys she knew made fun of her for the last one… she broke his nose.

It wasn’t the best time in her life, but it was good. Her father was distant, so she kept occupied with clubs, school and street fights. That changed less than a year ago, when her father called her back to him and they moved to Night City. She punched him in the face… but then hugged him, just glad to have him around in person. That would be the first of many surprises for her.

The second was that he apparently married, leading to her gaining a Stepmother and step sister. Okay, not what she was expecting and not a problem she could punch, so she’d try to get to know them. Get along with them, for her dad.

She did not get along with either of them; her new sister’s attitude pissed her off something fierce and they fought every time they met, either with words or blades. She lost all her matches with the latter, but still fought like hell to beat her; scratching up her face was a satisfying memory.

The mother… never uttered a word to her. She just smiled at her. It wasn’t a friendly, maternal smile, it was more like the creepy, obsessive look a stalker probably would have for their target of choice. Ryuko was glad she barely spoke with her in private.

She hadn’t seen her dad since they spoke, but Ryuko didn’t make things easier by fighting with her new… sister. The last real conversation they had was before they came to NC… after that, the last time they met… was when her dad came in, bloodied, bruised and on the brink of death.

Running from those bitches, scavenging for food on the streets, dealing with gangs and grunts all alone… she’s never admitted it, but those weeks were the most terrifying times of her life. Night City offered little to orphans or runaways. By some fortune she got in touch with a friend of her dad’s: Victor Vector. Best Ripperdoc in the City of Dreams. That led her to meeting the choom that would mean way more to her than her remaining biological family.

He was loud, and abrasive, and annoyed her at first. But he was tuff, honest and willing to back her up, be it in a street brawl or just… talk and rant. He went from being the unwanted roommate to being her second best choom.

She already had a best friend, but Eijiro Kirishima was still someone she’d gladly have by his side.

And he was about to die. The superpowered double of Freed was about to kill him and it was all her f*cking fault.

‘Are you satisfied with that? To give up on a friend you hold most dear…’

‘And now I’m hearing a voice in my head. Perfect.’ Ryuko pushed herself up from the ground. Across from her, she could make out Freed - rather the thing that looked and acted like him - attack and torture David. He seemed to be using some sort of psychic attack, Shown as lines and figures of yellow, Cyan and magenta. Whatever it was, David was screaming from it.

‘Just another good guy who's gonna die because of me…’

‘Is that what you desire? For your Stubborn Heart to cause their demise?’

“No, Hell NO!” Ryuko cried out. “I’m not sure about David, but Eijiro deserves better… a better life than this, a better chooms than this… better than me…”

“Your Stubborn Nature led you here, but also your fear; twice you fled an ally out of fear of what could happen. What would your past self say of that?”

“What do you expect me to say, HUH?!” She slammed her fist into the concrete. “Edge’s dead cause of me, and David’s gonna join him soon enough. All because I was a damn coward…”

‘No, Eijiro still lives, but not for much longer. You cannot change who you are… only the actions you take. If you do not like the outcome, channel your passion, your heart, your stubborn grit, until you come to a result you desire. Question is… will you give up or show your stubborn grit?’

Ryuko got up and glared at Freed, her decision made. No… there was always only one choice for him. Push forward. Be Stubborn. Look Fear in the eye… and rage against it.

She let out a yell as she charged at the Shadow. Freed wasn’t paying attention to her, having too much fun screwing with this pissant in his way. He did notice when Ryuko jumped on his back and clawed at his face. “Hey, get off me! You shitty girls should wait your turn-” Ryuko just shut him up with a headbut. When that failed, she did again. And again. She kept doing it until it worked.

“Enough of this sh*t!” Freed grabbed Ryuko by her collar and threw her into the air as hard as he could. As Ryuko was sent flying, blue sparks started to form around her. Those sparks became flames, and then… everything around her burst into flames.

“Ryuko!” David called out; he tried to get up, but was kicked in the gut by Freed, knocking him back down.

“There, now I can punish the shitty heretic, the way God intended. With you screaming for-” As Freed rambled, the flaming body he threw up came back down faster than before. Ryuko crashed back down, hitting Freed hard, and knocking him back.

Her outfit had changed, her shorts, shirt and jacket were replaced with a full body suit, mostly in black with red lines going down her arms, legs and abdomen. Wing shaped crests jut out from both her shoulders. Most of her face was covered by a black oni mask, with yellow eyes, the right eye having a scar over it.

Her mantis blades sprung forth, before morphing, moving from her arms to her hands. They transformed from curved gray blades to the long crimson blades, the kind that combined formed a large pair of scissors. She charged at him, mantis blade aimed right for his face. Freed narrowly deflected the blade, and fought back.

The two of them exchanged blows, Ryuko’s twin stingers clashing with Freed’s longsword. Freed held her back with his sword. Iron clashing with Iron. Ryuko glared at him, blades alight in slight Azure sparks and wisps of flame. She wanted nothing more than to kill the damn psycho.

“War against armies, Gozen!” As Ryuko cried out, azure flames gathered behind her. They grew in size before dispersing, revealing a figure. It was a tall woman with white hair, red eyes and black horns with burning red tips to them. She wore crimson Japanese armor reminiscent of a samurai, and wielded a crimson sword and spear. Red and blue flames surged from her horns and eyes, showing her passion and rage.

By that point David had recovered and lept into action. He caught Ryuko’s hand before she fell off. He then swung them around, until they landed back on the building. They shared a glance, - no words were spoken, just the understanding. They were going to take this f*cker down.

“Alright fine, bring It you devilish little shits-” Freed was cut off when dozens of wires wrapped around him. Lubbock was on his feet, binding him.

Freed glared at the verdette, while Lubbock gave a feral grin as Freed fell into his trap. “He’s bound! Finish him off now!”

Ryuko’s eyes hardened as she landed. She crossed both blades together and roared out. She charged at him, while David joined her, leveling his spear. ‘Wind and curse was out, so we’ll beat him in melee combat.’

David pierced the mad priest in the stomach, while Ryuko struck in his arm and shoulder. Then, in a coordinated effort, tore him apart, tearing off one of his arms and sending him flying off the roof.

Ryuko landed next to David, standing on shaking legs. With the adrenaline wearing off, she fell to her knees and let out a breath. ‘Freed’s gone, either dead or not.’

David sighed as he sat down, exhausted from the fight. “Ryuko, you good?”

Ryuko groaned. “No, but I’m alive.” Even tired, she didn’t forget. “Where’s Edge? He was bleeding out wasn’t he?”

“I’m fine too, thanks for asking.” Lubbock added in. “Just so you know, faking my death hurts. A lot.”

David nodded at that. “Good to hear you’re alright, but we got another problem…” He pointed to the pile of rubble where Eijiro was trapped. He could faintly make out Eijiro’s hand sticking out from under it all.

David stood up and rushed to the corner of the rooftop where Eijiro was trapped and started pulling debris away. Lubbock used his wires to pull away, getting the rubble off him piece by piece. They kept up until Kirishima was clear. Ryuko forced herself up and joined him in checking her friend.

Eijiro was still breathing. He was out of it, and the chest wound didn’t look good. “He needs some meds.”

Ryuko pulled out some meds she got from Vic. She was going to use them on herself at some point during the fight but this took precedent. Eijiro’s wounds started to heal. She didn’t care how it was happening- despite it defying laws of physics or plain common sense- she was just glad it was.

Kirishima groaned as he regained consciousness. He stood up, frantic. “Ryuko, Freed he-” he looked around; instead of the psychotic edgerunner, he saw David, Ryuko and Lubbock. All of them alive, if a bit ruffed up.

“Relax man.” Lubbock reassured him. “We beat up Shadow Freed, so he won’t be bothering you anymore.”

“We?” Ryuko raised an eyebrow at that. “David and I were the ones who beat him up.”

“Yeah, but I was the one who pinned him down, giving you guys the chance to finish him off.” Lubbock countered.

“Wait a minute. Hang on a sec.” Kirishima cut in, he was so confused and the argument wasn’t going to clear that up anytime soon. “‘Shadow Freed?’ The heck does that mean? And what’s with Ryuko’s outfit?”

Ryuko blinked, looked herself over - now noticing the change in attire - and stammered. “Grk- wha - what the hell?”

David just chucked at that. “You just noticed your new threads now?”

Threads was an understatement. Ryuko’s outfit resembled a full body suit she was in. It made her look like some sort of music idol, but with a heavy metal aspect to it.

“Uh…” Ryuko groaned. “I look like some damn runway model.”

“Your look could be worse…” Lubbock commented in a carefree tone.

Ryuko’s eye twitched at that. “How?”

“Well…” Lubbock thought about what her outfit would look if designed by a pervert. He got his answer and snapped his fingers. “It could be where your chest is barely covered at all. You know the kind that makes people think you’re a freaky voyeur.”

Ryuko was kneeling at Kirishima’s side, but stood up and pulled Eijiro up with her. She then cracked her knuckles and narrowed her eyes at him. “...Just for that image, I’m gonna punch you. I’m going to punch you until I’m satisfied. Kiri, grab him.”

“Kay!” Kirishima did as asked. Lubbock argued against it.

“Hey man, not cool!”

“You heard her. You had this coming.”

“This violates the bro code!”

“No it doesn’t, cause Ryuko’s my bro!”

“That is not how bro codes work!”

“Enough!” David cut in, literally with his spear, separating Ryuko from Lubbock. “As fun as this sounds, I wager you guys want legit answers about what the hell’s going on.”

Kirishama let go of Lubbock, who scrambled to hide behind David. “I would like that.”

Ryuko frowned at that but nodded. “Yeah, I’d like some f*cking answers!”

David sighed. ‘Here we go again…’

_One explanation later_

“So, we’re in some meta reality, based on tarot card soul logic?” Ryuko crossed her arms. The four of them moved to another apartment building across from where they were, sitting around a small fire. David explained how he got dragged into the metaverse and started working for Igor, and how Lubbock got dragged into it as well.

“Yeaaah.” Lubbock looked a bit sheepish. “I didn’t believe him either at first, but I got over it.”

Kirishima scratched his head, then looked right at David. “... no wonder you were so vague and sketchy. If you’d mentioned any of this before, I’d have dragged you to Vic’s office by force to get your head checked.”

