The trip home didn’t take long.
But when I reached my apartment door, I found it locked.
I had to go down to the building’s front desk.
“Hey…
I’ve got a problem.”
“And what would that be?”
Behind the counter sat a guy I’d never seen before.
“The apartment was paid for another three days, but now it’s locked.”
“That’s right.
You paid someone else.”
The administrator flashed a nasty grin.
I nodded in understanding.
“Can I get my things?”
“Huh?”
“My stuff.
Otherwise, I’ll take you to court.
You see, in this situation, according to the law, you’re supposed to notify me at least a week in advance if the apartment is going to be locked.
And believe me, I’ll go to the prostitutes, but I’ll scrape together enough money for a lawyer, and he’ll destroy you.”
“Smart, huh?”
He stood up, trying to loom over me.
But when my pistol appeared from under my jacket, tucked against his chin, all his bravado evaporated.
“For your attitude, I’ll take another thousand from you.
As compensation.
Got it?”
“Y-yes…”
“Thousand.
Cash.”
He quickly complied.
“Now let’s go to the apartment.
I’ll pack my things.
Since this megabuilding doesn’t need reliable tenants, even if they aren’t rich, I’ll move somewhere else.”
With that, I fell silent.
When we reached the apartment, I packed quickly, grabbed the urn with Gloria’s ashes, and calmly left both the apartment and the megabuilding.
After a moment’s thought, I made my way to the nearest public terminal and found an apartment in Megabuilding N12, in Watson.
It was small: a sleeping area, a large living room, and a storage closet that could be converted into a small workshop and weapons stash.
That suited me perfectly.
The price?
Only five hundred a month.
With the compensation from the asshole at N4, that was more than manageable.
I wouldn’t starve.
So I booked the place and headed for the nearest metro station.
Ten minutes in, I noticed movement.
A blonde girl.
Walking slowly through the car, hacking into people’s ports and pocketing the shards.
I didn’t have any shards in my ports, so I just stood there as she passed me, cleaning out another corpo.
Did I feel sorry for them?
No.
Their own fault for not protecting their ports and cash.
Personally, I’d already transferred everything from my personal shard to the account Regina had set up for me.
That account didn’t need shards at all.
Though opening it had cost a bit.
She must have seen potential in me.
I reached my station, left the train, and started walking toward the megabuilding.
Halfway there, I realized the blonde was probably that blonde, the one from the anime that David met.
She was definitely attractive.
If I hadn’t been carrying a large case and a bag of belongings, I might have considered introducing myself.
At the megabuilding, I went to the administrator and finalized the rental.
Minutes later, I stepped out of the elevator.
“Fuck you, you asshole!
I feed you, and you still act like you’re better than everyone?!”
The door next to mine was open.
A short, fully developed girl stood in the doorway, screaming at someone inside.
I was curious, but I knew better, in Night City, you don’t stick your nose in other people’s business.
I just unlocked my door, stepped inside, and let it hiss shut behind me.
“Well…”
I set the case down and dropped the bag.
Looked around.
Standard megabuilding apartment.
Nothing new.
First, I unpacked.
Put Gloria’s urn on a shelf.
Then I carried the case into the storage closet, which was clean.
I opened it and started organizing everything inside.
It wasn’t a repair station, just a portable toolkit.
Twenty minutes of work, and then someone started pounding on the door.
“Tch…”
I stood up, closed the workshop door, and opened the apartment door.
“Yeah?”
“Hey, you’re our new neighbor?”
It was that same short girl, looking at me with a mix of curiosity and defiance.
“David Martinez.”
Recognition flickered in her eyes when I said my last name.
“Rebecca.”
“And?”
“Hey, choom, can you spot me a hundred?”
“I don’t lend money to strangers.”
“Choom…”
She gave me a pleading look.
“What happened?”
“Brother, that asshole.
Spent everything on chrome!
We don’t even have money for food!”
“Wait here.”
I closed the door, bought four burritos from the vending machine, and came back.
I handed them to her.
“Here.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t lend money.
But if you’re hungry, I can share food.”
I shrugged and shut the door in her face.
Back in the workshop, I kept organizing the tools.
Once everything was in place, I smirked and pushed the case into the corner.
It could be a storage box for odds and ends.
For now…
I pulled the Unity from its holster, along with the bag of parts I’d bought.
“Time to work.”
Several hours of painstaking work, and the pistol was ready.
Increased power.
A good silencer.
And an engraving on the side: “Gloria Martinez.” A reminder of who I owed my start to.
