Chapter 6
No one had talked about what he did on the net or news. David wasn't sure how he felt about that.
In truth, gang fights were a dime a dozen in Night City. A day where less than fifty people died was a good one. But still, he thought someone would say something.
At least he'd won. That was the first fight where someone had actually tried to kill him. He'd been shaking a bit afterwards for no reason. He tried to ignore it.
'Next time, I'll be more careful. Broke that ladies arm. I'm still not sure how I feel about zeroing someone someday, but I'd like to keep anyone I try to help from ending up at a hospital.'
Also, why was he doing inner monologues? Was that another spider power? No, wait, that sounded dumb.
When Maine called him, he was upside-down sitting on the ceiling in his apartment playing with his new monowire. He'd been flicking it around, grabbing random objects, and slicing through random cans and bottles, trying to get a feel for how to control the things. It felt almost natural, using them.
"Kid," Maine said. "You're up."
An address was sent through.
"Got it," David dropped down, twisting to land on his feet and reeling the monowires back into his wrists. He hummed to himself while picking up his new helmet. The meet up wasn't far. He could webswing there… Maybe he'd wait until he was further away from the apartment first?
David exited his apartment and dropped down towards the bottom floor. On instinct he flipped midway and tapped his fingers against a wall to push off, landing in roll and hopping up to jog.
The place was in a warehouse in a shipping yard, with dozens of red containers around the place. A garage door was open just enough for him to look inside.
"Hey!" Across the garage, Maine waved towards him. "Over here, kid."
David slipped under the door, heading over. Inside that small room was Maine with the muscular woman and long armed man who had been with him. Another woman was with them, a slim and tall one in a pink overcoat with a brighter pink mask over the lower half of her face, her chrome feline shaped eyes a unique purple in the pupils and yellow in the sclera.
"Morning, sunshine. You ready?" Maine asked confidently.
The woman spoke, sounded amused. "Data wasn't lying. He is a kid. Big one, but still. Can he keep up?"
David sat down on the chair before them, feeling more confident than the last time he'd seen the bunch.
"Guess we'll see," Maine said in response to the woman.
The long armed guy spoke up, his head leaning down towards the woman. "Now, now, I know he's a sweet little thing, but keep those grubby mitts to yourself."
"Ugh, why do we even put up with you?"
Maine ignored that little byplay to continue speaking. "This one here is Kiwi. Dorio and Pilar, you've already met."
"Got it. My name is David-"
A fist flew towards him. David caught it in the air, stopping Maine from giving him a casual smack. They met eyes over Maine's glasses before he chuckled, pulling back his arm. "Heh. You really are fast, kid."
"Mhm," Kiwi hummed in agreement.
"Anyways. Let's get right down to biz."
Down to biz. Just like that, after trying to punch him? Edgerunners were a different breed. Maine took something out and placed it on the table.
"Slot the shard."
David eyed the shard before placing it in his neck. Hopefully his spider-sense not buzzing as he slotted it in was a good thing, proved that this wasn't a trick? He wasn't sure how much the spider-sense really understood about what was and wasn't dangerous.
The breakdown didn't take too long. An Arasaka bodyguard and driver named Maxim had a car, they wanted to swipe the navigational data on it.
"Just the data? Not the car?"
"We klep the car and Arasaka ninjas will be on us like flies on shit."
Yeah. Arasaka was like that.
Apparently they would rig a fight he regularly bet on so Maxim would lose big. Then they'd go to the bar he tended to drink his sorrows away at, steal his key, pass it to Dorio to copy, slip it back into his neck, grab the data, and that was that.
Simple.
Just steal a shard. Not even something crazy illegal.
For some reason, David felt a bit guilty. It was dumb. It was just an Arasaka goon, stealing some data. But he'd saved people just a day ago. Wasn't he supposed to be a superhero now?
…Fuck it. Stealing navigational data from one corpo's car was barely worth talking about.
Still. He'd bring his new mask along. Never knew when he would need it.
It went smoothly. In a hole in the wall bar, David walked behind the already heavily drinking blonde man marked as his target. His helmet was hooked onto his waist, hidden under his mom's jacket, but he didn't need to wear it for this.
He tapped a finger gently against the shard in his neck as it popped out, easily palming it without Maxim reacting. Then he handed it off to Dorio at the other end of the bar, leaning there for a moment.
Just wait for a bit. The data would get copied. David waited behind Dorio, trying not to feel impatient.
Then something happened.
"Hold on. His master's calling," Kiwi cut in over the line.
David stiffened, glancing around Dorio as the rest of the crew kept talking. Maxim looked annoyed but unsurprised as he began to rise to his feet. His boss needed him now of all times?
"Fuck, change of plans, kid!" Maine snapped over the line. "Key to the car, grab it. Becca, trip him up."
Who the hell was Becca?
David moved fast, ripping the key from Dorio and running out the door while a short Mox-looking girl spilled drink on the bodyguard, then did… something to Maxim to keep him still. He ended up outside with Lucy, the pair of them standing before one of the fancy Villeforts cars execs always rolled around in.
"Get in," David snapped at Lucy.
"You staying out?" Lucy asked.
"Someone needs to keep a lookout, and I'm no netrunner anyways. Go." David ignored anything else Lucy said, instead jumping to land on the side of the building, wallcrawling so that he was just above the door. After some hesitation, Lucy entered the car.
Things were tense, waiting there. Maine spoke up suddenly.
"And what exactly is your plan?" Maine asked David.
"If he comes out, I'll knock him out."
"That simple? You realize he's chromed up?"
"Is he an Animal fighter?"
"Not a chance," Dorio answered, rather than Maine.
"Then I got this."
"Doesn't lack for confidence," Kiwi responded.
"Shut up, I'm trying to focus," Lucy said. "Arasaka security is so annoying!"
David didn't respond, simply waiting. His spider-sense began to ring at the same time that Kiwi spoke. He unraveled his wires, running them through his fingers.
"We're blown. Target coming in hot."
He crouched. "Just keep him from calling for help."
Maxim came out running. Right into David's web of monowire. He dropped the wires onto Maxim, wrapping them around his neck, arms, and legs.
"What the-UKK!" Maxim barely got out two words before he was choking on wires. David pulled him up, bringing the struggling man up. David's elbow crashed directly into the top of the man's head, knocking him out immediately.
"Damn!" Maine crowed. "Nice hit, kid!"
David tried not to enjoy the praise too much. He dropped down with Maxim and pulled him into the bar, bringing him to a stool while Dorio and the Mox girl (Becca probably?) watched him. David quickly grabbed Dorio's drink and poured it over the unconscious man.
"You really think that will work?" Dorio asked.
"Better than nothing," David said. "Lucy?"
"I'm in now. Just give me a sec. Kiwi?"
"He didn't get a chance to call anyone, but we should delta anyways. His boss is gonna call him again when his bodyguard doesn't show up."
"That's more than enough time for us," Maine said smugly. "Becca, Dorio, get going. Kid, wait for Luce to finish, then the two of you meet up with us."
"Got it," David said. After a thought, he took Maxim's head and rested it in a pool of alcohol. Dorio chuckled at the sight, leaving with the short Mox girl, who gave David a smirk.