David chuckled at that. It sounded exactly like him. “Yeah, I don’t doubt that. I wasn’t sure how to say it straight without sounding insane.”

“And you have a demon patron who wants your soul.” Ryuko callously said. “Yeah, that just screams trustworthy right there.”

David rolled his eyes at the jab. “Igor’s my patron, yes, but he’s honestly been nicer to me than most folks in NC. The only things I know for certain is that he ain’t human and that he genuinely wants to help me. No clue why but he does.”

Ryuko mumbled something about magical bullsh*t mentors. Kirishima turned to Lubbock across from him. “You managed to get the same power as David and Ryuko right?”

Lubbock nodded, looking a bit smug. “Yeah, no biggy. It came naturally to me when I did some soul searching.”

Kirishima was tapping his foot, looking anxious. “...So, Persona is the power you used to fight Freed’s shadow, and the power Ryuko summoned during the fight right?”

“Yuup.” David had an idea of what was bugging him. “You’re wondering if you could gain a persona too, right?”

Kirishima nodded. “I tried to fight Freed, same as Ryuko. I gave my all, and it wasn’t enough. Why didn’t my Persona manifest like her persona?”

David mulled it over. If fighting a shadow were how to unlock one’s persona, he could have done the same when he first entered Avernus. “It’s not about the shadows, it’s about yourself.”

Kirishima blinked. “What?”

David held his forehead for a second before explaining. “Getting a Persona is some kind of… test of the soul. You face some part of you that you hide away, and it manifests as your shadow. By confronting your shadow, it becomes your Persona.”

Kirishima scratched his head. “So… I have to beat myself up?”

David facepalmed. “No.”

Lubbock got their attention with a wave. “Let’s look at how Ryuko and I got ours for reference; might help clear things up.” He summoned the Byzantine general to his side.

“I got this guy after I had a heart to heart with my Shadow. Basically, he said mean sh*t about me, exaggerating some bits to be mean, like how I’m a worthless pervert and a sycophantic suck up. I spoke with him, agreeing with some parts but correcting others. I then agreed that he was a part of me, and he became the badass behind me.” Belisarius nodded in agreement before disappearing in blue fire.

“Okay…” Ejiro glanced at Ryuko. “What about you Ryuko? What was going through your head before you summoned Gozen?”

“Uh…” Ryuko thought about it… and what they’d believe. “...I thought about kicking Freed in the nuts, and thought a Persona would help.”

Ejiro pouted. “But I was thinking the same thing! More or less.” He mumbled the last bit to himself. It was less he wanted to take Freed down, and more he wanted to keep the creep away from her.

“Bullsh*t.” David cut in looking at Ryuko. “Freed’s an asshole who’s begging for a beating whenever he talks. You had to have had a more concrete revelation or conclusion or something that led to you gaining your Persona.”

Ryuko sighed. “Fine, fine. I was thinking… back to when me and Ejiro met, after I left my home. It was after…” Ryuko fidgeted, feeling nervous. “How much do I have to say? Ejiro knows most of my story but…” she trailed off.

David nodded. “Share what you’re comfortable with, no more than that. Be vague if you want, but be honest.”

“Okay… okay, I can work with that.” Ryuko let out a breath at that. “When I left home, I was looking for work and got in contact with a friend of my Dad’s. You already know, he and my dad were tight. Vic got me into the ring as a boxer, and paired me with Ejiro who was also looking for work. I didn’t like him at first, but he won me over and now we’re friends. It felt like… my stubbornness got us into trouble, that you had talked me out of a lot of dumb sh*t.”

“Hang on.” Ejiro held up a hand. “You led Freed away from Vic. you had no choice-”

“Yeah, but neither of us could stop Freed, in the real world or the metaverse.” she gestured to David and Lubbock. “We beat him because of these two. Then I thought I saw you die, and it hurt to see that. I heard my Persona in my head and she challenged me on my faults and I reacted.”

“After that I just… accepted that my stubborn attitude could be crap at times and cause issues… but resolved to work on it and be stubborn to stand against Freed and save you, even if It killed me, because that’s a stubbornness that I can live with.”

“You mean that, Ryuko?” Ejiro asked.

She nodded. “We’re chooms we- no, at this point, you’re practically my brother in all but blood. I wanted to stand up and protect you like you’ve done for me.”

“Wow, I… I don’t know what to say.” Ejiro said, astounded. He didn’t think she’d feel that strongly.

David just clapped him on the shoulder. “Never had siblings, but I gotta agree with Ryuko. If I were her, I’d say the same thing.”

Lubbock nodded along. “I do have older siblings… too many to be honest. Though I haven’t spoken to them in a while. They’ve all got busy careers elsewhere.”

Ryuko just looked at him, briefly wondering what that was like. ‘Siblings that don’t want me dead… Novel.’ “...Can you find Eijiro’s Shadow?”

“Yeah, I think I can track it with the App.” Lubbock took Ejiro aside and started explaining how the app worked, mostly to reassure him that he could gain a persona of his own. Meanwhile, Ryuko glanced at David.

“Um, David.” Ryuko looked nervous as she spoke. “Mind if I talk to ya real quick… alone?”

David nodded, walking to the side while Lubbock started his search.

Ryuko mulled over her thoughts for a minute, before letting out a sigh. “...I didn’t know what to expect from you, or Edge when he mentioned calling you for help.”

“Yeah, I get it.” David could see a lot of gonks act just like her. Trust was rare, cause most folks would break it either for or any other reason you could think of, greed, ambition, hate or just plain indifference.

Ryuko huffed. “You proved me wrong, and got me and Eijiro out of a dangerous situation… and stood with us even when things got harder. I…I won’t forget that.”

David chuckled. “Tell ya what… we’re gonna get Eijiro a Persona and Metaverse gear so he can join us. After that, the four of us pillage a certain castle and take its main treasure. We split the earnings 4 ways between all of us.” He held out his hand. “After that, if you wanna quit, and go back to a normal life, feel free. Deal?”

Ryuko scratched her head and sighed, before grinning as he took his hand. “Hell yeah. I was gonna help anyways after you saved me from Freed. Also, Normal…?” Ryuko shook her head and scoffed at the notion.

“This is NC! Normal’s for the average gonks, but not guys like you or me. So yeah, I'll join your Hell Raiding crew. Might even be fun.” And just as before, he heard the aria that signified the formation of a new bond.

‘I am Thou… Thou art I… Thou hast established a new Bond.’

‘Let your soul be lifted up to your destination, making a Heaven of any Hell you know.’

‘Now rise up, Empowered with the Chariot Arcana. May your bonds lead you to your Salvation.’

David smiled at that, grateful for the help. Ryuko blinked, unsure of what she just felt. Before she could ask, Lubbock called out to them.

“I’ve got a lock on Kirishima’s Shadow.” Lubbock said as he overlooked the streets below. “Signals coming due east of us, about 5 blocks away.”

David nodded as he and Ryuko joined them. He stood over Eijiro, who was quietly sitting on some debris, deep in thought. “Edge, it’s best we help you face your shadow sooner rather than later. You ready for it, or do you need more time?”

Ejiro shook his head and stood up quickly. “No, I’m good to go now. I think I know how to face him when we meet.” David nodded to that, and the group headed off.

The four of them went down to the main street. David and Ryuko used their spells and magic to scale down from the outside, while Lubbock and Eijiro took the stairs. Safer for Eijiro till he awoke to his Persona.

The trek there was done in silence, save for the eerie calls of Demons and David explaining more things about the Metaverse. Igor had explained a bit more about how their Personas worked and their relation to tarot arcanas.

They arrived at the very gym that David met Ryuko and Eijiro at, only in the metaverse. They stepped inside the derelict building. It looked like it used to be a training gym, with equipment and

In the middle stood the only ring in working condition. On the far side of the ring was Eijiro’s Shadow.

Ryuko patted Kirishima’s back. “You got this Edge, you can win this fight!”

“It’s not a fight, it's a dialogue.” David corrected her. “He needs to confront that shadow, and accept it as a part of him. Got it?”

Eijiro nodded. “I gotcha. I know how to do this.”

The red head walked forward and got into the ring. Across from him, his shadow stood, leaning against the ropes of the wrestling ring.

Eijiro snuck under the ropes and entered the ring. He and his shadow squared off in silence for a few seconds before “The Boy’s finally here. I was beginning to think you’d be to much of a coward to face me-”

“RAAAAAHH!” Eijiro charged at his shadow counterpart.

‘What is he doing!’ David thought as he tried to go and grab him, but was held back by Ryuko. “What are you-”

“Let Kiri handle it.” Ryuko’s words were calm but confident. “He’s got this.”

David glanced between her and Kiri, and decided to let it play out… for now.

Shadow Kirishima seemed surprised at the interruption, and got tackled to the ground. He tried to break free, but to no avail. “What are you doing you child?! Let go of me! You just can’t accept your-”

“I know myself best.” Kirishima cut him off. “I know I don’t have the strength to stand my ground when it damn well matters.”

Kirishima was knocked back by his shadow, ending the grapple. The shadow went at him with a barrage of punches and Kiri held his arms up to block them.

“Back at the academy, I tried to be strong, all the time everyday. Tuff it out through the pain and keep pushing. I kept that up for a while until a friend of mine talked some sense into me. Thanks to him, a lot of my friends could survive the training regiment of the academy!”

From the side, David raised an eyebrow at that. He turned to Lubbock. “Was he at Arasaka Academy?”

Lubbock shook his head. “Noope. I wager he was at Militech academy… though from context I think he’s dropped out, same as us.”

Headless of their talk, the two red heads kept up at their fight. Kiri punched his shadow only for the shadow to catch it. Kiri caught his fist in turn. Each of them tried to overpower the other.

“I grew to rely on them, and I could stay strong because I had them on my side. One guy could only do so much, but one guy standing with a dozen guys trained and bonded with him… that’s something else entirely!”

Kiri pulled back, pulling his shadow with him and sending him flying. When the shadow landed, he rushed him. He threw as many punches as he could, so many that his knuckles started to bleed.

