Sable Arcturus
Sable was not one to heavily indulge. She smoked, but more as a fidget habit and for the aesthetic than anything else. She drank on occasion but never in excess, and she never indulged in narcotics or BDs. By far, she preferred being in control of herself and absolutely despised the idea of having an addiction that took away her free will.
Some of this was a remnant of growing up in a home where disappointing your family was akin to the greatest sin imaginable, but that was not the core reason. After all, plenty of her family members had secret habits that they thought they were hiding. No, most of her distaste stemmed from her own admittedly controlling nature, of which she was well aware. Her desire for control wasn't generally for other people, but rather for her own life. She moved by her rules, and she was unwilling to give that up in any capacity, especially not for a momentary high.
That isn't to say she didn't have her vices, or apparently that she was immune to developing more. After all, Jackie Welles had barely even started to invite her for their next big meal, and she accepted. Like an overly eager child looking for candy, she was already imagining when they would get together next. Admittedly, it was not just because of the food.
The woman let out a long breath and slid to the edge of her bed, shaking out her hair and letting it settle around her shoulders. She looked across the room to the simulated window, admiring the view. Jackson, Jay, had eagerly showed off the room after he invited her to stay the night in one of the free ones. He pointed out the design features like a proud parent, which made sense when you considered his AI had designed it.
After a long moment, staring out into the star-studded darkness, she slowly stood. There was no chance she was going to get any sleep, not when part of her wanted to run, to jump in her Rayfield and burn rubber. But she wouldn't because Jackie had promised to make a big breakfast, and Jackson had asked her to stay.
She let out a long breath and pulled on her clothes, leaving her jacket behind as it was unnecessary at this point. Once she was dressed, she made her way through the bunker apartment, the front door swishing open without issue.
For another long moment, she looked up at the illusionary sky, watching clouds roll past the stars and moon, before shaking her head and walking around the large hall's central pillar. Eventually, she reached the teleport room through which they had entered the bunker. After staring at the platform for a few seconds, she looked around.
"Is there any way I could get a hand? I just want to go to my car," she asked out loud, expecting some sort of security to hear her. "I'm not sure how to-"
The teleport pad blinked, and from beside it, the control system flashed green. After a moment to gather herself, she said a quiet thank you before climbing the steps, standing at the center, and taping the controls. Barely a blink later and she was standing in the now familiar basement of Jay's workshop.
Following the same path they had walked before, she made her way out, exiting Jackson's workshop. Immediately, she spotted a pair of security robots, shades Jay called them, standing nearby. As she walked to her car, they fell in step behind her.
"Well… It's good that someone here understands security," She said, looking over her shoulder for a moment. "Feel free to follow along."
When Sable finally reached her car, the gull doors opened for her, the implant in her arm connecting to the vehicle seemlessly. She bent over and leaned inside, shuffling a few things inside. The Rayfield Caliburn was not built for lavish comfort, though its seats were nice enough. And while it did have a small trunk space, it was also not built for storage. Despite that, with the right connections and a small chunk of eddies, a smart vehicle technician could modify a panel along the back roof to come free if someone could pry at it. It would take a special tool, something thin, tough, and dexterous, in order to get at the seam properly.
Like a pair of razor-sharp combat claws, modified to look like perfectly manicured fingernails, anchored to a titanium alloy skeleton.
Sable pushed her nails into the specially designed seam, and, with a twist, popped her special, secret storage slot open. She carefully pulled out the contents before pushing the panel back in place. After she straightened and inspected her prize, she stepped back from her vehicle, the doors shutting automatically as she did.
Ignoring the two shades that were following her, she crossed the main street through the town, stopping when she was at the security building, as they called it. After a moment of contemplation, she began to climb the ladder along the side of the building, feeling a bit ridiculous as she did. When she reached the top, she let out a sigh of relief as she spotted the vaguely comfortable-looking chairs tucked into two corners. She claimed one with a sigh, before finally starting to unpack what she had gotten from her car.
Sable didn't like to heavily indulge in anything, but when the corporate life got too much, when she felt like everything was too heavy for her to keep going, or her fear over what would happen to her niece got to be too much, she would find a nice quiet spot on a roof, or sometimes even in the badlands, and smoke the finest weed money could buy. It was the most significant high she could afford herself, generally safe and stress relieving.
Sable snapped her fingers, lighting the hand-rolled joint she had pulled from her bag with the hot flash that resulted. After putting it to her lip, she pulled in a long breath, feeling her lungs fight against the familiar agitant as she held it. After a few seconds, she let it out, blowing out a stream of smoke, letting her rising anxiety from the last twenty-four hours fade with it. She took another deep breath, this one without the drug stuck at her lips, letting herself sink into the chair as the tension left her body.