A few minutes later, Lucy stepped out of the fancy car as David joined her. The two shared a look. Then both looked away. He still wasn't sure how to feel about her.
"Come on," Lucy said, walking away. "I'll take you to the meetup. We'll take the metro."
"You get everything you need?" David asked casually.
"Nav data's all here," Lucy tapped the side of her head. "I'll send it in a bit."
"Preem," David sighed. "Things always go bad like that?"
"Coulda been a lot worse, believe me."
David shrugged that off. The two of them walked for a bit longer. As they walked, David contemplated the job. That had been short. A bit panicky towards the end, but he'd expected a lot more from it.
He took his helmet out from where it had been hooked at his waist and looked down at it as they walked along.
"What's that?" Lucy asked him. He glanced at her, then put it away quickly.
"It's nothing."
"But you keep it around anyways?"
David scowled at her, then walked faster. She followed quietly. What the hell was with this chick?
They walked for a bit longer, almost reaching the metro, when gunshots rang out in the distance. David stopped, turning towards them. Lucy kept walking. "Come on."
"But-"
She turned to look at him, then towards the sound of gunshots. Lucy looked him over. "What?"
"People might need help."
"Or they might be gangers fighting it out or something just as stupid. Not our business anyways. Come on-"
David turned and started running. He slipped his helmet on, jumping into the air and lashing monowire around a light pole, swinging into the air. Behind him, he heard shouting. Moments later, a call came in on his agent.
"David, what the hell are you doing?!" Lucy snapped.
"I'm checking it out."
"Why? There's no reason to get involved!"
He didn't answer. Just swung faster.
"Fucking gonk!"
The gunshots quieted as he approached Vista del Rey. David swung up onto a building overlooking the spot where the gunshots had come from. An arcade? Someplace called 'Brain Wash'. Inside, David could see a set of old school video game cabinets, the title 'Roach Race' shining from a couple of them.
A set of shops lined the small alleyway. Well, 'shops'. They were more like shacks with some stuff hanging inside of them. But people were still there.
People who were cowering in fear as 6th Street gangers roamed around an arcade. One woman was dead in front of the door, blood pooling around her. David stared at her. Her hair was brown. Blood had soaked it already, giving it a red color. Just like-
There were four 6th Street gonks inside, a male one at the counter with a link plugged into the computer there, a woman with a cowboy hat roaming the area, and two more in the back pointing guns at three civilians. Two kids younger than David, and an older woman with a Roach Race shirt on.
David wrapped a monowire on a pipe running along the roof, dragging himself upwards before anyone could catch him. The woman in the cowboy hat looked in his direction just as he left her line of sight.
Crawling along the ceiling, David thought quietly. Civilians first. Which meant the two gonks in the back had to get taken out before anything else. One was taller and had a cap, the other a bandana, both carrying revolvers. He just had to deal with them without getting noticed and the people killed, and he had to work fast.
Moving quickly, David dropped down from the ceiling and landed on top of the taller of the two men, kicking out with both feet into the man's shoulders. The sound of bone cracking was followed by the man screaming as he fell under David, his cap flying off. David kept moving, his spider-sense screaming and guiding him.
David's fist lashed out and shattered the jaw of the other man, the one with the bandana. The man ignored his flopping cybernetic jaw to lift a giant revolver to point it at David. David dodged the bullet, leaped onto an arcade cabinet behind him to dodge the next, then leaped forward with a kick that smashed into the bandana wearing thug's chest, sending him flying back to smash into the door behind him, then the toilet behind that.
David's spider-sense screamed. He barely ducked just when the sound of a shotgun exploded behind him, pellets barely sliding past him. The woman in the cowboy hat was suddenly moving at super-speed, shifting to get her shotgun pressed to David's head. His spider-sense screamed again. In the split second while she was about to press the trigger, David was moving to dodge.
Cowboy hat adjusted her aim to match, but even with whatever speedware she had it didn't quite catch up. The shotgun fired, pellets sliding just under David arm, one cutting through his shirt, the rest hitting the cement floor. David punched outwards with all his strength. His fist hit something hard in her sternum that cracked and bent. She coughed up blood, falling to her knees, before David more gently punched her in the face, knocking her out.
"Fuck!'' The last one, the guy who had been hacking the register, raised an assault rifle. The people behind David screamed. David pulled out his monowires.
Orange wires wrapped around the arms last 6th Street. Before the man could pull the trigger, the wires slashed through his forearms, turning them into chunks of flesh, blood, and small bits of metal, the scent of it mixing with burnt flesh as the monowire did its job.
"GAAAAAAH!" The disarmed (in every sense of the word) 6th Street man screamed, falling to his knees as his gun clattered to the ground.
David glanced at his own unused monowire trailing from his wrists, then up at the door. The sunlight shone behind a familiar figure as the monowires she'd used were reeled back into her wrists. She strode inside, barely glancing at the armless man who was going into shock in favor of glaring at David.
"You gonk," Lucy said, sighing at the end of those words. "You really are the type to jump into fires, aren't you?"
"It's the best way to stay warm the rest of your life," David said, the words coming from some vid he'd seen a while back.
Lucy barely flickered a smile, but it was enough. David turned, kneeling to look over the older woman and kids he'd saved. "You guys all right?"
"We're fine," the older woman grumbled. "For people that almost got shot for playing video games. Fucking-"
"Dude, that was sick!" one of the kids said. "Are you guys in another gang?"
"Nah man, they're Edgerunners!" the other kid shouted in excitement. "Like in the vids!"
"Ah, no," David didn't feel comfortable with that name, for a number of reasons. "She's the Edgerunner. I'm just, uh… Spider-Man."
Lucy glanced at him. The kids looked confused. And the older woman blinked before speaking. "Like the old comics?"
David nodded, getting up. "Anyways, we better delta. Call the cops, stay in school, avoid drugs." Oh god, he was repeating the warnings in the ads from those comics now. "Come on!"
He grabbed Lucy by the hand and quickly ran out, leaving the older woman and kids behind with the three knocked out and one slowly bleeding to death 6th Street gangers.
"Spider-Man?" Lucy asked as they stepped onto the metro. It was quiet. David really wished it wasn't.
"It's my codename," David said evenly.
"It's kinda… I don't know, what's the opposite of nova?"
"Shut up," David scowled at her, his mask once again hooked to his waist.
Lucy stared at him. "Seriously, why did you run into that? I guess it wasn't for the NCPD scanner hustle."
"The what?"
"And now I know it wasn't," Lucy shook her head. "NCPD likes to pay for people to help them when the bullets start flying, AKA do their jobs for them. Just a few eddies. Too cheap for groups to split the pay, too risky for solos to do it."
Except for him maybe? As David ran the idea through his head, Lucy continued. "You could have died, David. For nothing."
"Those three probably didn't think so," David said.
Lucy scoffed. "So what? Whole lot of other people die everyday, and this is Night City. 6th Street will show up at that place again in a week, maybe flatline them the next time."
"So then I gave them a week," David leaned his head back, resting it against the window. "I'd give anything for a week with-"
He cut himself off. Lucy sat down next to him. He felt her eyes on him for a long moment, the metro rumbling around them as it rode above the city streets.