“Since then, I’ve fallen back into bad habits. I try to stay strong on my own. I stayed quiet, kept a brave face with Ryuko because that’s what she needed at the time. I kept things in, but now, I’m letting it all out!” He slugged his shadow hard enough to knock him back to the ground.

“And ff you don’t like that… then get screwed.”

Shadow Kirishima got up and stared at his real world counterpart. Their gazes met, and they spoke no words. Nothing more needed to be said between them. Until finally, the Shadow grinned. “That’s all I wanted to hear.”

He then rushed the real Kirishima, but not as an attack. His form was fading away just as Azure fire lit up and surrounded Eijiro. Rather than seem scared, Kirishima just grinned as the flames surrounded him, swirling around him like a hurricane of heat.

When the flames finally dispersed, Kirishima stood proud in his metaverse gear. He had red gear shaped shoulder pads and black, armored vambraces that covered his arms ending in red claws. His chest was mostly bare, except for the cape wrapped around his neck and flowing down his back. He wore black baggy pants with a ripped half cape around his waist, along with brown wrap Sandals around his feet.

His face was covered with a wire guard mask, vaguely in the shape of a lion with its jagged edges and light blue lenses. Kirishima held up his fists high in the air and screamed out in triumph. “YEAAAAAAAAAHH!!”

And then he fell backwards, now resting on the floor. He groaned as the exhaustion finally hit him “Is it supposed to feel so damn draining the first time?”

David nodded. “Yup. it’ll pass.”

David helped the red head up to his feet. Ryuko and Lubbock were keeping a lookout from outside the building.

“So…” Kirishima started off. “Ryuko agreed to join you, right?”

David nodded. “She did. And you’re welcome as well.”

“All according to plan right?” Kirishima stood up. “You drag us here, set us against our shadows, help us, then ask for our help?”

David sputtered. “Not like that, man. I mean-”

“Relax, man, I’m just messin with you.” Kiri waved him off. He then extended “I know you’d have my back like I’d have yours. Can’t call myself a friend if I don’t do that much.”

David shook his hand. He vaguely noticed the blue butterfly once again, and heard the aria that cemented a new bond.

‘I am Thou… Thou art I… Thou hast established a new Bond.’

‘Let your soul be lifted up to your destination, making a Heaven of any Hell you know.’

‘Now rise up, Empowered with the Tower Arcana. May your bonds lead you to your Salvation.’

“...” Kirishima just kept blinking, feeling that he was missing something. “Uh…”

David just chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain later.” he started walking up out of the pit, with Eijiro right after him.

Lubbock and Ryuko walked with them, the former relaxing with his hands behind his head. “Where to, boss?”

David grinned; he had a crew, now they could get to their first gig in the metaverse. “Now, we do the job.” The sun burned bright as the four raiders made their way to the marble Palace.

Chapter 12: 4 Raiders vs an Empire

Chapter Text

4 Raiders vs an Empire

David led the others through the streets of Avernus found some weaker shadows for Ryuko and Eijiro to fight. He found a suitable shadow, isolated it, and let Ryuko or Eijiro have at it. After each battle, he’d check them before setting them on another shadow. Rinse and repeat until they are used to the Metaverse.

Ryuko objected to basically training… until David countered that she put him through training during their spars back at the gym. She conceded the point after that. Kirishima didn’t mind at all, being the newest at using a Persona and resolving to be the best man he could be for the task ahead.

They spent the next hour repeating the process, all so they could be familiar with their metaverse powers.

With all four of them now able to use Personas, infiltrating Katsuo’s Palace could resume. David and Lubbock explained how they investigated the Palace’s Arena and two towers. Now, once they get the other two keys, they’ll be able to access the main keep.

With the additions of Ryuko and Ejiro, they doubled their manpower. According to Lubbock, they went from a rogue & Ranger duo to a full party with the addition of both a cleric and a fighter. David wasn’t as into the Game terms as Lubbock was, but he got the general gist of it.

Ryuko and Ejiro were both close quarters fighters, each with their own Element. Ryuko seemed to focus on Nuclear skills while Ejiro’s Element was Fire. Ejiro’s Persona also had some healing skills, making him the de facto healer on the team. He took the role in stride, seeing it as heroic for him to be the healer.

Stronger team or not, they decided to go stealth first. Lubbock took point, using his wires to trigger any traps. He played the rogue bit a bit too much for his liking, but David let him be.

Eventually, they came across the obstacle that David and Lubbock both wanted to be done with: Burning Breath.

He stood there, glancing around. He hadn’t spotted them yet. David set up a group call; they’d agreed to keep in contact. David and Lubbock already gave the run down of Burning Breath’s powers. Now, the four of them would tackle him head on.

David: [ Everyone clear on the plan? ]

Kirishima: [ Yeah man! I’m good to go. ]

O’Brian: [ Totally. The four of us will bring him down. ]

Ryuko: [ Sure. Except David, Edge and I will be doing most of the hard stuff. ]

David grinned. At the academy, he never had anyone who was on his side. A Street rat in Saka Academy, even by scholarship, was looked down on by principle. Even before being targeted by Katsuo and his cronies, he never had a shot at making friends.

Now he’s got a trio of chooms who’re on his side and got his back. It felt… good. ‘Not bad for a drop out.’

David calmed his thoughts and got ready. He moved forward while Lubbock got into position from above, climbing up the pillars near Burning Breath. Edge and Ryuko took positions near him. Then, he charged straight at the horse Demon with a forward thrust.

Burning Breath howled as David’s spear pierced his side. It wasn’t fatal, but it hurt. Burning Breath grabbed onto his spear, wrenched it from his side, and flung it and David away. David spun in the air and landed on his feet.

David and the horse Demon traded blows, claw against spear, for a few seconds. He didn’t need to deal any real damage; he just needed to keep him occupied long enough for the others to get into position.

As the demon fought, it used the same shockwave, targeting David and slowing him down. The demon grinned as it got closer and readied its fire breath. It exhaled, sending a torrent of flames at David…

The attack never struck, as Edge stood in its way. With a bellow, he called forth his own persona. “Guard the gates, Leonidas!” Blue fire came to life behind him, and dispersed to reveal a warrior king. He was a tall man with tanned skin and Greek hoplite armor. He wore a red cape of fire, a spear in one hand and a round shield in the other. His red fanned helmet covered his whole head, but let his glowing green eyes shine through.

As Burning Breath took note of the red haired interloper, it jolted forward as mantis blades were driven into its back.

The horse demon raged against her, causing her to fall back and regroup with David and Kirishima. It opened its mouth to call for reinforcements.

Before it could, a figure fell from above. Lubbock wrapped its wires around its jaw and pulled tight with all his strength.

David noticed Lubbock grip slipping. He grabbed Ryuko and threw her at the demon.

David: [ Ryuko, we can’t let it roar! ]

She drew her mantis blades mid air and drove it into the demon’s snout. Burning Breath jolted and thrashed; it tried to shout out, but it didn’t come out. With the roar canceled, and Lubbock took advantage with his wires. He aimed them down at the demon's feet. As Burning Breath thrashed about, its legs were caught in his wires; that, combined with the force of Ryuko’s attack knocked the demon backwards. The two of them disengaged as it fell prone on the ground.

Burning breath attacked him, trying to pummel the closest enemy. Lubbock. Before it could, Eijiro intercepted, and blocked the blow.

Kirishima: [ Nope. you ain’t getting past me! ]

The red head grabbed the Demon and pulled, lifting the Demon off the ground by its arm and slamming it back into the ground. Ryuko, David and Lubbock took the chance to rain down their attacks.

David: [ Hit him with everything you got! ]

O’Brian: [ I got dozens of knives just for you big guy! ]

Ryuko: [ we’re wiping out this fire demon here and now! ]

Ryuko lashed out with her Mantis blades, Lubbock threw dozens of daggers at the downed demon, and David impaled it in the gut with his spear. He had to disengage when Burning Breath lashed out, but the damage was done.

Even when Burning Breath got up to attack with its fire breath, it couldn’t get to them. Eijiro was able to guard against the flames every time. Same if it used its slow spell on David or Ryuko. Eijiro could hold off its attacks. And with his strength, Lubbock was able to hold him down for much longer.

Ryuko and David sped forward, slashing at him from all angles. Kirishima pummeled him with his fists and defended the others from His fire. Lubbock restrained him with Kiri’s help, giving Ryuko and David the chance to deal even more damage.

They repeated their plan of attack for a minute longer; after that, Burning Breath was getting weaker and weaker. Soon, their efforts of fighting led to the end they wanted: Burning Breath fell to the ground, defeated. David readied his spear for the final blow, but before he could, it raised its hands. Not to attack, but to surrender.

“Wait!” For the first time since they encountered him, Burning Breath spoke actual words. “You… You have bested me. I… yield. Will you honor… this old one’s request?”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Lubbock answered, drawing his wires to finish the demon off… until David stops him.

‘With any luck, the technique Igor taught me will work.’ David thought as he spoke. “Hang on. I wanna try something.”

“Try what?” Lubbock was unconvinced. “We beat him, now we kill him and move on. Simple as that.”

David frowned and shook his head. “Igor mentioned a tactic to get stronger, but I need a living shadow for it to work. If it fails, he’ll vanish anyways.”

Lubbock looked annoyed, but backed off. David addressed the Demon. “Make your request. If it is within reason, I will honor it.”

Burning Breath nodded. “Answer me this: What would you do… if you knew your future? If someone showed you… what your fate was?”

David thought about it, considering what he learned about fate and destiny from Igor. He picked up a lot from his talks of philosophy and human nature. In the end, he shrugged. “It depends on how I learned of my supposed future. Is it a real future, or one that someone else is imposing on me?”

“And what would you do if you knew for certain it was your future? If someone showed you what your fate was?”

David smiled. “I’d still question it. Figure out how me in the present becomes me in the future. I don’t think the fate of a person is finite, set in stone. Seeing the future would imply that it can be changed, because it is only one potential path, not the definitive one.”

Ryuko and Eijiro just shared a glance; they weren’t sure what David was aiming for. Lubbock just sighed, hoping David was almost done with whatever scheme he was cooking up.

Burning Breath just hummed at that. “Your argument… is sound. I feel your future is best held in your own hands.” Burning Breath’s eyes shone in realization. “...I remember now. I am thou… Thou art I. I am Orobas. May my wisdom forever guide you to a better future.”

