Chapter 4
She'd betrayed him. Lucy.
Maybe worse. She'd been lying to him from the start. He wasn't sure why, but she had been. These guys, whoever they were, were with her, and she'd dragged him into a trap.
Those thoughts ran through his head as he kicked at the blonde muscular woman that had pulled out a gun. She blocked him with an arm, getting sent out the open door and landing in a backwards roll.
"Fuckin gonk!" The skinny mohawk guy with the long cyberarms swung his pistol around to aim at David. The spider enhanced kid flipped backwards just as the trigger was pulled, bullets slicing through the air mere inches from him as his spider-sense sang.
"Dorio!" the by far largest man in the group was suddenly beside David, swinging out a fist. David, with no room for anything else, swung his own fist out.
Metal smashed into flesh. David, despite his strength, had been at a bad angle in the air. He flew back first against the wall.
The giant man winced at the impact against his fist, but raised his other hand, firing off his own gun. David rolled out of the way, leapt onto the ceiling to dodge the skinny guy's follow up shot, then the blonde's.
Lucy snarled as the trio kept shooting at David, their bullets instead landing against the walls as he dodged. "Stop ruining my apartment!"
She swung her hands out. David was dodging before he saw the wires come out of her wrists. Twin red lines spinning out. He stared at them for a second too long. A bullet sliced past his right rib despite his dodge. He hissed at the pain, but managed to land, rolling out of the way of the monowire.
Something about the way the wires moved. Like portions of it were safer than the rest? Was that possible-
"Got you!" the blonde woman was suddenly in his face. David punched out at her.
She ducked around it and punched him in the face. David gasped at the pain. She'd hit him while he was off balance from his clumsy punch. Goddamnit. His spider-sense couldn't help him if his own moves fucked him up!
He pulled back onto the defensive. Dorio's next punch was slipped by. And her next, and next. At some points, David was bent into nearly impossible shapes to dodge, one point rolling on his head to keep away from a heavy cross.
"Get him!" the skinny man yelled.
"Say something useful, Pilar!" the blonde snapped.
"Step back!" the big man roared.
David dodged another punch, then was faced with a barrage of bullets from near point blank. He slipped around them, heart pumping, ears stinging from the constant shots being fired. Another monowire reached out to try and grab him. Grab him safely.
At least, it didn't feel as lethal as the bullets did to his sense.
Maybe that was why he rushed her. Lucy's eyes widened. Almost in slow motion, David leaped onto the ceiling to avoid another shot, bounced off that to dodge a wire, landed on the couch in a roll to slip through the cyberarms of the skinny one when he went to dodge him, then jumped off the couch armrest to land before Lucy. Her monowires surrounded him with a twirl of her arms.
For a moment, crouched before her, looking up at the wires that filled the air around them, light from the moon outside shining in, her eyes and hair lit by the moon and red wires, David almost lost his breath.
His spider-sense kept him in the fight. He forced himself to move. Earlier, he'd noticed parts of her monowire felt safer than others. So, as the wires went to wrap around him, he stood up, stepping closer to Lucy.
Then he tapped his fingers against the wires. He went with it, the world seeming to slow as his wall-crawling power attached to the wires, guided by his spider-sense to keep him from slicing his fingers off. He pulled, bringing Lucy into him, her chest pressing to his as she squeaked.
Spinning around with her pressed to him, David swung his hands out. It was almost instinct. Snapping out his hands, the wires he'd stolen swung outwards. One wrapped around the hands of the skinny man, tying his wrists together before snapping around his neck.
"What the fu-" the skinny man yelped before being pulled to the ground.
The other wire sliced through the big man's gun, turning it to scrap, before wrapping around the blonde woman.
Everything stopped. The skinny man and the blonde didn't struggle. They knew, just like David did, how dangerous monowire was. The big guy dropped his gun and lifted an arm, a small missile launcher popping out to aim at David, only to hesitate.
David, Lucy, and the three people stared at each other. David was panting, Lucy's eyes filled with shock as they met eyes.
"What… is going on!?" David bit out.
"That's what I want to know," the big guy snapped out. "Thought you said he had no augments, Lucy."
"I said he had no chrome. Didn't say nothing about bioware," Lucy said.
"Well that ain't no cheap shit," the big man snapped, shaking the fist that David had punched.
"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on!?" David yelled. "Why are you attacking me?!"
He tightened his grip on the wires just a bit, almost cutting into himself before he adjusted. The blonde winced, while the skinny guy shouted.
"Fucking hell! Lucy, can you turn these things off?!"
"You should feel lucky they aren't cutting you apart," Lucy said to him.
"We want back what you stole from me," the big guy snapped.
David stared at him, confused. What he stole? What? "What are you talking about?"
"The Sandy, kid," the man didn't lower the missile launcher. "It's mine. I paid for it, fair and square before you stole it from my supplier. So what are you doing walking around with it!?"
"Supplier?" David's grip went slack.
"Yeah. Paid her for it, free and clear, before she ghosted."