"Will it help?" Lucy asked at last. "Jumping into danger to help? Knowing it might end at any moment?"
"...It matters to them, Lucy. To me too. If I can give them just one more day. A day I'd give anything to have with my mom. Then yeah, it's worth it."
They didn't say anything else, but he felt Lucy lean away from him.
Chapter 7
As it turned out, the place that Maine's crew met up at was a diner, a little greasy intravenous needle called Turbo's. Well, Maine's crew and about twenty other people. They gathered in the parking lot, cars worth more than David's apartment, people from different walks of life. David wasn't sure how many of them were also Edgerunners, but they seemed comfortable there, watching Pilar do some kind of trick with plates and bottles.
David and Lucy walked up to speak with Maine rather than watch that. Maine gave them a smirk. "Took yer time getting here. Really need to get yerself a car, Luce."
"I'll think about it," Lucy said. "Sides, that wasn't why we were late."
"Oh? What happened?"
"This gonk," Lucy sighed, jerking a thumb at David. "Decided to be a hero."
"A hero?" Maine asked curiously.
"Some 6th Street scopsuckers were shooting people in an arcade. I stopped them," David said.
Maine cocked an eyebrow. "Mighty altruistic of ya, I guess. If you're gonna keep doing that though, you should make sure you're getting paid for it."
"You can get paid for that?" David asked, genuinely surprised.
"Gahahaha!" Maine let out a deep belly laugh. "Of course you can! Nothing in Night City is free! Even jacking off costs extra!"
While David looked befuddled at Maine, Lucy sighed. The large man calmed down, wiping a fake tear from his cheek and grinning. "Never do anything worth doing for free, kid. And always pay fairly when someone works with you. For example…"
His eyes flashed gold. A moment later, money entered David's account. He blinked at the amount. Over 20000 eddies?
"Holy shit," David mumbled.
"Everyone gets a fair cut. Only way I operate." Maine smirked, then nodded at the ports on David's arms. "Got yourself monowires, huh?"
"Uh, yeah," David said, briefly looking at them.
"Hn. Never went for the frou-frou stuff like that myself. Always preferred what I know works."
"Didn't your launcher jam on you the other week?" Lucy pointed out.
Maine scoffed. "Fuck off. Anyways, you ever want more upgrades, let me know. Ain't wasting eddies if it makes you stronger. Applies to chrome and yer crew. Besides, Even that fancy bioware of yours can't stand up to metal for long."
David kept his thoughts on that to himself. Before they could speak further, another car pulled into the lot. This one was… fancy. Not in the fun flashy way that some of the other cars around it were. But in a corpo sort of way. Money spent on elegance, on being superior to others.
"...Shit. Hey, Luce. Introduce him to Rebecca, will ya?" Maine said, rising to his feet.
"Got it," Lucy pulled David away. Before they left, David got a good look at the man who got out of the fancy car. Short white hair, pale skin, a nice suit. And three right eyes. Yeah, that was a corpo all right.
"Who's that guy?" David asked Lucy.
"Faraday. The guy who got us the job."
"Fixer?"
"One of them. He gives Maine the jobs, Maine makes sure we come together for them." Lucy said.
"So he's your boss?"
"Heh. No, he's more like an annoying client." Lucy put her hand to her face to call out. "Hey, Becca!"
"Hm?" A short girl spoke. Wait, the girl with the teal skin from the bar? The one who'd uh… done that thing to the driver. "Yo. Oh hey! You brought Dimples with ya!"
Dimples? Before David could wonder at the nickname, the girl hopped up, grinning up at him. "'Sup?. Name's Rebecca."
"Uh, hi. David," he held up a hand in greeting. The tiny girl grinned up at him. Her eyes were pretty wild. Red replaced the whites, with green in the pupils before a bit of pink in the center. "You were at the job today."
"Yeah!" She seemed excited he remembered for some reason. "So, you're joining Maine's crew?"
"Looks like it," Lucy cut in, stepping into the conversation. "If he doesn't kill himself playing superhero first."
"Superhero?" Rebecca asked, confusion on her face as she looked between them.
David sighed. "I stopped a robbery on the way back."
"Took down three 6th Street faster than I've ever seen anyone do it. With nothing but monowire and his bare hands," Lucy, far from annoyed, sounded oddly proud? Or was he imagining it?
"What, like Superman?" Rebecca asked, looking up at David again.
"Something like that," David chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
"Gonk," this time, when Lucy said it, it sounded a lot less harsh.
"Hm…" Rebecca shrugged. "Well, be careful, Dimples. It'd suck for me to be so friendly just for you to die a couple of days later."
"Do I have dimples?" David asked, befuddled.
"Heck yeah! Right here and here!" Rebecca poked her fingers into David's cheeks, grinning up at him. "They only show up when you don't look so grumpy though."
David, for some reason, smiled at the thought of that. He had no clue why. But Rebecca's own smile grew.
"Ah, there they are! See!"
"Hm, hm!" Lucy coughed loudly. Wait, why did she look annoyed? "Hey. Maybe we should grab a drink. What do you want?"
"Something without carbonation," David said immediately. "Can't stand that."
"Huh. Weird," Rebecca spun around and went to a table. Moments later, she had a drink in hand for David. He took a sip. It was juice, without any sort of bubbles. Perfect.
"Seriously, couldn't you grab me something?" Lucy asked.
"Oh, you still here?" Rebecca asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Can't get your own drink?"
"Hnng," Lucy growled, walking away to grab her own drink.
"So, David!" Rebecca said, turning right back to him. "You never answered. You gonna be sticking around?"
"Probably. When I'm not doing my own jobs," David said. "Might look into the whole 'saving people' thing as a job."
"Sounds like a lot of danger for not a lot of eddies," Rebecca said with a little snort.
"Not really about the eddies… not entirely, I mean."
"You'll want to keep an eye on the NCPD scanner, like I said,'' Lucy cut in, walking up to join them again. "Make sure you get paid. Or 'Spider-Man' gets paid, I guess."
"Spider-Man?" Rebecca asked.
"It's my… hero, name," David said weakly. "Stole it from a comic book."
"Ohhh. So you're a poserganger, huh?" Rebecca said, sounding extremely amused. "That's so retro!"
David shrugged, smirking just a bit. "Yeah well, it works for me."
"A comic book?" Lucy hummed to herself. Her eyes flashed briefly. Then she cocked an eyebrow at him. "You're kidding, right?"
"What?" Rebecca asked. Instead of answering, Lucy's eyes flashed, Rebecca's following a moment later. Then she giggled. "Hehehe! This guy!"
"If his name is Peter Parker, then yes."
Rebecca grinned up at him. "I love it! That's not just retro, that's prehistoric!"
"The comics are from the 60's," Lucy added. "Where did you even find out about them?"
"The net," David said honestly.
"Maybe I should get a codename, huh?" Rebecca said with a chuckle. "You too Lucy. You can be Grumpy."
"Should we call you Cutting Board then?" Lucy returned.
Rebecca reeled like she'd been struck before angrily glaring at Lucy, who returned it with a smug look. "Oh, listen to the Ice Queen Bitch, all high and mighty. You look up from the Manic Pixie Makeup Guide to learn some jokes?"