Orobas’s form dissolved into azure flames… which then flew towards David and disappeared into his chest. It didn’t hurt but forced him back a bit.

Edge was the first to question it. “Dude, what just happened?”

Lubbock thought about and took a wild guess. “The shadow gave a name, it’s true name by the feel of things… meaning every shadow has one, instead of the silly names we learn about first.”

David nodded. “That does help if we fight multiple Shadows of the same name, but that’s not what I’m getting at.”

“Oh?” Lubbock asked. “Then by all means, captain… Tell us, what exactly did you do?”

David just grinned as he summoned his persona, but instead of the Greek trickster hero, the figure behind him was the Burning Breath Horse Demon, whom they now knew was Orobas.

Kirishima backed away in surprise. “I thought your persona was Odysseus. What happened to him?”

“He’s still here…” David tapped his forehead. “But after that chat, I gained a second Persona. Now, I can freely swap between them.”

“The Hell?!” Ryuko gawked. “So you’re saying you can just swap Personas like data shards in your neck? That’s so broken.”

David shrugged. “That’s what Igor taught me. It’s related to Arcanas, so stronger bonds of one arcana will allow me to bond with Shadows of that matching Arcana, and generally make those persona stronger.”

“Make your enemies your allies.” Lubbock just smirked, looking more amused than annoyed now. “That’s legit one of the weirdest ways of doing it I can think of.”

Once Orobas was defeated and David explained his new power, they explored the barracks. There were a few other soldiers lurking about, but with the four of them, they were dealt without much fanfare.

After getting the key, they were able to move up to the second floor. They explored it and dealt with the shadows guarding it. Night Walking Warrior (true name Mokoi) and Zealous Messenger (true name Angel). Lubbock’s curse proved fatal against the Angel while David’s wind took out the Mokoi easily.

It also made Lubbock get a big head, and start bragging about his skills… which didn’t help him against Ryuko’s fist. All in all, they called it a night and agreed to continue the next day.

_Days later_

After they explored the main area on the second floor, they called it quits for the day. After that, they picked up their progress. It helped that Ryuko and Eijiro had their back every step of the way.

The four of them managed to deal with any obstacles in their way, be it from enemy shadows or traps in the palace. Lubbock could disable most traps with his wires. What traps he couldn’t, David was fast enough to trigger and evade entirely. Any shadows they faced, either by direct assault or ambush, they could handle.

Over the course of their battles, David had already gotten three more Personas from fighting Shadows.

Angel was the first. It resembled a woman with blond hair, white feather wings and bound in a tight gray leather outfit. During their first fight on the second floor, David replicated his strategy and managed to get one of the Zealous messengers as a Persona. It had decent stats and could use light and medium radiant attacks. It also could heal and cause confusion to the enemies. David didn’t know how that worked… until he tested it on a Night walking warrior and watched it attack its ally.

Jack Frost was the next persona he gained. It looked like a small snowman with a blue jester’s hat. They’d first met it when they had broken into katsuo’s study. Lubbock was looking for traps, only for Ryuko to trip one while leaning back. That caused several arrows to shoot at them from the walls. They evaded the worst of it, but Eijiro still got hit by some of them. He was fine, but still gave Ryuko a look for triggering the trap. She just opted for a nervous ‘sorry’ before things got out of hand.

Anyways… After they sprung the trap, a trio of Mocking Snowmen appeared and tried to ambush them. They were weak to fire, so between outnumbering them and having Kiri’s flames to deal with them, it was a fairly quick fight. After knocking one of them down, David offered one of them the chance to try out some new things and get stronger. The timid Snowman agreed to see more of the city, and became David’s next persona.

They completed the puzzle in the study and continued, reaching deeper into the palace… or rather, higher up. They got to the third floor, which had a few rooms and open walkways between them. It also had the same balcony that he and Lubbock had faced Katsuo’s Shadow in the first time.

That balcony was where he got his fifth Persona.

Kusi Mitama. It was a… a weird looking persona, the weirdest he’d come across. Most shadows so far were humanoid or animal-like creatures; Kusi on the other hand looked like a gunmetal gray tear with a face on it. According to Japanese folklore, it was the ‘wondrous Soul’ aspect of humans. They fought a group of them - Neutral Aspects of Wonder - along with a group of Possessive Dog Ghosts. It was difficult at first because everytime they attacked one of the dogs, the Aspects would heal them. They had to bind and take down most of the Aspects before wiping out the Dog ghosts.

He tried to gain a sixth persona - one of the Possessive Dog Ghost - but found that he didn’t have the… capacity for it. He’d have to speak with Igor about how that could change, but figured five persona was his limit. For now.

They even ran into cognitions of other students from the academy. Most of them appeared in plain robes and tunics, and seemed to be working as servants around the palace. He and Lubbock tried to get some answers out of them but it didn’t really work. They just cowered in fear and either praised Katsuo for dumb reasons or tried to convince them to surrender to Katsuo.

Ryuko tried as well, but to little good. Despite her best attempts, she couldn’t get them to speak either. The cognitions were adamant about not bothering Katsuo in the slightest. David explained that acted that way because that’s how Katsuo thinks they would act, and in his mind, the students would fear him over anything else. Ryuko argued that he was a sh*tless nobody in real life, but David explained that the cognitions of people act based on what the ruler thinks is right.

Ryuko just grunted at that but nodded. She proved to be the most intimidating among them. David wasn’t surprised; he knows what kind of threats she can make. Between her and Lubbock’s scheming, they were able to get more than just eddies and loot out of some of the shadows they beat. They got info on the rest of Katsuo’s Palace.

From those interrogations with Shadows, they’d learned about a possible concern: a supposed unbeatable, guardian dragon that would descend upon the unworthy when the emperor called for it. By that point they’d already searched most of the palace and seen no such creature, So it could have been a false flag. Still, it was better to be aware of any surprises now than later.

“You really think it's a legit dragon?” Lubbock pondered aloud as they got closer to the final area. “I mean, it could just be something else, or something called a dragon as a pseudonym.”

“Wouldn’t it at least resemble a dragon though? Or a reptile at least?” Eijiro countered.

“Who cares?” Ryuko was honestly tired of the back and forth about dragons. “Whatever it is, we find it, beat it up and move on so we can leave this stupid dump-”

“Guys.” David called for their attention. “We’re here.”

It was the fifth day after taking down Orobas that they arrived in the secret treasure room behind the final throne room. Katsuo was there, but they were able to sneak past him by jumping from the pillars and chandeliers above the throne. When the four of them landed behind the main throne, they found the final treasure room. The team entered, and they found what they were looking for.

“That’s the treasure right?” Edge asked. Before them was a large hoard of treasure; gold, jewels and other items of grandiose value. But the most notable thing in the room was the odd amorphous cloud of gray, purple and black that swirled in front of them.

David chuckled and just nodded. ‘It has no physical form, just like Igor said.’ “I mean technically, yeah, but-”

“Alright then!” Ryuko cut him off. She sounded excited, but mostly to be done with Katsuo’s Palace. “Let’s grab it and get the hell outta this dump.”

Ryuko went to grab it but fumbled forward, failing to do so. Kirishima joined her in grabbing it, to no success. At some point they ended up hitting each other. Then came shouting, punching and kicking as they fell down, got back up, and repeated the process. Lubbock just spent that time snickering at their attempts.

Five minutes later, David palmed his forehead in frustration. ‘This is just stupid.’ he pulled the two of them to their feet and away from the formation. “It’s. A. Damn. Cloud.” David pronounced every word slowly and calmly to get his point across. Then… “You can’t grab a damn cloud! The fact you two thought you could is ridiculous!”

Ryuko turned sharply at the Latino, and spoke in a dry, unamused tone: “Before we met you, we thought demons weren’t real. Same with Hell. Now you got us sneaking into a Roman palace to steal from your stalker bully. All. in. Hell. How is stealing a cloud weirder than any of that?”

David was gonna argue… and then conceded the point. “Touche.”

Lubbock just laughed at the two of them for messing around. Ryuko hit his shoulder and told the verdette to shut up.

The team then headed to one of the safe rooms hidden. David explained how every Palace had a few of them, formed due to people having natural gaps in their psyche, locations in their minds that they couldn’t control.

Lubbock just compared them to the safe zones in video games.

“Alright. What now?” Ryuko broached the subject as she leaned back in her seat. Kiri, Lubbock and her all had eyes on David.

David just sighed. “The treasure right now has no form because Katsuo, the ruler of the palace, doesn’t think it can be taken. The only way to make it manifest physically is for the ruler to realize that the treasure can be stolen. Once that happens, we have 24 hours to actually take it.”

“Okaaay…” Kirishima considered a few things. He’d mostly trusted David’s explanations but some parts of it still confused him. “So will taking this treasure even affect him? Hell, what even is this treasure’ anyways?”

David sighed. “Okay. The treasure is the core of this Palace. It's the manifestation of the twisted desires of the Palace ruler. In this case, Katsuo. Clear so far?”

At Eijiro’s nod and Lubbock’s smirk, David continued. “The treasure is the core of the Palace. It represents what Katsuo’s corrupt desires are. When we take it, it will cause a chain reaction in his mind… to the point he won’t be the same person.” David continued his explanation, trying to . He compared it to if a person who did sins without care suddenly grew a conscience and started caring, causing them guilt from their actions. In essence, their own guilt would force them to change.

At hearing that, Lubbock’s expression went from amused smirk to a serious scowl. “So what? We do this, take his treasure, and he just magically becomes a nice guy?”

David shrugged. “Not really. He’ll just start caring about his actions and how they affect others. The guilt will make him change, not us. Whether Katsuo will change his ways doesn’t really matter to me.”

“Bullsh*t, Martinez!” Lubbock shouted now. “That guy’s a damn nuisance to guys like us. Hell, I wager that what the bastard said about your mom-”

That was as far as Lubbock, Lubbock flinched back. One second David sat across from Lubbock, the next he stood right in front of him, spear in hand and glaring daggers at him. ‘Right. Sandevistan super-speed.’ Lubbock put up his hands on reflex; he also made a mental note to never mention David’s mom like that ever again.

David let out a breath and backed off.