"She-" David winced. Shit. Shit. Mom had been selling black market chrome. To pay for him. He'd known that, but still. The reality of it sucked.
"Yeah, Gloria Martinez. Ring a bell?"
"She's my mom." David whispered.
"Your mom?" the man looked befuddled. That missile launcher was still very steady though. "The hell is she doing letting you walk around with it!?"
"She didn't… she died. Yesterday." David let go of the wires. He stepped back from Lucy. His spider-sense calmed down. "It's the only thing she left me."
The giant of a man glared at David through his glasses. "Died!? I spoke to her two days ago! Who did it, the badges or-"
"Animals," David spat out. "Just a random drive by."
"Shit!"
"'Xplains why she ghosted us," the blonde said, though she was still glaring at David.
"Yeah, guess so. Shit," the giant kept his missile pointed. "So, why you running around with that chrome in your jacket?"
"...I was gonna sell it," David said honestly, scowling. "Can't afford rent, now that she's gone."
"I can almost respect that," the skinny guy said, chuckling just a bit.
"Can't sell it. It's mine. Already paid for it," the big guy said.
David thought on that. Goddamn it. Was he going to have to fight his way out?
The big guy stared at him over his sunglasses. Finally he raised his face to look at the ceiling, sighing. "Goddamn it. David, right?"
"Yeah."
He lowered his arm. Over his glasses, the man's eyes briefly glowed. David blinked when a deposit came into his account. He almost fell over. Nine thousand. Holy shit!
"That's all I can justify," the big man said, glaring at him. "I don't like paying for things twice, but your mom was good to me. Give me the Sandy and we'll count it square. Deal?"
David hesitated. But not for long.
Doc wasn't going to buy the thing off of him, not fairly anyway, and he had no clue where else he could dump it. It was a hassle more than anything. Maybe he could have installed it, but his spider-powers were more than enough for now.
Picking up the jacket, David unzipped the inside and took out the heavy metal chrome, handing it over to the big man, who took it with an almost gentle look on his face. David watched him put it away in a pocket with some sadness.
Least he still had the jacket…
"Then we're done," the big man said, looking David over. "Gotta say, that's some impressive bioware you've got. Was that what Gloria was spending those eddies on?"
David shrugged. The man chuckled.
"Fine. Keep your secrets. Dorio, Pilar. Come on."
"Wait," David said, something pushing him to speak. The man looked at him, a questioning look on his face. "You guys are edgerunners, right? Cyberpunks?"
"Yeah. What of it?"
He shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to seem more confident than he was. "If you guys need someone to help, with a job or even in a fight, let me know."
The big man glared at him. David smirked.
"Hey. I proved I can do good in a fight."
"Barely," the blonde said. "You need to learn how to throw a punch."
Damnit, Rhino said the same thing.
Still, the large black man chuckled, his mostly chrome body shifting with a rasping noise as he did. "Sure kid. I'll give you a call when I have something. No guarantees though."
Better than nothing. Barely.
The black man, blonde, and skinny guy walked off. Before they left, the black man glanced back. "Name's Maine by the way. Remember it if you try and fight me again. Crazy gonk."
The skinny guy raised a middle finger, while the blonde sighed like she was used to them. Probably was. Then they left.
Leaving David with Lucy.
"...You're a real piece of work." He said at last.
"Am I now?" Lucy sucked at her cigarette, not looking at him.
He thought about it. "No. No. You're a piece of shit actually. But thanks for reminding me that I need to look out for myself."
"Just go," she said, sounding pissed off. David smiled sadly before he started off. When the door slid open, her next words stopped him. "About your mom… sorry for your loss."
"..." David looked back at her, facing her fully. He wasn't sure why. But he looked her in the eyes. She looked away first. Good.
He walked out, slamming the door behind him.
Maine
"You serious about that, Maine? Hiring the kid for jobs?" Dorio asked him.
"Gave you a run for your money, didn't he?" Maine teased her.
"Lucky hits," Dorio didn't sound like she was protecting her ego. More contemplative. "The kid's good at dodging. Strong too. But he doesn't know how to leverage his hits."
"Yeah, and he's a total fuckin gonk," Pilar said, his voice half-laughing as always. "Who walks around with 40K in chrome in their jacket!? Might as well have chipped it in for the hassle that'd have brought him."
"Yeah, kid's green as hell," Maine chuckled. "But we could use another hitter, and a guy with bioware like that can be useful. Seriously though. Bioware. What was Gloria thinking?"
It wasn't like bioware wasn't useful, but it was pricey stuff. Way more than you could get with even cheap chrome. Gloria must have been putting every dime she had into paying for the operations. For what, to make her kid a biological super-soldier? He thought she had more sense to her.
Well. No speaking ill of the dead.
"Dorio, make sure that fight ends how we like."
"You bringing him in on the Tanaka job?"
"Why not? Lucy said he's got a talent for klepping shards. All he has to do is swipe it and take the car. Nothing easier."
"You trying to jinx it, choom?" Pilar asked, laughing just a bit.
"No such thing," Maine smirked. "That kid could be pretty useful. Meantime," he patted the Sandy fondly. "Let's get this chipped in."