She gave birth to and raised David.
And because she worked her ass off to pay for his tuition, I had the knowledge to both modify weapons and work as a solo.
“Hm…
was that the green-haired girl from the anime?”
The thought hit me as I put the pistol back in its holster and hung it on a peg.
Then I grabbed the knives, I now had three, thanks to Robert, and sharpened them.
Not that it was strictly necessary, but I preferred to check the edge myself.
Finished with the knives, I put them away and finally left the workshop.
I checked the time.
I’d been at it longer than I thought.
Only four hours left to sleep.
I wasn’t about to pretend I was some unstoppable hero.
So I undressed, took a quick shower, and collapsed into bed.
Morning came with an annoying alarm.
Unlike David, I was disciplined enough to get up even when I didn’t want to.
David would have turned off the alarm and gone back to sleep.
Though, to be fair, he tried not to let that happen.
He went to bed early enough to wake up reasonably rested for the academy.
I showered, checked my weapons, and called Regina.
“Good morning, Regina.
This is David.”
“I got it.”
She gave a slight snort.
“You’re an early bird, huh?”
“Just have a strong need for money.”
“Something happen?
You made a decent haul yesterday.”
“Well…
the administrator at my old megabuilding changed.
The apartment was in my late mother’s name, so he figured he could squeeze extra rent out of me.
I refused, took my stuff, and moved.
Had to pay for the new place.
So I’m pretty much broke.”
“Hm…”
“Look, I was going to give you a different job, but since you need cash…
tell me, would you have a problem working for a gang?”
I frowned slightly.
“Honestly?
I’d rather not work for gangs.
The Aldecaldos seem reasonable enough, they try not to cause trouble.
Don’t drag civilians into their messes either.”
“And the Animals?”
I closed my eyes.
“Definitely not.”
It wasn’t that I personally cared.
But it would be weird if a guy whose mom died in a gang shootout eagerly signed up with the same gang.
And the Animals were too wild.
They might attack me.
My physical condition was decent, but I wouldn’t feel confident in their company.
“If there’s a contract to take out an Animal, I’d probably take it.
But work for them?
No.”
“You sure?”
“Regina, why the tests?
You’ve probably already gathered the info.
You know that accident that killed my mom was caused by the Animals.
I won’t work for them.
Against them, though…”
“I understand.”
Regina’s image nodded.
She paused for a moment.
“Alright.
There’s a job involving the Aldecaldos.
There’s a girl named Judy.
She needs help fixing some braindance editing equipment.
You any good at that?”
I scratched my cheek thoughtfully.
“In general…
there’s nothing too complicated there.
Computers, powerful ones, I can handle.
But I can’t work with specialized gear like the headsets.”
“I’ll check the details.”
Her image froze for a minute.
Then she smirked and nodded.
“Worst case, they said they’d send you to fix the toilets.”
“Sure.
If they pay decently, I’ll clean the sewers.”
“Wow.
No reaction?”
“Should there be?
I came to you to work, not to argue.
I’m a rookie.
I’m not getting fat contracts anytime soon.
You need to figure out my style and trust me.
That means sending me on all kinds of jobs.
Obviously, you won’t send me to shovel shit.
Everything else…”
I shrugged.
“Got it.
Go to Lizzie’s Bar.
Tell them Judy sent you, from Regina.”
“Understood.
Heading out.”
“Great.
Don’t let me down, Tikhon.”
The call ended.
I stood up, stretched, and felt my back complain.
I really needed to see a proper ripperdoc and check what that butcher installed.
The Sandevistan seemed to work fine, but he gave me no meds.
I had to get it checked.
I also noticed my shirt was still stained with blood.
That bothered me too.
Maybe that’s normal after surgery.
But David wasn’t told anything about it.
Which meant…
That ripperdoc was a hack who didn’t give a damn about his clients.
Inhale…
I crumpled the shirt, tossed it in the trash, and looked in the mirror.
I turned my back and saw that the bleeding had stopped.
Good enough.
I put on another T-shirt, grabbed an old jacket from the closet, and tucked Gloria’s jacket into a bag to take to the dry cleaner.
I was keeping it.
David’s memories didn’t want to let go.
Under the jacket, I secured the pistol and knives.
Then I left, locking the door behind me.
No runner could hack it now.
And tech-savvy thieves were rare enough that I felt safe.
I dropped the jacket at the cleaners and noticed the blonde from the metro slowly coming down from the floor above.
I didn’t react.
I just took the elevator down, got into one of the waiting taxis, and headed for the job from Regina.