He’d never forgotten what the punk said, but he wouldn’t pay it any mind. He didn’t need to. “That’s the thing, I don’t forgive him… I don’t need to. What Katsuo has done or said in the past doesn’t matter to me anymore. All that matters is getting him to leave me alone. Hell, the only reason he’s obsessed with me is because I do my level best to ignore him.” David retorted. “I still have Maine on my back ‘cause of the Sandevistan, so the less enemies I have, the better.”

Lubbock grumbled, annoyed but said no more on the subject. Kiri just took note of the name David mentioned. “Maine? Big guy with blond hair, brown skin and a bigger ego? That Maine?”

At David’s nod, Ryuko cut in. “Yeah, what’s his beef with you? Did you sleep with his daughter or something?”

“Hell no.” David dryly said. “Pretty sure he doesn’t have one. It’s like this…”

David went on to summarize what happened from his mother’s death, to chipping in the Sandevistan and decking Katsuo, to his meeting with he kept the moon BD to himself; it was between him and Lucy. From there, he concluded with the Maine’s ambush at Lucy’s place and his disappearance thanks to Igor.

Ryuko hummed at that, all while doing maintenance on her mantis blades. “So if we meet this Lucy chick, I should stab her. Repeatedly.”

Lubbbock scoffed. “That’s what you get for falling for a pretty face.”

“How was he supposed to know about them? His mom never told him about this Maine dude or their deal.” Kiri defended.

“Yeah, that’s about right.” David summed up. “She was klepping chrome to sell to Maine to help me get through the academy. I kinda… ended that when I had the Sandy implanted. Either way, I’m not giving it up, but I need to sort things out with him ‘cause-”

“You still owe Maine.” The three guys turned to her, and she just rolled her eyes. “I don’t blame you for not knowing about the deal between Maine and your ma, but you getting the sandevistan implanted threw their deal out the window. Now Maine wants what they agreed on. To settle it, you gotta pay him back with the eddies-”

“Eddies I don’t have due to the costs of my mother’s…” David trailed off. Thinking about it nearly brought him to tears, but he held it in. ‘Not the time for that.’

Ryuko took a deep breath, noting the look in his eyes. She knew that look. “…yeah. Sorry.”

“...It’s fine.” David waved it off. “And sad to say, you're right. I do need to settle things with Maine, I owe him, and my mom, that much.”

“And if we get the treasure and sell it, we’ll probably get enough eddies to pay him back.” Eijiro added.

“Probably… if we don’t split it four ways between us.” Lubbock just groaned as he noticed another flaw in their plans. “Do you even know how much Maine paid for the implant?” David shook his head, leading to Lubbock’s groan.

David thought about it. ‘Maine’s not gonna tell me, he’s too pissed at me right now. Same for most of his crew… except, maybe…’ “There’s only one person who can find out, and might be willing to tell me.”

Lubbock’s eye twitched; he knew who he was referring to and didn’t like it. “...That’s a horrible idea.”

David raised an eyebrow. “It’s my only shot.”

“You’re gonna get burned. again.”

“I’ll delta before that happens.”

“And if she shuts you down with quick hacks?”

I delta. Before. That happens.” Lubbock frowned at that but held his tongue.

David held his forehead and sighed. “Ryuko, Edge. think you can gather some supplies?” Both agreed, with Edge promising to get everything ready for the final raid.

“I’m gonna get some intel. Tomorrow, we’ll meet and brainstorm how to get the calling card to Katsuo. Agreed?” They did, with Lubbock

With plans set, the four of them exited the Metaverse, and then went their separate ways for the night. Lubbock warned him not to fall for the same trick twice; David agreed, but insisted he’d be fine. They didn’t argue about it beyond that.

Now he had to meet with a netrunner, and started headin’ to her apartment. Hopefully their second encounter would end without violence and hellfire.

_Lucy_

‘Dammit, Where the f*ck is he!?’ She cursed as she made her way to her apartment. First time she saw him by dumb luck. Now, she couldn’t track him anywhere. No camera spotted him, no website was accessed by him and no person had spotted him. She’d checked. ‘You’d think with the yellow EM jacket he’d stick out, but noooo… he’s off the damn grid.’

She had a feeling he wouldn’t ditch the jacket, even if it made him stick out in a crowd. It meant too much to him to even let go of it. It wasn’t an obsession or anything, more of a mental support for him. She assumed it was more of an unconscious decision on his part.

Lucy wishes she could say the same of Maine’s attachment to the Sandevistan.

The crew hasn’t done any jobs, on account of Maine being hyper fixated on the Sandevistan. They did have one job coming up, but Maine made it clear they needed the Sandevistan The fact was she basically needed to find David and get this done.

‘He might be willing to fork over the Sandy if I can get his original spine from Doc.’ She’d already swung by Doc Borg to make sure of that. Fortunately, the ripper hadn’t dumped David’s original spine and kept it on ice. If they arranged the procedure so Borg did it, David could survive losing the Sandy and Maine could finally get the chrome.

She walked into her building, planning to head into her apartment and either to do some deep dives on her own or sleep in and hope to find the punk the next day. At least… that was her initial plan.

Instead she walked up to her apartment to see a familiar latino in his bright yellow jacket. Lucy’s eye just twitched at that. ‘I’ve searched the last few days for him, only to find he’s dropped off the face of the earth. Now he shows up at my place again, like it's normal.’ “...Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Yeah.” David looked a bit sheepish at that. “Mind if I come in? I need your help with some… unfinished business.”

Lucy scoffed at that. Calling the headaches he gives her and the crew unfinished business is a nice way of putting things. ‘Setting my boss on a wild goose chase is more like it.’

She brushed past him and motioned for him to follow. David sat on the couch with the view of the window behind him. Lucy took the seat across from him. The same one Maine and the others sat in during that first confrontation. She just glared at the punk across from her. “Spill, What do you want?”

David didn’t even flinch at her tone. He just made his own demand. “How much did Maine buy the Sandevistan for?”

Lucy raised an eyebrow at that. She hadn’t called Maine about David, either out of spite for Maine or curiosity at what David’s up to. The only reason he’d ask her that would be to pay him back. ‘That would be between him and Maine.’ “You think you could pay him back? Maine still wants the Sandy.”

David sighed. “I know, but it's the last thing I got from my mom. I’ll refund him in full, but I need the price.”

Lucy huffed at that. “That’s some big talk. Where was it when Maine was staring you down? Honestly… I wasn’t impressed.”

David countered. “Not like you were any more honest with me. You were playing me from the beginning.”

‘We’re doing this now. Great.’ She took a drag of her cigarette. “Not like I planned all of it from the start.”

David didn’t look convinced. “You could’ve said some-”

“Told you what?” Lucy shot back. “Maine wouldn’t shut up ‘bout his prized Sandy goin’ missing and I saw you usin’ the exact same one on the train.”

David sighed. “...Fine.” By the scowl on his face, he wanted to say more, but held himself back. He just sighed and focused on the deal with Maine. “If you give me 48 hours, I can pay him back. Can you find out before then?”

“I could.” Lucy ground out her cigarette in a tray. “Dorio would probably spill if I asked. But why would I tell you?” She honestly didn’t mind finding out and telling him, but for appearances sake, she asked for a decent enough reason.

David snorted. “Because Maine won’t stop bugging me, you and the rest of your crew till our dilemma is resolved. You tell me how much, and I can settle it with Maine.”

The Netrunner hummed at that. ‘Okay, that’s a damn good reason.’ “...Fine, I’ll do it. Just convince Maine to take your deal. If you can’t convince him, convince Dorio. She’ll get it through his iron thick skull.” She really hoped he succeeded. Part of it was just to get Maine to chill out. The other part… was more personal.

“Thanks.” David stood up and turned to leave.

Lucy was grateful for that. She didn’t really feel up to saying anything more on it. She’d never thought she’d… feel that way towards anyone. Kiwi would definitely frown at the thoughts she had about David, but she can’t deny that she… liked being around him. With him.

David stood at the door and turned his head to see her. “One last thing, I gotta ask… Why’d you show me the Moon BD? Seemed pretty personal.”

Lucy wasn’t gonna share anything until things were normal. But if he could settle things… ‘I might be willing to talk if…’ she might as well say it. “Settle things with Maine, and… and I might share. Okay?”

She watched him nod and walk to the door. She didn’t know what happened to him since that night, but he seems calmer and more focused.

David didn’t say anything to that, he just glanced back, and then zoomed out of sight, courtesy of the Sandy.

When she confirmed he was gone, Lucy just let out a breath and slumped back onto her couch. ‘Why did that feel so… awkward? Painful? I only knew him a single day, so why do I care if he lives or dies?’

Lucy just sighed as she contacted Dorio. She might as well try to ask her about Maine's deal with Gloria. Fortunately for her, Dorio was in a tipsy, annoyed mood. A little prodding from her, and the tall woman gladly ranted about Maine and his growing chrome addiction.

Whether or not she’d follow up and send the details to David… ‘No. What he asked was simple. I owe him that much.’ Heart resolved, she just had to decide when to send him the details.

Chapter 13: Taking the Lizard’s Hoard

Chapter Text

Taking the Lizard’s Hoard

The next day, David and Lubbock brainstormed how to get a calling card to Katsuo without it tracing back to them. Making the calling card was the easy part; they had the old magazines and could cut and paste a message from that.

Once the message was ready, they had to do a bit of planning to get the message to him. His private residence was to secure; they’d never sneak the physical copies inside. Same could be said of Arasaka Academy.

Fortunately, they could reach him outside of those places in some of the hangouts he frequents.

Lubbock sighed as he added an extra design to the calling card, adding stylized flames to it. “Ya know, the minute he sees you, he’ll connect you to the message right?”

David rolled his eyes. “Tanaka could sneeze on the other side of the city and still blame me for it. No one who knows him will bat an eyelash if he blames me for anything.”

“Fair Point.” Lubbock admitted. “Still, how are we gonna get the calling card to him?”

“We just need him to see it once, right?” Ejiro asked. David nodded. “Then… what if we just make other students see it and pass the image to him?”

“I thought we wanted it to be passed along quietly.” Ryuko pointed out. “If we slip the message to someone else, and they blurt it out to everyone, it’ll draw attention to the message. Even as a rumor, people will know.”