He walked off, ignoring the look of worry Dorio laid on him. It would be fine. It was one more piece of chrome. Nothing to worry about.
David Martinez
9000 eddies. Rent was about 1500. Just a bit more really, but he could pay it. And he had some cash from Lucy too, leaving him with enough to work with. No chance of getting something to replace the Sandy, but something cheap that could help him with fights and future jobs.
He had ideas for that. Lucy, ironically, had helped with that.
He needed a ripperdoc though. Not Doc though. Someone else.
So he decided on the one who he'd found earlier, the woman who lived out in Watson who claimed to have some old school comics, particularly Marvel and Spider-Man ones. He was tired from fighting Rhino, klepping shards, then moving right on to fighting Lucy, Maine, and his crew after, so he went to bed first.
After only a few hours of sleep, he was up and heading out to Watson. He didn't head out there too often, but he knew plenty. Arasaka Academy loved talking about how much of the waterfront the company owned.
He ended up in Kabuki Town. With his GPS leading the way, he walked past Lizzie's Bar, the Mox girls out front eyeing suspiciously as he strode past. A left on the street nearby, then towards one of the buildings on the right.
The Japanese section of Watson was still waking, people groggily grabbing caf and quick meals from vending machines before heading out to work or school.
Speaking of school, the principal had called him earlier… eh, best to ignore it. Probably just complaining about Katsuo's broken jaw.
Refocusing, David ended up at his destination. He stared at the opening.
"That's not ominous."
Scav masks set up on metal spikes. No, not metal spikes. Chrome. Fingers, forearms, thighs, pieces of skull, the former eyes of unknown people, all melded together. Old rusted chrome, roughly welded together to form a tower that the Scav masks glowed atop of. Four of them, two on either side of the entrance. Hanging above the door to the place was a pair of cyber arms, blood rusting the old and chipped mantis blades hanging from them. David narrowed his eyes at the Tyger Claw marking etched into the chrome arms as well as the oni mask on top. Like a pirate skull and crossbones.
So whatever ripperdoc lived here was insane. Seriously, hanging Scav masks and Tyger Claw arms like trophies? Or a warning?
There was a pink Mox logo on the building, the familiar skull with hair. An advertisement post in the center proudly shone with blue-green cross symbols, as if the sign saying 'Ashes To Ashes: Ripper Services' over the door didn't do enough.
The whole thing was so brazen David almost wanted to turn around. Instead, he focused and stepped forward. The door opened as he approached, a woman stepping out. She had asymmetrical near scarlet hair, right side shaven, left side long. Lines of violet cyberware shone across her face, her eyes glowing the same color. She glanced at David. For a moment, they met eyes.
"See you later, V!" A voice inside the shop said.
Like that, the strange tension cracked. The woman walked past David, who took a breath in confusion. He hadn't felt his spider-sense activate or anything. Or maybe it had? What was that about?
Walking forward again, David entered the door and stopped at the sight of the place. The only similarity it had to Doc's place was the various cyberlimbs hanging around the operating bed, though there were two of those. The other big difference was that it looked like… well.
A children's doctor's office. Well, not quite. But it was more like that than the dirtier office Doc had. Clean walls with bright and cheery pinks, yellows, and blues. Ducklings, piglets, puppies, and animals that had gone extinct decades ago were cutely pasted on the walls.
"Well you're a new face," the voice brought David's eyes towards his left, behind a desk setup with toys surrounding a computer monitor. Old toys, some sat up on stands in action poses in front of plaques with words like 'Transformers', 'Batman', and 'M.A.S.K.' written on them.
Was the doctor a little kid or something?
The speaker was blue eyed blonde, with hair pulled into a spiky ponytail on top of her head. Her eyes were gold implants that glowed as she panned her gaze across him. Her arms stood out. All four of them, the color of burnished gold on top with black metal across the palms. The four sat into her shoulders, the gears of the arms whirring pleasantly as she rested her elbows on the desk. When he got a good look at her, he could see that something about her face looked.. Fake. Like it was ceramic or something. Her neck had patches of visible mechanical muscles where there should have been skin, going down the neck of her pink surgical scrubs.
"Well well. Look at you, huh?"
David waved awkwardly. "Uh, hi. I'm here to get some chrome."
The woman smiled, waving two left arms around, before going in to lean on two of them, palms on her circuit-lined cheeks. "Came to the right place. Names' Ash. How can I help you out?"
"I need to chip in some monowire. You got any?"
She blinked, looking surprised. "Huh. Not what I was expecting."
"Is that weird?"
"No, but most people start with a more basic install first, something that needs less training. Operating systems, for example," she shrugged. "Monowire needs some solid reflexes."
"I can handle it." Apparently. Using the monowire he'd 'borrowed' from Lucy just felt… right. Perfect even. He wanted to blame his spider powers for that. Explained how Peter used them so easily.
"Okay then," Ash shrugged, then smirked. "That'll be about 12,950 eddies."
When he gaped at her, she grinned.