"I have plenty of jokes. I just don't share them with you."
"Blow it out your loose ass, beanpole!" Rebecca said, going for aggression rather than a clever comeback.
"Touchy…"
David watched silently as the two continued to insult each other. It was weirdly… fond? Friendly? Rebecca was all fire, yelling and crass, while Lucy was ice, calm tones and simple replies. For some reason it was almost cute? Like two sisters, fighting, but still unwilling to leave the other.
Maybe. Maybe hanging out with this bunch wouldn't be so bad?
In the meantime. He sent a message to Ash. He didn't need chrome, not new chrome anyways, but he needed help from someone who understood why he was doing what he was doing.
"Honestly, you need a fixer if you want to get in on that." Ash was looking at David's monowire implants as she spoke. Two of her arms were tinkering inside his forearms as he watched, while the others were typing on a computer, flashes of code following.
It was really weird, seeing inside his own arms. As she'd said, the monowires were integrated directly into his flesh, using his bones and muscles as partial support. It was really… gross. Really weird feeling. No pain, but you couldn't just get used to feeling fingers push aside your flesh. Ash continued to speak, ignoring his discomfort.
"A good fixer will get you connected to the scanner hustle. It'll even let you listen in if the cops are chasing you, let you know how much heat is on you. It's useful, but like I said. The cops don't let just anyone listen in on that kind of thing."
"Knew it couldn't be that simple," David sighed.
"Technically it is simple. Find a good fixer and you're in."
"The only fixer I know about is that Faraday guy."
"I said a good fixer," Ash said dryly. "Fucking hell, that's almost as bad as sending you to Deshawn if his fat ass didn't skip town. Let that smug orb get you zeroed. No, don't work with some Militech lapdog in a slick suit with a cool voice."
Militech lapdog? Well, great, David was feeling much more comfortable about joining Maine's crew on missions now. "Then I'm outta luck."
Ash shrugged. "Well. I know who the good ones are. But you'll need to make an impression first. Do a gig or two. They don't tend to work with kids who haven't made a name for themselves."
"I need job experience… to get a job?"
"Welcome to adulthood," Ash said with a light smirk. She sewed his arms back up, an experience that felt horribly like his arms being zippered up, and began putting him back together. "You do need an in with fixers in general though. They know the word on the street. Can lead you to the right work for your skillset, pull together a crew to help you, make sure you actually get paid and not get shot in the ass."
"Last one would be nice."
"Gonk," Ash lightly chopped him on the forehead, grunting a little. "I can think of a few good ones. The old woman in Afterlife is way too much of a bitch to take anyone who isn't already a big name, but the others are less picky. Open and close your hands for me, like this?"
She held her palms out towards him with all four arms, opening and closing her fingers slowly. David followed her instructions. She watched carefully and continued to speak. "You're a SanDomo kid, right?"
SanDomo? That was what the old timers called it. "Uh, yeah."
"El Capitan might be willing to give you a chance. But he'd do it anyways. He's a softy like that… Wakako is too, as much of a hardass as she pretends to be. Padre isn't returning my calls though."
"How many fixers do you know?" David asked.
Ash winced. "Look, I know too much about Night City. Anyways, I can ask around and see if anyone is willing to give the wanna-be superhero a chance. Meantime, you owe me."
"Literally or…?"
"Eh. You'll owe me a favor. Be careful on those scanner hustles. If you have someone who can watch your back, that'll help, but at least make sure someone knows what you're up to."
"Who would I tell?" David said with a grimace. "I don't have anyone."
"Then get someone," Ash poked him in the forehead with one hand, the other three continuing to stitch him up. "If you get jumped by something you can't handle, you need someone who can at least call you a doc. Maybe a good gunhand."
"I thought no one wants to do the hustles?"
"Not in groups. But having one other person joining you is fine. Just an extra gun."
An extra gun. David immediately thought of Lucy, but put that aside gently. She seemed way too pissed to help. Maybe that Rebecca chick? No, he barely knew her. Maine? Maine would probably laugh. Same with the other edgerunners.
…Fucking hell, were those really all the people he could think of?
While David ran that depressing thought through his head, Ash finished up. "I don't know how similar your body is to the actual Spider-Man's, but it takes well to cyberware. You're all healed up. I'd still wait for any new chrome, get used to your current stuff, but you can put anything in."
"What should I do first?"
"Jailbreak your internal agent."
"Jailbreak?"
"Or chopping, or cracking, whatever the kids call it these days. Modify your agent so that you can force it to shutdown completely, not that 'sleep mode' crap. So you can move off the grid."
David stared at her. For a moment, he couldn't understand what she meant. Then it clicked. "You're joking. Isn't that illegal? Who does that to their agent!?"
Seriously, an internal agent was everything. Who would risk destroying it when it did literally everything for you?
"Old school types," Ash grinned, shaking her head and giving him an odd look. "Also, didn't you mug a driver and help steal the nav data on his car?"
"Uhhh…" David coughed awkwardly.
"Look, morals about screwing over giant corporations aside, it's something I've been thinking about. You can't be a secret superhero and also have an internal agent on. A good netrunner can tear into those while you never even notice and find out who you are. Or cook your brain with it, electrocute you, turn off your monowire. Scary shit."
"Oh come on, I need my agent!" David said.
"God, kids. You won't die from disconnecting for a few hours," Ash said with an eyeroll. "You can get another agent, one of the old school ones, and hook it up to the helmet I gave you. It isn't hard, and it'll let you stay in contact while you work."
David groaned. "What if it breaks or something? I can't lose that thing."
Ash raised her hands in despair. "Fine, fucking run around with your constant weakpoint. Don't come running to me when some god level super-netrunner waves their hand at you and makes your cyberware cook inside out and steals your soul."
"...I'll reach out to a techie?" David said with a swallow, looking down at his monowire and imagining the two innocuous pieces of metal turning into molten steel.
"Good boy," two left hands patted his head. He waved them off with a scowl that Ash returned with a smirk. "I'll reach out to some fixers. Meantime, you get some rest and reach out to a techie, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," David groused. He paused for a moment. "Hey uh. Thanks. For helping me with all this."
"You're paying me."
"I'm not dumb," David growled just a bit. "You've been way more helpful than you had to be. So, yeah. Thanks, Ash."
"..." Ash smiled softly. She patted his head again. "No worries. Just stay safe, all right? Last thing I want is to see you on this table. Not without paying I mean."
Hours later, David was swinging again. He was getting used to it. The range on the monowire wasn't enough to go as over the top as Peter seemed to, but he just jumped on buildings and ran on the walls.
The feeling of it was almost addictive. Running along a wall, leaping out over the streets as cars passed, lashing out a monowire to wrap around a light pole, hopping off a corpo's flying car and briefly zipping over a food cart.
It helped him to think. He did pause briefly to stop a mugging. Just a guy with a gun threatening a woman before David dropped down to break his arms and legs and leave him for the NCPD.
Even as he left that guy and the thankful woman behind, he kept thinking. Ever since getting the powers and… and Mom. Well, he'd felt a little lost, trying to figure out where to go with them. Now he felt like he had something of a plan.