Lubbock snapped his fingers, realizing something. “Unless we slip the message to one of Katsuo’s stooges, someone who will definitely give the message to only Katsuo if we scare him enough.”

They listened as Lubbock explained his scheme. Eijiro frowned at it; Ryuko just shrugged and told him to go through with it; David generally said the same, and agreed to help.

They then scouted them for blindspots, planning when and where to slip the cards. Lubbock tracked down several of Katsuo’s classmates; their common trecks and classes. With David’s Sandy, slipping a message into the right bag was easy.

Next, Came finding the perfect stooge for their scheme.

“Yo, Shinji!” Lubbock called out. ‘Stooge located.’ It was early in the morning and he managed to find his target before he got into the academy grounds.

Shinji jolted away, annoyed. Shinji Matou was a below average Saka Academy student with blue hair like seaweed and a thin build. He also was a misogynistic sycophant down to his very core… and one of Katsuo’s loudest followers. “What is it, you twit? Can’t you see I-”

Lubbock cut him off with a slap on the back. “Yeah, yeah, real important stuff I’m sure. But Listen, I got a job for you.” he patted his back a few more times, mostly to keep him from noticing the surprise. Out in the street, David easily slipt the message into Shinji’s coat pocket. “Show that

Shinji wasn’t convinced. “Why would Katsuo-”

“It’s a direct order from his father. Need I say more?” Lubbock cut him off. He was going for the hard sell.

Shinji flinched at that, but despite his fear, could tell something was off with that. “...Why would they need a courier for that? And me for that matter?”

“No idea.” Lubbock shrugged. “Maybe it’s so secret they needed a series of messengers to be delivered off the grid. Maybe it’s a senseless prank by someone . Or maybe…” Lubbock leaned in closer. “It’s a test of your character to see if Katsuo can trust you. Whatever the case, can you really afford to ignore it? Do you want to explain to either Tanaka why it wasn’t delivered?”

Shinji changed his tune at that tidbit of information. He wasn’t about to risk the wrath of Tanaka senior for not following through… or his own grandfather for botching up his chances to connect with the Elder Tanaka.

What he didn’t know was that Lubbock was bluffing, but he’d find out in due time. For now, Shinji. Once the school day was over, he made a new line for Katsuo.

In truth… Shinij Matou Didn’t like the blond, really he didn’t… no one would believe him since he spent most days fauning over the blond in public. ‘Grandfather would make me suffer if I got in the way of his plans… and getting closer to the Tanakas was a part of his plans.’

Shinij would later find Katsuo with some of his underlings.

Katsuo just scowled at him. “What do you want, Matou?”

Shinji gulped. “I ah, have a message from your father.”

Katsuo scoffed at that. “Ridiculous. My father wouldn’t trust a gnat like to send anything.

Shinji took out the letter, which Katsuo snatched from him and opened the letter. On it was a message made with cut and pasted letters from old magazines. It read:

To Katsuo Tanaka, the Wimpering Lizard that thinks of himself as an Emperor.

We’ve seen through your facade. You’re nothing more than a delinquent who uses his status to . Any power you have is not yours, and never will be; your Empire stands on sand, and will be blown away by the storm we bring.

Within 24 hours, we will rip those twisted, distorted Desires from your very soul. Do not mourn, Do not weep; this fate cannot be avoided and your end is nigh.

Sincerely, The Hellraiders, Keepers of Souls.

Katsuo frowned, rage building. He didn’t know what the hell the senders were getting at with their words but he knew it was an insult against him. He knew it wasn’t his father, which meant it could only be a street rat that dared offend him. He knew exactly who.

Unseen, the Shadow of Katsuo scowled. “You want my treasure, you rat? Fine, come and try. I’ll crush you and any who side with you like the worthless roaches you are.”

Katsuo ripped up the card and made his rage known. “Get rid of this trash, And find me Martinez! I want him beaten, broken and groveling at my feet, begging for mercy! NOW!”

Shinji had already fled, seemingly to avoid Katsuo’s anger as well. The stooges around him just nodded and rushed to do as he asked. They didn’t know what the message was, only that it pissed him off. they really think David was behind it, but would never tell Katsuo that.

_ Lubbock _

“That went better than I thought.” Lubbock said as he watched more of Katsuo’s sycophants scramble about. He could make out Katsuo and his from another part of the Saka Academy. He hadn’t resigned as a student just yet to make sure Katsuo got the calling card.

Lubbock walked with a pep in his step. Using the Matou brat to get the message across was a cakewalk for him.

Lubbock: [ The corporat is panicking, just like I said. ]

David: [ Not bad, O’Brian, not bad at all. Meet us at the Bushido Inn. There’s one last thing I wanna mention before we set out. Then, we’ll do the raid. ]

Lubbock grinned at that. ‘Finally gonna finish him. good.’

The four of them planned to meet up there before heading into the palace. it was fairly secure, given its value to the lady of Westbrook. Wakako was the top Fixer in the region, and likely had her people keeping tabs on the joint.

Entering the establishment, he spotted Eijiro and Ryuko at one of the tables. He joined them. “Hey guys. Where’s David?”

Ryuko shrugged. “Dunno. Said he’d be here soon.”

Lubbock just sighed and sat down. He just glanced around while the others ate.

From the other side of the inn, he could make out Saeko working, but always glancing at their table. She hadn’t approached them, just keeping an eye out.

Lubbock just narrowed his eyes on her. Not because she was easy on the eyes- she was a solid 9 out of 10 no question- but because he could tell she was keeping an eye on them. Or rather… she was keeping an eye out for David.

‘And speak of the devil…’ He spotted David entering the keep looking slightly haggard but no worse for wear. He took his seat at their table.

“Good to see ya man!” Kirishima said. Lubbock figured he was the most friendly person in their little group. “Although, What took ya so long?”

David slumped into his seat next to Lubbock. “Regalla wanted to get one last lesson in before the raid.”

Lubbock hummed at that. David mentioned his trainer before, and how she was a total boss in her own right. And how she enjoyed fighting… and thoroughly beating David in every spar. ‘This Regalla chick would probably get along just fine with Saeko.’ best send him to deal with her sooner rather than later.

“Before we go, I think you should talk with Saeko.” David perked up at that. “She seemed pretty disappointed you lost your match. Maybe you could offer to have a rematch with her. I’m sure you could form another bond that way.”

“We don’t have time for her though.” Ryuko argued. “We gotta deal with it today, so he can’t waste time on the samurai wannabe.”

“But every bond means stronger Persona’s for David.” Lubbock countered.

David caught what Lubbock meant. With how his powers worked, the more bonds he had the better. ‘At least he hasn’t made a friendship joke about it.’ he shook the thought away. “We have 24 hours before the effect of the calling card wears off, so I can spare a few minutes to talk with her. But first, we need to set up one last security measure for ourselves.”

Lubbock scoffed at that. ‘What more could we do now?’ “And what would that be-”

“Codenames.” David groaned, getting a sullen look all of a sudden. Lubbock blinked at that before his frown morphed into an excited grin. And he wasn’t the only one.

“Finally!” Kirishima yelled out. He ended up drawing the attention of everyone in the inn. When he realized that, he just sheepishly waved while sitting back down.

Ryuko groaned at Kiri’s over-excitement. “Why?”

David sighed. “Short answer, it's extra protection for us in the metaverse, especially when dealing with palace rulers who know us. Now, any ideas?”

Kirishima spoke first. “For my hero name, just call me… Red Riot.”

Lubbock spoke next. “I’ll go by Crosshairs. He was a badass from a sci-fi movie I watched.”

Kiri just stared at the verdette in awe. Lubbock did the same for him. Then he extended his hand. Lubbock clasped it. Their grins were feverish as they bonded.

Ryuko just groaned at the two of them. “For the record, I still think this is dumb… but fine let’s do it. At least Edge’s name’s pretty cool.” Kirishima beamed at that.

“Can we shorten it to just Riot?” David asked. “It’s easier to say in a fight.” Kiri thought about it, and nodded.

Lubbock chucked. “You haven’t thought of one for yourself, fearless leader?”

David waved him off. “I’ll just go by Jason. Greek hero and leader of the argonauts, a group of heroes. It seemed fitting enough-”

“Denied.” Lubbock and Eijiro said at the same time. Their reasoning being: “He’s nothing like you. / you gotta put more heart into your hero name!”

David rolled his eyes. “It’s not lazy, it's efficient, and we ain’t heroes anyways. A name doesn’t need ‘heart.’ It just needs to be simple enough to call out in a fight.”

“In that case, I got the perfect codename for you. Way better than Jason.” Lubbock pointed his finger right at David. “While we traverse hell, you’ll be… Rex.”

David mulled it over. ‘Latin for king, huh? I guess it works.’ He just shrugged. “Fine. I can work with that.”

When the two excited nerds turned to face the only girl of the group, Ryuko just sighed. “Just call me Oni and be done with it.”

Lubbock shrugged. “That was gonna be my fourth suggestion. The others were…” Ryuko cut him off by dragging him out of the inn. Kiri chuckled as he followed them out. David sighed as he went over to speak with Saeko.

Sure enough, he formed another Arcana Bond with her: the High Priestess. He agreed to spar with her after he settled some business elsewhere. He missed the intent in her eyes.

Once they met outside, they headed into the metaverse… Unaware that a certain warrior maiden would follow in after them.

_ Katsuo’s Palace _

David led the others into the Palace, evading every Shadow in their way. Igor mentioned that sending the calling card would put all the shadows on high alert. Either way, they were prepared. It took some time to get through the security, but they made their way to the treasure room in less than an hour.

In the treasure room, they found the final treasure in its true form. Instead of the amorphous cloud from before, it was a golden standard, like the ones Roman armies carried into battle. It was appropriate, given the Palace.

“Riot, you carry it. Oni, stay close to him. Crosshairs and I will scout the path out.”

The two held up the standard, bringing it with them. Rex led the way while Crosshairs covered the rear. They made their way to the throneroom before they were then intercepted by Katsuo.

“You worthless peasants have trespassed in my domain for the last time!” Katsuo raged from within his throne room.