"What, that's the price for the tech and its installation. I don't do protag discounts." She clicked each of her fingers in turn, before making a cash sign.
"Pro-what? Nevermind," David sighed, sucking it up. He could pay for that. He just wouldn't be able to afford as much food after unless he got paid fast. Klep shards, fight Animals maybe. "I can do that."
"Great. Sit in the chair, I'll get the anesthesia ready."
"Whoa, you're already charging me enough!" David yelped.
"...Kid, that's part of the package. What lunatic ripperdoc would operate on someone who isn't under anesthesia?" Ash blinked several times, the irises of her cybereyes zooming in close on his face. "Who the fuck have you been opping for?"
…Doc, you absolute bastard.
Ash just sighed when he did answer, waving one of her back arms at him before clicking her fingers. "Kid, just lie down. You'll be fine."
After some more hesitation, he did as she asked. Ash moved to his side. With more speed than he expected, her hands shifted. A monitor at his side began displaying an empty human body, and a wire was handed to him from her bottom right arm. A mini-neurolink. "Here, jack-in."
David glanced at the link suspiciously. "Why?"
"Because I want to hack your brain." She laughed at the look he gave her. "Kidding you dummy." A playful finger poked his nose as he sourly glowered at her. "This is the first time I'm operating on you. Need to know what else you have so none of the tech interferes. Even if you've only got the basics, better safe than sorry."
Then she chuckled.
"Besides, I know teenagers. Don't wanna risk you running some virus-spliced porno braindance."
"I don't watch those!"
"Suuuuuure kiddo." One set of her arms folded, and she cocked her head with a grin.
Were all ripperdocs weirdos?
David plugged in the neurolink into the port in his neck. As it ran, Ash brought the monitor into his vision.
"Okay. Standard monowire, the kind most people cut themselves with before they either trade it out or 'git gud'. Later you can upgrade it if you want, throw in those electric or fire type things, but these are good training wheels."
"What's the range on them?" David asked curiously.
"Ten meters for the regular version. It's why people like them. Hard to kill someone when he has you wrapped in monowire from that far away."
"Ten meters…" David thought about that carefully, humming. "Can you uh… swing on the monowire? Like, if I wanted to use it to swing through the city?"
"Swing?" Ash blinked, then narrowed her eyes at him. "Not… really? Not on its own. The human body needs a lot more support to be able to do something like that. You'd need either a rig across your body from your wrists, up your arms, all the way down to your hip, or way more extensive chrome."
She shook her head.
"Plus, you run the risk of your monowires either slicing or pulling down anything you tried to grab onto. You won't know what anchor points are safe and which ones are dogshit." Ash let out a sigh. "If we're getting technical though, yeah, this stuff can def hold your weight. Just everything else is the issue."
David didn't have to worry about the first part thanks to his spider-powers making his body pretty tough now, but the latter…
"Is there monowire that is, I don't know, less cutty and more sticky?" Man, even he felt like a gonk asking that.
"Oh, I see," Ash grinned. "Didn't take you for a Spidey fan."
He kind of wasn't. The net had said she was though. When he shrugged in response, Ash chuckled.
"Okay kid. Take a look," she held out a box. Inside, a pair of devices rested. They were black, and shaped with a slot for the wire to to come out of and two indicators for a charge. There were some softer looking black pieces shaped to fit into a hand. "I'll need to replace most of your arms. So say goodbye to your fingertips, okay?
David swallowed. "Uh… okay."
"Tell you what. We can talk about it when you wake up."
"Wake up?"
"Yep," Ash raised a needle. "You ready?"
It felt like things were going too fast honestly. But David swallowed, nodding. Ash smiled just a bit. "Don't worry. I'm a licensed physician. Probably unlike whatever hack you've seen who ain't using anesthesia."
She pressed the needle to his neck. He winced, waiting for the pain. There was a bit. She frowned, pressing just a bit more.
"Huh. You got subdermals my tech didn't find? Your skin's pretty tough."
There was a piercing pain, a pinch really, and she grunted.
"No, I don't have anything like that," he answered honestly, though he was surprised. He didn't know his skin was tougher as well.
Ash looked him in the eyes, frowning. "Gotta say David. Didn't expect you to be keeping big secrets."
He slowly passed out. As he felt the drugs flood his body, he wondered, for a moment, how she knew his name. Had he mentioned it? Oh right. The neurolink.
He passed out in that room full of cute animals and old toys, a blonde doctor with four arms leaning over to start working on him.
He woke up a bit later to Ash staring down at him. "What happened to you!?"
"Uh…" David groaned, slowly lifting his head groggily. "What?"
"Better yet, what the fuck are you?!" Ash said with an intense and scarily happy grin on her face as she was all up in his. "Like, are you an escaped biotech prototype or something from one of the Corps?! Tell me everything?!"
He should have expected this.
"I just have some bioware-"
"This isn't just bioware. I had to dose you enough to put down an elephant to keep you under. Your muscle fibers, bones, even your blood- I just-!" She raised her hands up, all four, and couldn't seem to contain her excitement. "You are fully modified, down to the genetic level. With spider DNA. You're a Spider-Man!"