The plan seemed to be becoming an Edgerunner/Solo/Superhero, but at least he had something in mind. That felt good. Moving forward.
Ash's suggestion about the internal agent was on his mind. In fact, it was kind of a small part of a bigger problem. David needed tech. Not just chrome, but tech for any of his problems. His new helmet, any stuff he'd need down the road, it all required an expert, and he didn't know any.
Step by step. First he'd start off by making a list of what he needed, how many eddies, all that kinds of stuff, then he'd find someone to help him.
Swinging home, David only had to stop to save someone twice more. A quiet night in the city.
Chapter 8
After a day or so, David had spent some more time swinging around the city, stopping small crimes he found, and making plans. He'd also done some window shopping. Just stopping by a place in Arroyo called the Manufactory, a place he used to stop by in his days at Arasaka Academy. Today he looked around to try and grab whatever he could.
He grabbed a simple shirt with a big yellow X symbol on it. Maybe he could paint it later?
He also took a look at the guns at a weapons vendor. The owner was talking with someone else, ignoring David as he panned his eyes over the merchandise.
He kinda figured his fists and monowires would do the job, but what if he faced someone who was too far too armored? So he looked over them. He recognized a lot of them. Either from BDs he'd scrolled before or stuff he'd learned over the years.
Maybe a shotgun? There was a Crusher and a Tactician. The idea of pumping a Tactician and laying into a guy sounded preem.
Revolvers sounded best though, for long range and punch. He couldn't afford the nice ones like the Overture or the Burya, but maybe a Nova? He reached out for it. As he did, his eyes landed on another gun. A big gun, an LMG, the kind you needed two hands to use. Just like the one from the highway-
Red hair covered in blood. The smell of smoke and gunpowder.
David snapped his hand back and took a deep breath. "...Maybe not today."
He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked off. For the best. He had no clue what to really get beyond that they were preem. When he knew more he could… get it.
His hands shook as he rushed away.
That night before bed, he called Maine. Why not? He hadn't spent too many eddies, but he needed to reach out for help, and he didn't want to keep bothering Ash. When he called, Maine answered almost immediately.
Maine: Bad-bad time kid. Nows bad
David: Sorry, just need some advice.
Maine: Advice?
David: Need a techie. Know any good ones?
Maine: Depends on what you need-need.
David: Small stuff. Upgrades to my helmet, messing with my agent, that kinda thing. Know anyone?
Maine: Hn. I do need to send Pilar something. Ask him for help.
David: Pilar? Really?
Maine: P-Perv has layers to him. Head out to him tomorrow. Sending deets now.
David hung up, thinking. Pilar, the long-limbed guy? Huh. Well, not like he had other options. And if he had to he could just keep looking. WIth that thought, he headed to bed.
The next day he headed out to pick up Pilar's package. Once again, while using wires for webswinging (wireswinging? monoswinging?) was useful, he lamented that it just wasn't as good as what the real, er, fake Spider-Man's webshooters could do.
Still, he made it to the garage that Maine had sent him to with time to spare, walking up to a man sitting at a table under a large umbrella. The man was older, with graying hair pulled into a ponytail, a trimmed mustache and beard, and a pair of glasses. He was smoking a cigarette when David walked up, lifting his left cybernetic arm to scratch his chin.
"Hey, I'm David. I'm looking for Aldo. Maine had a package for me to pick up?"
"Huh? Davis?"
David frowned. "David."
"Eh, Davis!?"
David took a deep breath. "David."
"Eh!?"
"DAVID!"
"All right already, fucking asshole. Don't gotta yell at me!" Aldo said around his cig. "So your Pilar's carrier pigeon, huh?"
David sighed. "Whatever. You got the package?"
"Yeah, yeah. So, you're the 'hero', huh?" When David cocked his head, surprised, Aldo chuckled. "Maine told me about ya. Well, we'll see how long that lasts."
David grabbed the package and left quickly, annoyed. From there, he swung to Pilar's place, landing on the roof and heading in through there. At the door, he rang the doorbell. After a brief moment, the door slid open. A gun was in his face. Moving on instinct, he grabbed the wrist behind the gun, lifting the holder into the air with some panic.
Just like that, he was holding Rebecca up in the air, her face inches from his. Rebecca blinked with her red green eyes, then smiled.
"Oh, David my man! What's up, choom!?"
David glanced at the tiny girl currently being lifted a foot off the ground, the gun in her hand, and the calm smile on her face. "Uh, hey."
"You need something?" Rebecca chewed on some bubblegum in her mouth, completely unbothered by her situation. When David lowered her down, Rebecca just looked up at him curiously.
Why hadn't his spider-sense gone off? Did she… not even consider holding a gun up to someone at the door a threat? How crazy was she?
Also, she was almost entirely naked, wearing only a bra and panties, and the teenage man inside him was screaming about it with all his heart.
Focusing up again, David spoke. "I have a package for Pilar? Maine sent me. And I also wanted to ask him something?"
Rebecca's smile fell and she looked very annoyed. Turning, she yelled back into the room. "Yo, bro, it's for you!"
"That guy is your brother!?" David said, shocked. He looked her up and down. "You guys look nothing alike. I mean, you're…"
"Hot?" Rebecca asked with a smirk. When David sputtered in embarrassment, the smirk became a mischievous grin.
"What is it, bitch?" Pilar asked, sliding over on a wheeled chair.
"Maine sent you something, asshole," Rebecca spat back, her smile disappearing. "Come get it."
Pilar's mouth dropped open, then he let out an inhuman sound of joy. "WAHAHAHO!"
Once again, David was surprised that his spider-sense didn't go off when Pilar rushed forward like a madman, extending his stretched out arms to rip the package out of his hands, running back into the room he'd slid out from. That was a little hair-raising.
Rebecca and David stood awkwardly for a moment while Pilar let out excited yelps of noise. The wrapping falling to the floor was followed by Pilar's hands, the man whooping with joy. Were his hands really so easy to detach?
Rubbing her head with a sigh, Rebecca blew out a bubble, the gum popping loudly, then turned and eyed David. "You need me to excuse you, or…?"
"I wanted to talk. I need a techie, and Maine suggested Pilar."
Rebecca once again looked disappointed, but waved him in casually. Stepping in with the door sliding closed, David had to use a lot of willpower not to stare at Rebecca's hips swaying as she led him in. Didn't work, but dammit he tried.
"Hey, bro, Dimples has a question for ya," Rebecca said casually. In the back, Pilar was grinning, extending a pair of hands now shining so brightly golden that it almost hurt to look at.
"What, he need a tip? Pay him already!" Pilar said smugly, waving his new right hand at her.
David jumped in surprise at the BOOM of Rebecca shooting Pilar in the hand. Seriously, why hadn't his spider sense activated again? Really needed to test that…
"FUCK YOU!" Rebecca yelled, flipping her middle finger aggressively at her brother.
"Hahaha, they're bulletproof!" Pilar yelled happily, unbothered by his sister's hostility.
"Ugh! Listen asshole, he wants your help!" Rebecca kicked her brother's chair, sending him rolling across the floor.
Pilar grinned easily, spinning on his chair as it rolled. "Oh yeah? What's on your mind, shorty?"