When she woke up this morning, she had not nearly expected that Jackson would be flipping her world upside down, and then inside out, and then coming up with a brand new confusing direction just to flip her around that way as well. The vault he so proudly showed off, the power armor, feasible energy weapons that were more than just gimmicks or fancy toys, fusion power, advanced bioware and cyberware, usable and safe AI, advanced robotics, fucking teleportation-
Sable stopped, closing her eyes as she took another long pull from her self-rolled joint, feeling the heat between her fingers. She counted down, embracing the burn in her lungs before finally breathing it out, letting the smoke hit the sniper nest roof.
Jackson had thoroughly trashed her worldview in just a short few hours, forcing her to recalculate everything she had ever considered. This wasn't a casual business venture anymore, nor was it a way to make a name for herself, an easy job that would get her her own influence. This was a stepping stone for Jackson and his agenda. He wanted to burn down the world she had grown up in and remake it into something better.
Something Cassie could thrive in.
Sable smiled as she thought how well little Cassie would fit in with Jay, Jackie, and his crew. Where they shared family meals that could somehow compete at the global level, laughing and shouting at each other. In one two-hour meal, Sable had been exposed to more family-like behavior than she had in several years.
She hadn't expected that to hurt so much.
She was about to raise the joint to her lips again when the sounds of someone coming up the ladder finally made it into her lightly addled brain.
"You know, when Murtaugh woke me up and said you were sneaking around, climbing up to my nest, finding you smoking jane was just about the last thing I expected."
Kaytlyn, arguably the most experienced member of Jay's crew, pulled herself up and over the edge of the nest with practiced ease, claiming the extra chair with a huff.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Sable responded, shifting slightly in her chair. "Needed something to take the edge off of… everything?'
They sat on the roof for a few minutes, Sable enjoying the relatively cool air as she let her thoughts drift, watching the distant wind turbines spin. It was probably the weed, but she couldn't bring herself to care that she had company. Which was why she generally smoked alone.
"Can't really blame you for being overwhelmed," Kaytlyn admitted eventually, breaking the silence. "I get that feeling occasionally, and I've been getting drip-fed all of this stuff. I wouldn't know what to think if Jay just dumped it all on me at once. Though it might include screaming and running for the hills."
"That's still on the table," Sable responded after a long moment.
Kaytlyn snorted and nodded in understanding. Both of them turned as some noise from the Nomad side caught their attention. For a long moment, they watched, only to see someone half stumbling out of one of the bathrooms before heading back to their bunk.
"Has he given you a dramatic speech yet?" Kaytlyn asked, looking at Sable. "Not just a few words, but a proper speech?"
"What? What do you mean?"
"That's a no then, you would know exactly what I was talking about if he had," The blue-haired woman assured her. "Jackson has a flair for the dramatic, so sometimes, when he gets going, he delivers these long dramatic speeches."
"Really?" Sable asked, a bit surprised. "Are they any good?"
"Eh, they aren't bad," Kaytlyn responded with a shrug. "He's managing to get through to Jackie, a monumental achievement, even if I helped a bit. Anyway, we are keeping score. Jackie's got three, I've only gotten one."
"Why so far behind?" Sable asked with a small smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Because I have my shit together?" Kaytlyn guessed with a smirk. "I don't need motivational speeches to help me process my life. I'm quite happy with what I got, even if I couldn't have predicted all of this in my wildest dreams."
"Well… I already agreed that I was with him a hundred percent," Sable pointed out, Kaytlyn nodding sagely in return.
"Only a matter of time then," She responded stoically.
The two women shared a chuckle, and after considering it for a moment, Sable gave Kaytlyn a meaningful look while holding out her hand. Kaytlyn eyed it for a moment before reaching out and accepting the smoldering joint. She sniffed it hesitantly before giving Sable another look.
"Is it the real stuff?" She asked, giving her the eye. "Not laced with anything? I know what kind of crazy stuff you corpos get into. No Glimmer or anything?"
"I don't do anything harder than this," Sable responded, not denying what her peers liked to do. "It's clean, just jane."
Kaytlyn nodded once before taking a long, slow pull. When she was done, she passed the burning rolled bud back to its owner, who took her own pull. Together, they finished the blunt, laying back in their chairs and letting the night envelope them.
"You know, Jackson's not gonna stop with Night City," Kaytlyn said, watching as a massive aerozep floated across the sky, far enough away that it looked like a toy. "He wants to change the world."
"Oh really? The mad scientist wants to take over the world?" Sable responded. "How could I have possibly seen that coming?"
"That… That's fair, actually," Kaytky responded, sounding concerned she hadn't put that together. "But seriously, has he mentioned that?"
"Not directly, but I read it between the lines of his talk about human potential," Sable admitted. "You think he has a chance?"
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't. You?"
"Before all of this, I would have thought that dream was crazy," She admitted, shaking her head. "Some decently advanced tech might have gotten him some traction, but Arasaka has whole armies at their disposal. Now, though? How could an army compete with teleportation?"