David should have damn well expected this, but how could he have?! Ripperdocs weren't supposed to be able to study your genetics! He thought they were all surgeons! David swallowed in the face of the enthusiastic blonde and tried to figure out where he would go from here. Hopefully he was right to come to her, even if this conversation was going differently than he thought.
Here it goes.
"Well… My name is David Martinez. And a couple of days ago, I was bit by a spider…"
Chapter 5
He told her a bit. Not everything. He had hoped, initially, that when he went to a ripperdoc she would think he was an exotic or enthusiastic fan of old comics. Instead, he found the one ripperdoc who knew about genetics. And science. And a whole bunch of other things.
"See!" Ash turned the monitor for him to look at, revealing blood cells. "Average human cells. Average human DNA. Average person. Then I show you, and-"
Not exactly a night and day difference, but he understood. He was different. Very different.
"God, I wish you'd told me before I operated," Ash said, sounding almost horrified. "I've worked on people with bioware before, but never someone like you. I had to go minimal on your monowire just to make sure your abilities didn't get compromised."
"Minimal?" David glanced at his wrists. A pair of black raised sections lay there, the wire slots exposed. They felt… weird. He didn't feel the weight of them, but they also didn't feel like they belonged.
That was it though. No ceramic on the palms or fingertips.
"The second you attached to the chair, I knew something was weird," Ash continued. "You also kept dodging my knife while you were out. Had to double the dosage to keep you from just bouncing off the chair. So when I looked into it, well, I knew I couldn't risk compromising your wallcrawling. Which, by the way? WALLCRAWLING!?"
David sighed. "I just need to-"
He dodged a random pencil thrown when he wasn't looking. As his spider-sense calmed, he eyed Ash, who looked more excited. "How omni-directional is your spider-sense, exactly? What sorts of tests have you conducted?
"Tests? I had these powers for, like, just a few days. I've been more focused on paying my rent than them," David explained. "All I know is that when I'm in trouble, they tell me. I don't always get how, but I've learned to dodge when it does."
Ash hummed, shaking her head. "It's too coincidental. You getting bit by a spider, then getting exactly those powers. Venom doesn't affect DNA outside of comics either. Some kind of virus maybe? Targeted to change the human-"
"Does it matter?" David asked, cutting off Ash's musing. She scoffed.
"You aren't the least bit curious!? This kind of thing doesn't just happen! That spider had to be some kind of experiment. Maybe something made by Biotechnica? They usually have some weird-"
"Are you going to tell anyone about this?" David asked.
She stopped, eyeing him thoughtfully. "Of course not. You'd be pulled into a lab and ripped apart in a weekend if I did."
Wasn't that the truth. David sighed, rubbing his head. "Yeah. I'm in trouble."
"Ehhhh," she raised both her right arms and brought her thumbs and index fingers close to each other. "Just a little bit. This is Night City. Escaped experiments are a dime a dozen." Lowering her hands, the blonde leaned on her desk. "So… You've got all these powers. What's next?"
"You want me to say 'with great power comes great responsibility?'" David asked sarcastically.
"What if I do?"
"Fuck that," David grumbled. "I don't owe the world anything. All I want to do is stay alive."
"...Well that's boring," Ash mumbled. "You don't have a dream or anything? Something to reach for? You can't be human by just wanting to be alive."
For a moment, he was on the moon again. A flash of pink and a soft smile again. David pushed the image out of his head. "Last time I talked about this, someone tried to hit me."
"What, you have a really gross dream?" She said teasingly.
He snorted. "No. This girl pretended to share her dream with me to trap me."
"Ah. Was she pretty?"
David blushed. Ash grinned. "Ahhh. The weakness of the Spider-Man. A mildly attractive woman."
"Mildly?" David thought about Lucy, then blushed again, getting a giggle out of Ash. He focused.
"But come on, no one you love and care about? People you want to make happy and safe?" Ash asked curiously.
David winced and turned away.
"No. I just don't have anything like that. My mom just died and my dad is… fuck if I know."
"Shit I'm sorry kid… so wait, am I the first person you told about all this?"
David nodded. Ash continued. "Well, what do you think your mom would have wanted?"
"For me to graduate from Arasaka Academy and become a corpo at the top of that ugly ass tower," he scoffed. "Never what I wanted though. Mom killed herself working to keep me there."
He stared at the new implants in his hands. Testing a bit, he flicked out his wrist. When nothing happened, Ash spoke up. "Tense the muscles of your forearm while picturing the wire coming out. Be careful not to power it on until you want to cut through something."
David hesitantly did so. The sensation of wire spooling out of his left wrist to land in his right palm was just weird. Plus, monowire felt thicker than he expected. Lucy's wire had been the same, but he hadn't noticed in the heat of the moment that it was more like a cable.
Ash hummed to herself as she watched him stretch the wire between his hands, running his fingers gently along it. "It sounds more like she wanted you to be successful and happy. Say what you will, those fatcats do live the high life. Hard not to envy the gonks in their ivory towers and all."