David rolled his eyes, but passed his helmet over to Pilar, who took hold of it with impressive speed. "I need some upgrades to my helmet design? The person who made it did great, but I could use some extra features."
"What, you don't want to chrome up instead?" Pilar asked, flipping the helmet around in his hands.
"I might, but I want to be able to work undercover. Can't do that if my actual agent is on and can let anyone with half a brain hack me to find out who I am."
"Undercover?" Pilar scoffed. "You know most of us want to get famous? What are ya, some Arasaka ninja?"
"Naw. He's a superhero, right?" Rebecca teased.
"Super-what?" Pilar asked, confused, before he shrugged and flipped the helmet around to look inside. "All right, what you need in this thing?"
"A datalink that can connect to one of those old school Agents. Vision stuff, Anti-Dazzle, Low Light-"
"Teleoptics, a HUD like those doughboys have, the works," Pilar's demeanor became more serious. He placed the helmet on his desk and reached for a drawer next to him. His hand pulled out several tools, each between his new golden fingers, and with barely a flicker of movement, he had the helmet open.
Huh. Honestly, David had been very nervous about reaching out to Pilar for help. The guy just didn't strike him as being very smart or serious. But now he had the helmet opened up and was moving through the internals of it with some confidence.
"I can do it. It'll be really hard though. Hope you got a lot of eddies- OW!"
Rebecca had smacked him in the shoulder, grumbling. "Don't listen to this idiot, he's just trying to upsell you."
"Well I can't do it now!" Pilar swung a fist Rebecca's way, missing entirely. "Ugh. Fine, yeah, this shit will be cheap as hell. I can get one of those old shitty Zetatech agents if you really want to go retro, adding the visual stuff."
Leaning back over the helmet and working on it a bit more, Pilar grumbled a bit more. "I'll just need to take it apart a little and then add some stuff. We'll take most of the pay out of your tip anyways. So, superhero, huh?"
David rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I'm gonna be a superhero."
Might as well embrace it, if everyone was gonna make fun of him for it.
"Gonna need a lot more than a fancy helmet then," Pilar chuckled. "Heroes get… zeroed! HAHAHA!"
"Idiot," Rebecca growled out.
"I have some ideas, but I have no clue where I would even start with one of them," David sighed.
"What is it?" Rebecca asked.
"Webs."
"Webs?" Pilar stopped, glancing back at David. "You fucking serious? Why do you want webs?"
"To swing on," David said.
"Oh yeah, that guy you talked about," Rebecca's eyes flashed gold, followed by Pilar's. "Spider-Man."
"What fucking retro bullshit is this?" Pilar said, glaring at nothing for a moment. "You want to copy some comic idiot?"
"Yes," David said. Once again. If he was going to be made fun of no matter what, he'd just embrace it. "I'm trying to figure out how to make his webs. Regular ones like the kind Biotechnica makes won't be as useful."
Pilar scoffed. "You need some chemical guy for that shit. I'm a techie."
"Barely," Rebecca said. "This is the first time in forever you've worked on something that wasn't a grenade."
"Grenade?" David asked, the siblings ignoring him.
"Shut up, I'm still the best, damnit!" Pilar said, annoyed. "All right, you gonk kid, besides webs," He said with heated sarcasm. "Should I look into making you something else? A spaceship, a bigger dick, what?"
David winced. "Um… upgrades to my jacket? Maybe modifying it to protect me better. And uh, a wingsuit."
"...A wingsuit," Pilar rubbed his chin. "Huh?"
"I just want more mobility around the city."
"Then buy a goddamn car," Pilar said.
"Can you do it, or what?" David finally asked, annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll figure out how much all this crap is and charge you after."
"Fairly!" Rebecca snapped.
"Yeah, yeah, I won't make your boytoy poor," Pilar said with an eyeroll. Before David could protest that, he had to catch his helmet. "Give me a day, kay?"
"All right," David sighed. "Thanks."
Pilar waved him off, his eyes glowing the orange of someone on a call.
"Come on, I'll walk you out," Rebecca said, hopping up to her feet.
"Actually," a thought struck David then. "What do you know about guns?"
"..." Rebecca's smile was damn near euphoric.
Just then, a message came in. David opened it.
Lucy: Hey, you free tonight?
He thought about it.
David: Maybe. What's up?
Lucy: F-Figured you wanted to do more of your gonk hero thing.
David: Probably. Trying to stop me?
Lucy: Idiot. I'll come along-come with.
David: Mind if I bring along someone?
Lucy: O-Only if they're okay with gonk shit.
David: I think she will be. What time?
Lucy: She-Never mind. I'll send d-deets.
After hanging up, David refocused on Rebecca. "You free today?"
"I am if it's about guns!" Rebecca said cheerfully.
David grinned. "Might need some lessons first."
"I can take you to the range."
"Preem. After that, you wanna come along for my patrol?
"Sure!" Rebecca grabbed an oversized jacket and thought for a moment. "You don't mind killing gonks, right?"
"I haven't tried it, but I don't mind if you do it."
"WORKS FOR ME!"
Chapter 9
Lucy and Rebecca eyed each other. Then they looked over at David. He blinked.
"What? What's wrong?"
"You didn't say Lucy was coming," Rebecca said with a curious lack of emotion.
"I didn't?" Thinking back, he realized she was right. "Sorry, I didn't think about it."
"Probably better to mention that next time," Lucy said with a very similar voice.
David cocked his head to the side, confused. Lucy and Rebecca sighed in unison, Lucy rubbing her forehead while Rebecca just shrugged. Deciding to push past it rather than acknowledge it, David continued.
"So uh. I just figured we'd patrol a bit, see if there is anyone we can help. And if we can, we can swipe any eddies we find from anyone we take down."
"Kill em and loot em, got it!" Rebecca said, pulling out her pistol and checking the chamber with professionalism before spinning it on a single finger with casualness.
David cringed. "I wouldn't put it like that-"
"Let's go!" Rebecca spun around, walking away confidently.
"Do you even have a plan for how you're going to find someone to 'help'?" Lucy asked Rebecca.
"Sure, just follow gunshots and screams!" The tiny teen said cockily.
Lucy sighed, but walked forward, leaving David to follow. He slung out his monowire and zipped up to a pole above, looking around briefly-
"What the hell!?" Rebecca yelped. "You can do that?"
"Uh… yeah. I figured out how to do it."
"Can you do that?" Rebecca asked Lucy.
"I was never gonk enough to try," Lucy said.
"Ha! Scaredy cat!" Rebecca taunted. "Anyways, you see anything, Dimples?"
"No. But I will," David said confidently. "Let's split up and stay on comms. That way we can cover more ground."
"Good idea," Lucy said. She started walking off. "Wanna see who finds trouble first?"
"You're on, Ice Queen!" Rebecca whooped, rushing off at a run, laughing.
"...At least they have the right attitude?" David said to himself hesitantly. He lashed out his wire and zipped off, swinging forward with his head on a swivel all the while.
Night City was a shithole. David had always known that. But it wasn't until he'd started patrolling it that the actual extent of shittiness really stuck with him.