Rex scoffed at that. “Damn right! We don’t want to deal with you and your petty ego anymore, so why don’t you just give that back so we can be on our way? Following orders is what Saka Stooges like you train for isn’t it?”

Katsuo glared at him. “I got a better idea…” he then took out a dagger and stabbed himself in the arm. From the wound blood trickled out, only it didn’t fall to the ground. Instead, the droplets rose up into the air. The roof opened up to reveal the sky above, darkened by grey clouds.

Katsuo then raised his hands to the sky as the blood formed into an arrow and shot into the sky. “I call upon the patron of my Empire! I call upon the Diety that shines its light upon your dominion. Purge these enemies in your divine fires!”

And that’s when fire started raining on them. Rex and Oni others dodged. Crosshairs hid behind Riot, who was able to block the few blasts that hit him. The end result was pillars being knocked down, rubble and debris littering the thronehall, and the open When the shower ended, they noticed the figure descending from the sky.

When the rain of fire ended, a beast emerged from the smoke and fire. It had a long serpentine body, with claws silver. Its crimson and gold scales glowed like gemstones in the light. Antler horns, whiskers, and pitch black eyes with bright green iris in its center. It was an eastern dragon long enough to wrap around a building thrice over. And it was glaring at them.

“So you are the gnats that pillage my dominion? I am Unimpressed.” The dragon then inhaled, most likely to attack.

Rex could only think back to Orobas and his attacks. But given it was a far greater monster… he moved on instinct. “Watch out!”

The dragon let loose its fire breath. Compared to Orobas, it was a violent inferno. Rex grabbed Crosshairs, pulling out of the literal line of fire. Oni moved to the side while Riot held his ground. He flinched back from the fires, only slightly burned by them. “I think its breath attacks deal a mix of fire and nuclear!” he warned the others.

While the dragon breathed down flames at Riot, Oni lept into the air to slash. Her scissor blades bounced off the dragon’s scales. “Scales are too tough! I can’t cut through-”

The dragon twisted about, cutting off her shout and swiping at Oni and knocking. The claw strike knocked her out of the air. Oni was then pinned to the ground by the dragon’s claw.

Riot tried to grab hold of its tail, but the dragon was too large to get a grip on. It subsequently lifted its tail and slammed Riot into a pillar.

Rex readied his spear, got closer, and threw it at the dragon’s face. The spear bounced off of its snout, before. All it did was draw the dragon’s attention towards the lancer.

Crosshairs saw the dragon and wrapped a flash grenade in his threads, making it into a sling. When the dragon dove in to attack Rex, a flash of light made it flinch. Crosshairs hurled the payload, giving him and Rex the moment to hide. Oni and Riot recovered enough to join them.

“Where are you, Vermin?” The great fire breather bellowed as it floated around, searching for the raiders among the ruble. Meanwhile, the raiders regrouped behind one of the fallen pillars. They were hidden for the moment, but they. ‘More than that, we need a plan!’ Rex turned to his comrades.

Crosshairs groaned against the wall. “Damn it, this bastard’s worse than Orobas!”

Riot took out two boosters, one for Crosshairs and one for himself. “I prefer fighting the annoying snowmen compared to this.”

Oni healed herself with her own booster. “We’re getting nowhere with our attacks. Any idea what it's weak to? Or what persona it is?”

Rex shook his head. “I tried, but no name came up. I don’t think it’s a normal persona.” He glanced to the side, careful to avoid the dragon’s sight. He could make out the would be ‘emperor’ prancing about and laughing.

Shadow Katsuo grinned like a maniac. “Yes… YES! Burn them! Burn them all till there’s nothing left!! MAKE THEM SUFFER-”

The dragon stopped its search to glare at Katsuo directly. “You dare give me orders, welp?”

Katsuo went from gleeful boasting to frantic groveling, bowing his head. When the dragon inhaled, Katsuo got on his knees. “My deepest apologies. I overstepped my bounds, great one.”

Rex heard that exchange and started thinking it through. Igor and Regalla’s lessons proved helpful in figuring it out. ‘This is Katsuo’s Palace, so no shadow could argue against him, no matter how strong… which means the dragon’s not a shadow at all. That’s why I couldn’t see its name.’

‘If it’s not a Shadow, then it has to be a cognition, but of what? Arasaka…? No that’s too broad. Someone more specific from Arasaka, someone Katsuo has ingrained in his psyche, someone who-’ then it hit him. It was obvious at that point. ‘Yeah. that should have been obvious.’ “The dragon is actually a cognition of Tanaka Senior, Katsuo’s father.”

As he revealed that, a shadow loomed over them. The Tanaka dragon glared down at all four of the trespassers in its dominion. “Found You…” with those words, it let loose its fire once more.

The raiders seperated, rolling to avoid the flames. Rex opened up the comms, even as he and the others avoided the dragon's attacks.

Rex: [ I think I got an idea. ]

Crosshairs: [ Great! What is it? ]

Rex: [ Keep the dragon occupied. I need to get to Katsuo! ]

Crosshairs: [ Are you sh*tting me!? We can barely slow it down! ]

Rex: [ You don’t need to fight him, just stall and survive. ]

Rex could see the annoyance in Crosshair’s scowl, but nodded. Rex used his speed to scale one of the still intact pillars.

Regalla had mentioned one method for him to get stronger, to empower his physical movements. She talked about how a person with supernatural power could, for lack of a better term, reinforce parts of them. Fortifying his body gives him extra strength and speed without relying on the Sandevistan. He was saving that for

Rex channeled the energy into his limbs. it wasn’t using his mana, but something else provided by his persona. Blue viens like circuits in a machine appeared on his arms and legs.

Meanwhile, Riot and the others were keeping the dragon. “Hey fire newt! Come and get me!” Tanaka unleashed his fire breath right at the red head. Riot did his best to block it. His immunity to fire and resistance to Nuclear allowed him to whether the blast.

Oni ran up one of the pillars. When she was high enough, she lept onto the dragon's back. She tried slicing it with her blades - mantis and scissor blades - but couldn’t even scratch his scales. After a few more attempts, the dragon shook her off, and knocked her into Riot.

Crosshairs took out more daggers and threw them at the dragon’s head, aiming for its eyes. He remembered that was often one of the … at least in some of the stories he read. Sadly for him, the dozens of daggers he threw did little good. Even the daggers that did hit its eyes bounced off like nothing.

Tanaka glared at the three of them, slumped against the wall. The tyrant dragon realized that one of them was missing. ‘Where’s the fourth one…’

Unlike the dragon, the emperor had other things in mind. Katsuo regained his vigor and laughed at the downed raiders. “Finally! You rats will burn and break before your betters!”

“You first!” Rex rushed him, impailing his spear into his leg.

“AHHHH! When did you-?”

“RAAAHH!!” David roared and kicked Katsuo in the gut with all his might. Between his reinforcement, the sandevistan’s speed and his own natural strength, the kick was hard enough to knock the wannabe punk across the field and into his own throne. The act caught the eyes of both his teammates and the dragon… and marked the turning point in the fight.

Chapter 14: Dragons, Lizards & Edgerunner Code

Chapter Text

Dragons, Lizards & Edgerunner Code

In a small isolated side street of Kabuki, one away from prying eyes, a crack in space time formed. From there a portal opened and a girl with long dark blue hair and a katana strapped to her waist fell back into reality. She was tired, wounded, and came straight from hell. And she’d never fealt more alive because of it.

Saeko could only grin as she slumped against the wall in the street. She held up her newly acquired katana, checking if it was real. It was. If the blade was real, then her battle to the death with her own doopleganger was also real. ‘To think… a paradise like that existed all this time. If only I’d Known about it sooner. if only…’

She waited a few minutes for her legs to stop aching and she found her strength again. Once she did, she got up and headed back to her family’s inn. She needed time off work to scour the city for David and his friends.

“Either I’ll kill him, kiss him, or serve him. There will be no other alternative I’ll accept!” if it was possible, the young lady would attempt all three more than once.

_Katsuo’s Palace_

Shadow Katsuo groaned as he landed in the rubble that once made his throne. ‘

David just smirked at him, holding his spear over his shoulders. He seemed relaxed, like he didn’t just knock down his hated enemy. “So much for being the best, eh Katsuo?”

Shadow Katsuo scowled as he got up. “How dare you, you filthy street rat! This is my world, my empire-”

“No it's not.” David cut in. “Even if it is your Palace, it’s not your power. Because we both know that the only reason you have any power… the only reason anyone gives a damn about you… is your father. Without him, you’d be worth less than me.”

“You- YOU-!” Katsuo was seething at this point, and his form began to distort and change. His skin started to develop scales and his hands became sharpened talons. His head morphed to resemble that of a crocodile. He looked like a He flexed his new claws and snarled at David. “I’ll tear you limb from f*cking limb!!”

The whole transformation made him look like the Lizard man hybrid from some 20th century comic book. David just huffed and readied his spear. ‘Well, that at least confirms my suspicions ‘bout the dragon.’

He started slashing at David with his claws, but the young lancer was quick to evade. He’d split his spear into its stake and club combo, using both to parry and block the lizard prince’s strikes. All the while, he was goading him with every breath.

“You’re wrong! I don’t need my god-forsaken father!”

“Yet the minute we arrive, you call for him. Daddy’s boy to the end right?”

“I’ll gut you myself. Not even he’ll stop me!”

“You sure? I still see you cringe from when he called you out earlier. Makes sense for a spineless guy like you.”

“Bastard…. Bastard, Bastard! BASTARD, BASTA-”

“ENOUGH.” The massive dragon flying just above the ground stopped attacking the others and focused on David. The dragon floated down slowly, until it was facing David, its eyes locked on the Latino. “You really think so boy? You think you don’t need me?”

Katsuo stumbled back. “I just meant, well, that I could- um, deal with this pest on my own-”

“Then do so. NOW.” Tanaka growled.

Katsuo switched his gaze, either glaring at David or avoiding Tanaka’s gaze. He then focused on David and flexed his claws again. “Martinez. I’ll beat you, one on one, winner take all! If you accept, drop your spear, put up your fists, and fight me like a man!”

Rex hummed at that. Katsuo and Tanaka Sr. both awaited his answer. His only response was to stab his spear into the ground. Then, he squared off against Katsuo, standing face to face with his former bully.