"I don't want to be like them though," Katsuo was such a prick, but almost everyone was. There was one girl with Tiger Claw colors, Hiromi something, who was chill, but he never talked to her. The rest of class was elitist as fuck. "Assholes."
"Or they're just idiot teenagers," when David grumbled, Ash shook her head. "No group is a monolith. And teens are assholes no matter who or where they are. But that's neither here nor there.
"Your mom wanted you to have the best and she figured that was being a corpo. You don't know what you want, just that it isn't that."
"Shouldn't you be telling me to be a superhero?" David asked sarcastically.
Ash shook her head. "I wish I could. I can talk about doing the right thing with these powers, but nails that poke out in this city have a habit of getting hammered down… If you go out there and start saving people, you'll end up pissing off someone. A gang, a corp, a random edgerunner. And someday, your ticket gets punched."
"..." David laid back, still playing with the wire in his hands. Ash sighed.
"Look, I'm not some kind of superhero therapist. I'm a doctor. I can't help you decide the course of your life. Hell, even you can't! Life is a journey. All you can do is make the best decisions you can."
"...Maybe I should just be an edgerunner."
"Ew."
When David looked at her, surprised, Ash coughed. "Sorry. Just… Edgerunning is just burning yourself out to make quick eddies and dying in the middle of a pile of bodies trying to become a 'legend'. Been there, done that."
"No way, Edgerunners are so cool!" David protested.
Ash scowled. "David, nowadays, all Edgerunners want is that blaze of glory. To make it big on their big dreams. They're always asking themselves 'Live in peace as Mr. Nobody, die ripe, old and smelling slightly of urine? Or go down for all times in a blaze of glory, smelling near like posies, without seeing your thirtieth'? Live fast, die young, maybe get a drink named after you at what passes for Afterlife these days. That's not cool. It's suicide with extra steps and a whole lot more embarassment."
"So," David scowled. "You just said I shouldn't become a superhero because I'd end up dead, doesn't that mean heroes are the same as edgerunners?"
"Hahahaha. Ohhhh, no no no." Ash let out a long sigh, arms flicking around.. "You know what heroes change? Lives. On the personal, real level. They make people remember someone is looking out for the little guy. That when the rest of the world wants to step on them, there's at least one guy who thinks they're worth saving. Not many heroes are still around nowadays. And a lot of the guys who thought they were heroes really didn't match up."
"Yeah? Well maybe that's why that shit is in comic books," David spat, hopping up to his feet. "Can't make a living in Night City saving people. Thanks for the chrome."
David began walking out, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"...Your mask is shitty."
He stopped, spinning around. Ash had that pink flower mask he'd stolen on one of her fingers, spinning it briefly. "Yeah, well, it was the best I could find, all right?"
She stopped. Then she sighed, getting up. "I'm gonna regret this. Hold on."
Walking into the back, she came out with a… helmet? "I was tinkering with a few of these. Stole some Scav tech and I was bored, so I decided to do something useful with it."
"Scav tech?" David asked as Ash sat at her desk, placing the helmet down. She nodded, opening it up to reveal the circuitry within. Her hands opened up to reveal a series of precise instruments hidden inside the fingers. All four hands moved quickly, some sparks flashing as she worked, the helmet making some small noises.
"Those gonk masks they use. I had a bunch from some of their raids. Took them apart, mixed them with my own stuff," she pressed something. Nodding to herself, she turned around, lifting the helmet up. It was yellow around the back and along the sides. The front, however, was an all black screen that flickered to life into a display. All black except for two blue shining eyes. Spider-Man eyes.
"You had this laying around?" David asked, stunned.
"It was gonna be for a Sailor Moon thing. Had to change the display for ya." She handed it over to him. "David… Whatever you choose to do, just remember that you don't need to follow the path I, your mom, or some comic book or hot girl tells you to. Just keep your options open. And when you do decide what you want? Set your feet and stand by it."
She also handed him a bag. "What's this?" He asked.
"Your meds. Take two puffs from the inhaler in five minutes, then two every two hours till the day is over. Also I threw in a pair of gloves to keep the wire from cutting your palms along with a manual for the wire. Yours is the longest basic model I've got, keep in mind. And it might work with wall crawling? I'm going based on what I found from a short analysis and Van der Walls forces interaction theory."
Ash shrugged four shoulders. "Just try it out. Call me if you need any changes."
He took the helmet carefully in his hands. Then, glancing up at her, he turned around. The door to her clinic opened up. Just before leaving, he hesitated. "Uh… Thanks Doc."
"Sure… just remember to pay me back for the helmet." She smirked at the look he gave her. "No protag discounts, remember?"
Shaking his head, he walked out, mind still racing, never seeing the contemplative look on Ash's face.
He put the helmet on. It was comfortable actually, fit his head fairly well. Probably was gonna mess with his hair unless Ash had somehow planned for that, but for now it was fine. The faceplate was wide enough to let him see everything around him, and the display didn't obscure his vision thanks to the tech Scavs used.