Lucy and Rebecca, on the other hand, were used to ignoring the chaos, just like he once had, rather than going out of their way to confront it.
They stopped a few muggings, an attempted rape was interrupted by Rebecca shooting the guy's balls off, Lucy had to call in David to help with a store robbery, and now David was swinging after a van Lucy had seen someone get pulled into by Scavs.
Lucy and Rebecca had been closer and were following on foot, but obviously couldn't catch up, forcing David to come up with a way to stop the van.
Lucy:Just once, I wish someone would listen to traffic laws!
Rebecca: W-Who the fuck does!? Damnit, we need a car!
David: Don't worry, I've got it.
Lucy: I'll h-hack it, but you need to take out the driver before he can reset it.
David ran that through his head. Up ahead, he could see the van racing away. Lucy and Rebecca were behind it. As he zipped overhead, Lucy glanced up at him, then glared at the van, eyes glowing.
The van, barreling forward with the reckless speed of your average Night City driver, suddenly began to slow down. David poured on his momentum, wrapped his monowire around a streetlight, swung over the van, and landed next to the driver seat. Inside, he could see a woman desperately trying to restart the van. He grabbed the door and pulled, ripping the door off in a squeal of metal. The driver yelped, reaching for something that made his spider-sense scream.
In a single movement, he grabbed her out of her seat and pulled her out, spinning briefly before tossing her up into the air.
"FUUUUUU-" David ignored her screaming to backflip to the rear of the van, grabbing the doors and ripping them off as well.
"Blast 'em!" One of the two scavs within screamed. A storm of bullets flew towards David. He flipped through the air, sliding around the shots while his monowire wrapped around one of the scavs' necks, pulling him into a clothesline punch from David that sounded like it broke his neck.
The other scav desperately moved towards the woman they'd kidnapped, probably to use her as a hostage. Then he froze, eyes widening as sparks flashed from his chrome.
"Rebecca!" Lucy shouted.
"Fuck yeah!" A trio of bullets smashed into the scav, hitting him in a close grouping, one landing in his throat, while another one hit the van wall behind him. The scav fell, blood pouring from his open throat, bubbling with his last breaths.
And from the sky, the driver smashed down into the pavement. For a moment, David worried that she'd died, especially when he saw her blood. Then he noted the crying captive, and decided he didn't give a shit.
"You got her!?" Lucy called out to David.
He gently helped the woman out of the van, checking her over. She had chrome arms, legs, chest, practically everything. The red haired woman was also crying desperately. "I got you. I got you."
"O-Oh god," she was trembling as he guided her away from the van. "I-I thought I was going to die! Thank you! Thank you so much!"
David smiled behind his helmet, warmth filling him. "Not a problem."
"Just be more careful," Lucy said firmly. "You can't just go walking down dark alleys."
"I-I won't," the woman gasped, rubbing at her cheeks furiously.
"Hey, David!" Rebecca shouted. When David and Lucy looked at her, she was standing on top of the van, grinning. "Looks like we got a ride!"
"...That's not a bad idea, actually," Lucy said. "Need something to carry that dead assholes chrome in."
"Good," the woman was still wiping away tears, but she gave the dead and alive scavs a scowl. "It's what they deserve!"
David looked over the bodies, landing on the dead man. Then, sighing, he nodded. "I guess we have to… rip it out of him?"
"That'd be your job, muscles," Rebecca teased.
A moment of discomfort filled him. Then David swallowed, moving forward. He grabbed the chrome arm of the dead scav, and with a powerful pull, ripped metal away from flesh. The sound of flesh parting, metal squealing, before superhuman strength forced the arm out of it's attachment socket, filled the air, red spraying outwards.
At least the van was already bloody.
With the van, things became a bit easier. The girls could cover more ground, protect more people, and meet David faster.
An hour or two later, Rebecca was watching as David dueled with a Tyger Claw. Two others were on the ground, one dead from Rebecca shooting him in the chest six times, the other knocked out with broken legs.
"Just get out of the way, I'll shoot him in the goddamn head!"
"Nah, I got it!" David slid around a sword slice, backflipped over a stab, landed on the ground with a spin, then lashed out with his right foot, his sneaker smashing into the guy's chrome right arm in a powerful sidekick. There was a brief moment where hardened steel fought spider-strength, then cracked like glass. David's kick broke the arm, then hit the ribs behind it, shattering those, before the Tyger was tossed back, smashing into his bike and destroying it.
Rebecca and David stared at the Tyger before relaxing when they realized he wasn't about to rise up.
"Fuck!" Rebecca pulled the mag from her Unity, crouching down to begin pulling bullets from one of the Tyger's guns and placed them in her own magazine. "I can't believe I'm running out of ammo!"
"Sorry," David winced. "I don't ever need to worry about that on my own."
"Not your fault we live in a shithole, Dimples." Rebecca finished her reloading and sighed.
David looked over at the food stall owner they'd been defending from the murderous robbers. "You okay?"
"Yeah… yeah," the older man sighed, looking around at the mess around them. "Just need to clean up. Thanks though."
"No problem," David looked back at Rebecca, who was pulling out eddies from the pockets of the Tygers. David grabbed the unconscious guy who'd been shoved into the bike and pulled him over to the others. David looked him over briefly before sighing and tossing him down onto his dead and alive friends.
"Hey," Rebecca and David turned to see Lucy walk over. She looked fine, if a little exhausted. "All done?"
"Yep. You?"
"Just a scav trying to sell trapped shards," Lucy said, smirking just a bit. "Got some cash off of him."
"Ugh. Scavs," Rebecca spat to the side, grumbling.
"I have his chrome, left it with the rest in the van with that giant pile of guns…"
"Hehehehe," Rebecca cackled quietly to herself, walking by with a new armful of guns and ammunition. "This is the best day!"
"So we're keeping the guns?" Lucy asked dryly, though she smiled fondly when Rebecca wasn't looking. Turning back to David, she continued. "Who are we selling the chrome to?" Lucy asked.
"Hm…" David looked around. Then he shrugged. "I know a place."
"Heeeey, Davy!" Doc glanced at David, now helmetless, from his chair, grinning casually. A machine on his hips was… pumping. He ignored it, and didn't seem inclined to turn it off as he continued to enjoy its services. "Finally selling that Sandy?"
David grimaced at the looks Rebecca and Lucy gave him. "I told you, it's gone. Found a buyer."
"Ahhh, dat's a crying shame dat is. Ah well. How can I help ya?"
David held out the giant trash bag in his hands, dropping it on the floor. "You able to resell chrome?"
"You know I am. What, you joining the scavs now?" Doc leered at Lucy and Rebecca. "If they're this pretty, I can see why, hehehe!"
Lucy gave him a lazy middle finger, while Rebecca scowled. Doc just chuckled again.
"Most of this is from scavs, you dickhead," Rebecca said, crossing her arms. David walked in, the girls following. "Figured fair was fair."
"I agree," Doc lazily removed the machine on his waist, sighing happily while zipping up and moving over to the bag. Opening it up, he looked over the parts within. A pair of arms, one leg, smaller things like chips and a couple of optics. While one of the arms was a crappy one from the dead scav, the others had been left in the van, definitely stolen from other victims.