Meanwhile, Crosshairs, Riot and Oni had recovered and stood up. The redhead tries to move to get closer, but Crosshairs held him back. “Rex has this, he figured out the winning scenario.”

“I thought the dragon was the final boss though. Wasn’t he?” Riot asked.

Crosshairs shook his head. “Nah. he’s a distraction. Don’t forget whose palace this is.”

Katsuo clenched his fists, and got into a stance. David recognized it; it was the same stance he used whenever he used his martial arts neuralware and laid into him before. ‘Not this time.’ Rex touches his metal mask, causing it to disappear. He entered this fight not as Rex the Lancer and Hellraider… but as David the Cyberpunk.

Katsuo brought up his fists, having calmed down enough to take their fight all the more seriously. David brought up his fists and did the same.

Katsuo threw a punch, but David blocked. Katsuo struck again, only for him to dodge. David would prompt him for more, and Katsuo did with an angry scowl. This pattern repeated. David didn’t waste his energy on fighting back; he was waiting for the right moment.

Between his intense sparring matches with Regalla and his less intense matches with Ryuko and Eijiro, David got a feel for how dangerous his enemies were. Shadow Katsuo was stronger than him and had more stamina, but not faster. David’s only chance was to tire him out before ending it with one hit.

When Katsuo lunged at him and struck with both arms, tired and frustrated, he had his moment.

David finally went all out. He combined the speed of the sandevistan with the reinforcement technique, and then added a third component: his magic. Some time after the fight with Orobas, he gained more skills with Odysseus. One of them was a stronger wind attack against a single target.

Thus, with a battle cry of Garula, David raised up his fist and punched him in the face with all his might. He hit him so hard that the impact cracked the stone ground beneath him, with Katsuo dead center of the crater. David backed up, looking grim but triumphant.

Katsuo groaned as he lay on the floor, defeated… All while his guardian deity- the source of his authority- watched. Judging by the flames coming from its nostrils, it was not happy. “...you have failed me, you worthless spawn of mine.”

Katsuo frantically tried to get back to his feet. “N-no! I didn’t fail, I never did! I can still-”

The lizard boy was interrupted when the dragon swung around and slammed his tail onto Katsuo, flattening him back into the ground.

“You failed me, like you always do…” The dragon sneered. When Katsuo got up and tried to make more excuses, the tyrant dragon slammed the child with its tail. “I tire of your weakness, your insolence and your pathetic existance entirely. I shall have to breed another spawn to take your place. Farewell…” With its last words, it ascended leaving the area and into the sky.

“No! Wait! Come Back!” Katsuo wailed as he fell to the ground, his voice distorting as he lost. As he called for his father again and again, his form melted, and he returned to his original human form.

Riot, Oni and Crosshairs approached Rex and the prone Katsuo. Rex glanced at Riot who showed the standard. They still had the treasure. ‘Now, we can finally be done with this place…’

Crosshairs flicked his wrist, letting out his wires. The wires then wrapped around Katsuo’s neck. “This has been a long time coming, bastard.”

Wait, please!” Katsuo begged. “You can have the treasure, I won’t stop you-”

“You’re wrong, you can’t stop us. So I’m thinkin I’ll take your life as wel-” His hand was grabbed by David who gave him a look, one he didn’t like. He liked his next words even less.

“Let him go Cross.” David said.

“Why the hell should I?” Crosshairs shot back. “No one will miss him, not even his own dad.”

Rex considered explaining, but the Palace would fall apart any minute now. “I’ll explain later, but we can’t kill people using the metaverse.”

Crosshairs was unconvinced. “Can’t or won’t?”

David summoned his mask and spear once more, becoming Rex. “We’ll discuss this later, but we need to go. Now.”

Crosshairs tsked’ at that before pulling back his threads, releasing Katsuo from his hold. Just as he did, Katsuo disappeared, fading away right before their eyes. Crosshairs turned to give Rex a piece of his mind, but before he could, the ground started to shake and the walls started falling apart, knocking him down.

“The hell’s going ON!” Riot shouted as he felt the earthquake.

“The palace is collapsing!” Rex warned as he pulled Crosshairs up. “Without the treasure and ruler, it has no core. Which means we need to move! Now!” he started running for the exit, with the others right with him.

Riot used his strength to get through any debris in their way, either by or charging straight through it. When they came across a deep chasm, Crosshairs used his threads to get them across.

They’d made it to the main court yard when one final obstacle stood in their way.

“MAGGOTS! YOU TRICKED ME!!” The Tanaka dragon had returned, and used its body to block their escape. Its once shining scales were now rotting, and had a foul stench. One of its horns was broken and blood poured out from one of its eyes. It looked more undead than divine.

Rex scoffed and pointed his spear at the decayed dragon. “Yeah, we did! And you fell for it. Now get out of our way!”

“WORTHLESS INSECTS!!” The dragon let loose its fire once again, only it was weaker than before. Riot jumped in front and blocked the blow, protecting his teammates from the blast entirely. The others never felt the heat.

Crosshairs drew several daggers from his coat, grinning. “My knives weren’t strong enough before, but now…” he threw knife after knife at the dragon, and every blade cut into its weakened scales. The blades dug into his arms, eyes, snout and jaw. His grin turned feral as the dragon howled in pain.

Enraged beyond reason, the dragon charged, mouth opened wide to swallow the next raider it could… which happened to be Riot. Riot just grimaced and stood his ground. When it got close enough, Riot grabbed it by its teeth- upper and lower jaws caught in his grasp- and stopped the dragon in its track. He hefted its body into the air before calling out: “I got it, finish it now!”

Rex and Oni didn’t hesitate. They rushed forward, blades ready, Rex from the right and Oni from the Left. They met in the middle and sliced clean across the dragon’s throat, causing its blood to rain down and a painful scream from the dragon.

When Riot let go, the dragon slumped to the ground, defeated. All it could do was glare at them as they left.

_Avernus_

When the crew finally exited the Palace and entered the rest of Avernus, they could clearly see the shining white buildings falling apart. Much like the dragon, they lost their luster and fell into ruin.

Once they were out, they didn’t stop moving. They learned fairly quickly that shadows would swarm them if they stayed in the open for too long. They headed to one of the buildings and hid inside. Once they found a safe spot without any Shadows, they sat down.

“Everyone good?” David asked as he leaned down against a wall. Ryuko and Eijiro took a seat on a nearby couch while Lubbock slumped into a chair across from David.

“What about the standard treasure? Do we have-” Ryuko asked but was cut off.

“Got it!” Kirishima reached into his pocket and pulled out the Standard. “Now what?”

David scratched the back of his head. “With the Palace destroyed, it should revert to a real item at any moment…”

Just as he mentioned that, the standard began to glow. Kirishima let go of it, dropping it onto the ground. Seconds later, its form changed, shrinking to reveal…

“A Data shard?” Ryuko was the one who spoke, staring down at the piece of metal with a scowl. “We went through all those shadows, the traps, the dragon and his wimp of a son, and we got a f*cking data shard. Are you kidding me!?”

Lubbock just sighed. “Let’s check the data on it before we go cursing anyone out. Sound good, Matoi?” By the look on her face, Ryuko wanted to throttle him instead. David just breezed past that and picked it up. He slotted into his neck and went over the data.

“...” the Latino recognized some of the data. Arasaka data. “Holy sh*t. How the hell is this real?”

Lubbock just crossed his arms. “Well? What is it?”

David took out the shard and passed it to Lubbock. When the verdette realized what it was, Lubbock started laughing like a loon.

“Transcripts for classes… Textbooks and assignments… Lesson Plans and assessments for dozens of classes all for the last 10 years. Everything an instructor would need to teach… or a student to cheat.”

“Data from a Corpo academy? That’s better than nothin I guess.” Ryuko sighed.

Corporations guard their data zealously within their data fortresses. Solo netrunners stood no chance of gaining the data within them. Even other corporations couldn’t do it, though they often try.

And they now have a shard filled with exclusive data from Arasaka academy.

“Dude, we’re gonna make good eddies when we sell that.” Lubbock grinned.

“What about Maine?” Ejiro cut in. “David’s still gotta pay the debt.”

“Yeah.” Lubbock agreed, and turned to David. “It would be nice if we knew how much Maine paid for the damn thing. Oh if only we knew…”

“40k.” David cut in with a smirk. He’d already got a message from Lucy about the price before they dealt with Katsuo’s treasure.

Lubbock huffed. “...Fine, she came in clutch, but I don’t trust her.”

“Is it because she conned me instead of you?”

“I’d trust her even less in that case!”

“And yet you’d still be gazing at her like a fan.”

“More like watching out for a backstab-”

“Lubbock, you know a fixer, right?” Ryuko cut in before they could spiral into more arguments, especially about a lady she wasn’t fond of. “How much do you think he’d pay for this?”

Lubbock hummed at that. “I’d wager we can get enough. Let me call him…”

He called the semi-retired fixer from Northside. The semi-retirement was a result of a gig involving a couple of young upstarts that tried to turn on Regina Jones. Supposedly he worked out a deal with her after fixing that mess. Fortunately for them, he was willing to pay them upfront 45,000 Eddies for it… but they had to deliver it within the hour.

Lubbock was gonna go make the trade… until David stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “What?”

David grimaced as he spoke. “When you get the cash, split it evenly between the four of us.”

Lubbock raised an eyebrow at that. “And Maine?”

David shook his head. “I’ll figure something out.”

Lubbock just sighed. “Dude, just take the 40k. We’ll split the rest between ourselves.”

David looked to the others for their reactions. Kirishima gave him the thumbs up while Ryuko just nodded. “Take care of sh*t with tall, dark and angry. You’ll make it up to us I’m sure.” Ryuko would probably beat him up in sparring, but he won’t complain if she considers something else.

Eijiro nodded. “You were the one who figured out how to beat the Palace ruler in the end… and since you need it to settle a debt, you can get the larger share for it.”

David thanked them and left. An hour later, he had the 40k he needed. With Katsuo dealt with and the funds received, he was ready to face Maine. ‘First time we’ll meet face to face since the hellfire incident.’

“There’s no way I’m leaving things unsettled.” David said as he made a call. He got Maine’s number from Lucy, so he could settle the score with him.