The gloves were strange. They were made of the same flesh colored flexible metal used for cyberarms, sized just big enough for him, but fingerless. Had she just emptied out the monowire arms and turned them to gloves? Or something more detailed?
Helmet and gloves secured, David found a private place to work in. A near impossibility in Night City. But he had the advantage of wall crawling.
Making his way to the top of a building in Kabuki by crawling along it was faster than he expected. He'd been worried about slipping, but he'd enjoyed it weirdly enough?
Although, why did the wall crawling work through his shoes? It was harder than with his hands, but he could still grip with his feet too.
The roof was wide, with a platform on top leading to a signal tower. The building was probably an apartment or something? He hadn't checked beyond some lady rolling her eyes at him when she saw him crawling outside her window.
He had so many questions. He needed answers, and the best way to get them was to test himself.
So on the roof, he started by jumping. Just straight up in the air, nothing fancy. He held in the urge to scream when he ended up thirty feet in the air, falling down towards the ground. He was worried about landing, but did so easily. Next, he grabbed onto the railing of the platform and began twisting it.
He had a knot after a couple seconds. The metal had to be steal, thicker than his wrist.
"That's preem. And terrifying." He tossed the metal aside, then focused on the main reason he'd climbed up.
The monowire came out easily enough from his right wrist. Made sense, it was fresh tech. Experimentally, David twirled it around himself, then snapped it out to wrap around the metal knot on the ground. He pulled, hard, sending the metal knot into the air, then snapping out another wire from his left wrist, slicing it through the air. It smacked into the metal knot, sending it up higher before he jumped into the air, grabbing the knot again and tossing it towards the building, where it clattered to the ground.
David landed again, the monowires sliding into his wrist. "Okay. That was preem!"
Grinning, he sat down to open the bag Ash had given him. Taking two puffs from the inhaler, he looked for the shard holding the manual, pulling it out of its case and slotting it in.
"Welcome to Ash's makeshift guide to using Monowire for web-slinging," Ash's voice echoed in his mind. "Which, of course, isn't something people haven't done before. Back in the old days, posergangs were the law of the land, and there were a few who were klepping moves from superheroes like Spidey. They had a pretty standard set for that, and I copied an updated version using what I had on hand.
"So your monowire is about a third longer than normal and is laced into your musculoskeletal structure to make sure you can still do the web-slinging without pulling the wrong thing. You'll need some practice, but for all I know you're a natural. So here's some simple moves to try! Just make sure you're on the ground to test them out. Can't be testing these from the top of a building."
David looked around. Then he sighed and walked over to the edge of the building. "Damnit."
Hopping over the edge, David started climbing down headfirst. He felt like he might look ridiculous, but it felt right. As he went down hand by foot, Ash continued. "Now, press the right trigger butto- Wait, no, that's something else. Hold on. Okay, you need to remember to make sure every anchor point the monowire attaches to is strong enough to hold you. If I did it right, the wire will attach at any point on command, based on the principles of-"
Ash's voice continued, but David was distracted by something else. He was approaching the street below. A car coming down the street fast made his spidey-sense buzz for some reason.
He considered it while he continued, almost reaching the street. No one had noticed him yet. A woman and man were eating together at a takoyaki stand, ten or so other people were walking past. A group of Tyger Claws were hanging out near their bikes. All in all, a peaceful day in Kabuki.
But he kept staring at the approaching car. It had a number on top of it in yellow, shaped in blocky military font. A number 6?
What the hell were 6th Street doing in Kabuki-
Gun. David saw it instantly. A large handgun, poking out of the window. The others in the car were pulling out guns too. As they approached, the Tyger Claws saw them. Started pulling out weapons. No one else was paying attention as the car came closer.
Fifteen people.
David didn't hesitate. He should have. He'd thought about this, about how stupid it was, the logical reasons not to. Just focus on himself.
He jumped in the direction of the people at the takoyaki stand, the man and woman. Both were unmoving, not noticing the drive-by about to happen. He got closer to them, arms and legs at his sides, diving towards the ground. At the last second, he raised one hand and swung it downward. Almost on instinct, the monowire shot out and wrapped around a pipe going along that wall as he fell.
The line snapped taut. All his downward momentum turned into an arc. David held in an internal need to scream, instead holding out his arm.
No time to think. The 6th Street guys were about to start shooting. David slammed into the man and woman at the takoyaki stand, his spider-sense exploding.
"What the fuck-!" the woman shouted.
Then the bullets started flying.
"BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!"
He'd forgotten how loud gunshots were. They were all-encompassing, blasting his ears. The takoyaki stand exploded where the man and woman had been, David swinging with them both attached to his arm. His spider-sense screamed and David released his monowire as the pipe he'd attached to was about to fall from the added weight. The cable getting sucked back into his wrist barely registered in his mind.
At the same time, he flipped through the air while clutching the man and woman close, bringing them along as he dodged the stray bullets flying around them.
David landed in a slide, trying to lower the pair at the same time. He tripped, dropping them and sending the woman flying into a pillar.
"CRACK!"