It had sucked, ripping the first arm out, but David had felt less guilty when they found the other parts. Plus they were scavs. David was sure even Peter could have understood.
"Hm… most of this is crap. Can't sell it for anything but bits."
David scoffed. "Liar. Come on, Doc, I'm not trying to upsell. Just give us a fair price."
"I always give a fair price!" Doc rose up from the bag and walked closer to David. Then he frowned. He walked closer, looking over David, which felt very weird.
That was when David realized why that was so weird. Until now, everyone David had interacted with either hadn't known him before, or didn't give a shit. Doc was the only person alive who really knew him before his spider-powers… and fuck, how sad was that?
"Damn, boyo. You lookin big. Last time I saw you, you was skinnier than your dick!"
"Fuck you," David grumbled, ignoring Rebecca's giggle.
"Seriously, you get that Mr. Studd makeover?" Doc poked at his chest, only to cock his head in confusion. "Nah, dat's all organic! You went for them expensive biomods?"
"I drank my cactus juice and ate my locust pizza everyday. You want the chrome or not?" David finally snapped.
"Eeeeeasy, Davy!" Doc chuckled, backing away. "Fine, fine. I'll give you a fair price. Otherwise I think that little hellion is gonna zero me."
David glanced over at Rebecca, who was idly cleaning one of her Unitys -- the pink one -- with its barrel casually pointed in Doc's direction. She gave David a friendly smile. Lucy, on the other hand, was glaring at Doc with glowing eyes, ready to unleash Netrunner hell.
The rush of warmth he felt at that made him smile. He turned back to Doc, who was rubbing his chin. "I'm gonna say… 30,000. Generous price for this shit."
David looked over at the girls. Rebecca shrugged, but Lucy nodded immediately. "Done."
Doc's eyes glowed, and a moment later, the eddies flowed into David's account. He quickly sent Lucy and Rebecca their shares. Turning away, David started walking off. "Thanks. Goodbye, Doc."
"Hey, Davy. Could use someone to keep selling those BD's." Doc teased.
"I'm good. Have a nice life."
"I always do! Now, where is that pocket pus-" The doors shut as David and the girls walked out, leaving Rebecca to glance up at him.
"That perv was your ripperdoc?" She asked.
"Not anymore. My new ripperdoc is the one near Lizzie's, Ash."
"The Watson Widow!?" Rebecca yelped.
"The what?" David asked, befuddled.
"The Watson Widow! Some of the Mox girls call her that!" Rebecca said.
"I've never heard of her," Lucy frowned.
"That's cause the Mox girls think you're a bitch!" Rebecca taunted immediately.
"I doubt that," Lucy said without missing a beat.
"Tch. Come on, Dimples, I still need to take you shooting."
"Sure. You coming?" David looked over at Lucy.
She shrugged. "Sure, I'll interrupt your date."
Rebecca pouted, her cheeks filling up with air, but pulled David along anyways.
He lifted the pistol in his hand. Aimed at the target across from him. For a long moment, he clutched the handle, trying to be gentle, and prepared to pull-
Red hair resting on pavement, blood pooling around her.
"...Fuck," David lowered the Unity in his hands, placing it on the counter in front of him.
"Hm?" Rebecca leaned into his field of view from his right, her hands behind her head. "What's wrong?"
David looked over at her, then at the target. "...My mom. Everytime I try to pull the trigger, I just… I think about her."
"Yer mom? What, you worried about disappointing her?" She said that with sarcastic casualness, and flinched at the look he gave her.
She didn't know. David forced himself to calm down, guilt filling him for getting mad about that. "She died. A few days ago."
Had it really been so short a time?
Rebecca flinched again, but this time she was the one who seemed guilty. "Fuck. Sorry, David."
"You couldn't have known," David glanced at her, then at the Unity. "I just think about her. Lying on the ground, bloo-" He stopped, sucking in a breath. Rebecca gently placed a hand on his shoulder. He continued. "It's easy for me to hit people, use my monowires. But she got shot, and when I think of using a gun too, I just freeze up."
He swallowed a breath. "Sorry."
"Hey, it's okay," Rebecca leaned into his view again, forcing him to meet her eyes as she smiled sadly. "You don't need to explain it. Is that why you decided to do this?"
"Spider-Man? Kind of. But I also sort of felt, I don't know, lost? I needed it," he took his helmet off the hook at his waist and rested it on the counter. He eyed it for a moment as it flickered on, displaying the two familiar eye graphics.
"...Okay, try this," Rebecca grabbed the helmet. Before David could respond, she began putting it on his head.
"What are you doing?"
"Just trust me, choom!" Rebecca said cheerfully, securing the helmet on his head. Once done, she stepped away. "Okay! This time, when you pull the trigger, it won't be David shooting. It'll be Spider-Man."
"...Are you serious?"
"Just try it!" she pouted heavily, cheeks filling with air. It made her look more adorable than intimidating.
Letting out a huff, he reached for the Unity.
"Remember! Spider-Man! Not David."
David sighed. Then Spider-Man lifted up the gun. He sighted on the target. He forced himself to think that way. He wasn't David. He wasn't someone who had lost his mother. He was Spider-Man, someone who did what was needed, a hero, who just had to-
"BAM!"
David froze. The recoil had surprised him, sending the gun upwards an inch. Rebecca leaned in to look at the target. "Awwww. You missed!"
He had. But he'd still pulled the trigger. David lifted the gun again, breathing deeply. Just focus. He was Spider-Man. He had to save people. So he…
Mom smiling at him from the couch, then lying in pain on the pavement.
He pulled the trigger, but couldn't focus. He tried again but couldn't do it.
"...Hey, it's still nova!" Rebecca patted him on the back, comforting him, then grinning at the target. "At least you did it!"
"..." David gave her a look. She glanced up and coughed.
"Y-You'll get better! At least you shot!"
"Yeah… thanks, Becca."
She grinned up at him happily. "No problem, choom! You wanna try more guns?"
"Yeah!" David lowered the gun in his hand, looking it over. "Got anything bigger? I think I like big guns."
"David," Rebecca purred. "You're a man after my own heart? You flirt."
David felt heat rise up his face, and was thankful for the mask when Lucy walked in from where she'd been talking to the shop owner. She glanced between them. "Everything okay?"
"Everything is perfect! I'm gonna get something bigger." Rebecca winked up at him and rushed off. Lucy arched an eyebrow at David, who coughed and quickly turned away.
Lucy walked over, looking down the range at the target. She nodded to herself. "Nice. I guess she's not doing that dual wielding thing."
"Dual wielding?" David asked.
"I think she saw it in a BD once."
The rest of the night was nice. Lucy and Rebecca had hung out with him at the range, the girls competing a bit. Rebecca won on bullets fired, if not on pure accuracy. Seeing the tiny girl unleash hell with dual pistols ("Yeah, I saw it in Bushido 3! It was so preem!") while giggling happily was a trip.
David had a bit more trouble with it, but with Rebecca and Lucy supporting him he managed to fire a few more times. That night, with all the money he'd made, he laid his head down in his apartment, the Spider-Man helmet sat next to him on his bed. Just before he passed out, the spider-eye graphics flickered for a moment before shutting off again.