"AHHH!" she let out scream of agony as her arm shattered, blood spurting. David wanted to throw up at the sight.
Instead he turned and jumped back into the fight. The Tyger Claws and 6th Street were still going at each other, trying to flatline each other while ignoring the innocent people around them. 4 6th Street, 3 Tyger Claws.
David, for a heartstopping moment, was torn. Save the people, or stop the gangsters?
The monowire wrapped around an assault rifle, ripping it from the hands of a 6th Street gonk. As it flew through the air, David was rushing forward, fist flying into the face of a Tyger Claw, sending him flying through the air with a broken jaw.
He made his choice.
"What the fuck!" A 6th Street with chromed legs shouted while aiming his shotgun at David. David twirled through the air before he fired, slipping through the pellets. His monowire lashed out, wrapping around the man's arm.
And slicing through it.
"GAAAAAAAAH!" the man screeched in horror as blood splattered the ground.
Fuck! That hadn't been on purpose! For a crazy moment, David wanted to apologize. Instead.
"Man, some jobs really do cost you an arm and a leg, huh?" David snapped, while jumping upwards. More bullets flew.
He sent out the monowires from both wrists, wrapping them around a street light and chair. With a small tug, he was pulled out of the way of the bullets, his legs going behind his head to dodge a revolver shot.
"Get that 弱虫!" A Tyger Claw yelled, his friend pulling out a katana. She sprinted to meet him.
As David landed, the Tyger Claw woman suddenly sped up. David had half a moment to register that before she was suddenly running at super-speed, her katana held high. He barely dodged the first slash, his senses screaming. The next one grazed his side, then he was nearly impaled by her before he instinctively caught the katana in his hand, palm wrapped around the back of it.
With a squeeze, the katana shattered in his grasp, leaving the woman to gape at him in shock. She threw a punch too fast for him to block. It didn't even register. She was quick, but nowhere near as strong as Rhino.
Then all the wind seemed to be taken out of her sails. She dropped to normal speeds.
Bullets riddled her immediately. She fell as David leaped up, horrified at the sudden death.
The 6th Street and Tyger Claws were still fighting each other. Still. People were hiding behind buildings, some screaming in horror, but the fucking pricks didn't care!
Red filled David's mind. They didn't care. Fine. Then he'd have to finish this.
David's monowires lashed out. More bullets flew, but he was swinging in, arms and legs shifting in nonsensical ways that brought him out of the way of them. He landed in front of a 6th Street and punched him hard enough to send him flying into their car, the vehicle folding around the chromed up gangster. His foot lashed out, shattering a pistol and hand.
A Tyger Claw tried to shoot him. This time, when David dodged, the bullets followed. Smart weapon!?
David dodged again, but only barely, his leg getting sliced open across the meat of his thigh by the bullet he couldn't quite dodge. He lashed out with the monowire. While the wire was out of energy, it still had enough momentum to smash the submachine gun out of the Tyger Claw. Another wire wrapped around the Claw's waist and pulled him in for a clothesline.
The last Tyger Claw tried to run, only for one of the remaining 6th Street to aim his assault rifle at her. David hit that guy in the side of the head with a punch, dropping him instantly, then grabbed the Tyger Claw by the ankle with his wire and pulled, hard, tossing her into the last 6th Street soldier aiming a pistol at David. The gun went off, sparking against the pavement.
David finished that guy with a boot to the head, then looked around, panting.
Seven down. Sort of. One of them, the guy David had cut the arm off of, was still up, moaning in pain.
"Why!?" David picked the guy up and slammed him into the car's hood, screaming in his face. Through his face plate, he could tell the guy was young, only a few years older than David.
"I-I-"
"WHY!?" David slammed a fist into the hood of the car. The hood folded inwards, his fist smashed through the engine, and the sound of metal shattering filled the air. The 6th Street guy screamed.
"B-Because we lost the bet!"
"...What?" David asked, unsure he'd heard correctly. The man blubbered.
"W-We bet on the Corsairs to win, and those claws bet on them to lose, so we owed them. And we figured-"
David wasn't sure when he'd done it, but suddenly the 6th Street was knocked out on the floor with a broken jaw. David panted, looking around.
The woman with the broken arm was being looked at by the man, the pair talking in hushed whispers. The other people remaining, only about four out of the fifteen who'd been there, were staring at him.
"You guys okay?" David asked.
"Y-Yeah!" a middle-aged Asian woman called out, sounding shocked. "Who… Who are you?"
Oh shit. No way he could say the truth. So instead, what came out sounded ridiculous.
"Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!"
The woman stared at him.
"... Oh god," he whispered. That was just so embarrassing!
Seeing no other option, David awkwardly waved and leapt into the air. The monowire slipped out and wrapped around a street light, letting him swing away.
He released, his other hand snapping out. Don't overthink it. Just do it.
The monowire wrapped around a fire escape. He didn't have anything to wrap the wire around for the next swing, so instead he landed on the side of building and ran, hand snapping out the second he had another spot to grab.
Ash was still talking. He hadn't even paid any attention. "-best of luck, Davey. Yer gonna need it."