"Don't forget, but Jackson has been doing this for less than two months," Kaytlyn pointed out. "Did he explain his "inspirations" to you?"
"He mentioned that his inspiration comes and goes at one point," Sable answered, looking over at the experienced mercenary. "Why?"
"He means that more literally than you might think," Kaytlyn said, meeting the corpo's eyes. "It almost seems like he is on a schedule sometimes. To the point that we've planned around his inspiration, like he knew he would be busy, or when he would be free."
"And he refused to explain what it is?"
"Not refused… more like not sure how to explain it," Kaytlyn answered, before shrugging. "It doesn't matter much to me. It's unnatural, but so is everything else these days."
Sable nodded in agreement, and the two continued to talk, the conversation drifting away from serious topics. Eventually, after a few hours, Sable began to feel the call of sleep. Rather than fall asleep in the sniper's nest, the two made their way back to the bunker, where Sable found her way back to her bed, slipping into sleep not long after she laid down.
Thoughts of Jackie's promised breakfast and another meal among friends running around her head.
Rebecca
Rebecca had always assumed she knew what a friend was, what a family was, and what being wanted felt like. She had thought that her old crew, even with how messed up they were, had been all those things. Losing them had been like tearing out chunks of herself, like being broken and crushed and smushed back together. Losing Sasha had been bad enough, but waking up to hear that everyone else was dead or had run, well... it had broken her in a way she didn't think could be fixed.
Of course, finding out recently that Sasha was, in fact, still alive had broken her in an entirely different way. Jackson had pulled her aside and gently revealed that to her just that night as they were leaving. He was considering hiring her to put together a larger strike team, but he had left it up to her, since she was the one with connections to the netrunner.
And wasn't that just on point? She thought she had known so much, and now Vik, Jackie, Jay, all of them had turned everything on its head.
Rebecca rolled over on the couch, looking out at the relatively empty-looking apartment. Getting rid of Pilar's junk had netted her almost twenty thousand eddies, and she hadn't even haggled. She knew she was being dumb, but she just wanted it out of her life. She wanted it all gone.
With her powerful arms, she twisted herself up and sat on her couch, which she had moved to where Pilar used to work. The apartment was actually pretty big for one person, but it was also ridiculously expensive for just one person, especially considering it was in Watson. She was already looking for a place closer to Vik's, since it looked like she was going to keep her job as his bodyguard.
Jay suggested that she wait, since he had plans for Watson, but Rebecca wanted out. She wasn't going to wait the few months it could take to start moving Vik and others to whatever the crazy dude started building there. Then he had offered to help cover the cost of moving, since she was doing it for work.
Rebecca snorted, shaking her head. That gonk had the weirdest ideas sometimes. What kind of boss pays their workers when they have to move? She laughed to herself at the idea as she stood from the couch and walked towards the fridge, opening it up and peeking inside. She snagged a broseph ale. With a twist of her hands, she popped the top, took a long sip, and made a face when she finished.
"Aw man… they ruined my taste buds!" She said, shaking her head as she made her way back to the couch, putting the beer on the table before sitting down. "Stupid crazy eggheads."
She might gripe about it, but she couldn't find it in her to actually be upset with them. Not just because they were paying her, had saved her life, and were feeding her food that would make a corpo jealous. But because eating with them had been like coming home.
For so long, she thought she knew what belonging felt like. But now she knew she had been wrong. Her team, well... maybe they hadn't hated her, maybe they had even liked her. But she had never belonged. There was always something in the way.
To be fair, she hadn't been the easiest person to get along with. Loud, aggressive, short-tempered. She compensated for so much by acting out. Now, looking back, with new scars and trauma, all of it felt so stupid. Pilar was why she was on the team, the only reason she hadn't been thrown out, and she had known it. It became a vicious cycle of overcompensating, being annoying, ruining missions, and not being welcome because of it.
It was different now. She was different now. She doubted she could even act like she had before without feeling like a total fucking gonk, and she doubted any of her new team would push her away like the old team did.
That thought sent a slice of guilt up her spine, the gnawing feeling she felt in her chest spreading. She had known them for barely more than a week, and she could already tell she was going to get along better with her new teammates than she ever did with her old ones. Her group hadn't been as close, as much of her family as she had thought.
All it took was them all dying for her to figure it out.
She grabbed the beer from the table and slugged half of it back, letting out a belch that filled the room. Immediately, she frowned, the urge to apologize, despite being alone, rising up. She crushed it, putting the beer down on the table again.
Honestly, Vik was the biggest reason she felt this way. The man was a saint and, somehow, always knew how to get through her thick, dumb skull. Not only that, but he could read her like a scanner, always knowing when she needed some kind words or a pat on the shoulder. The man exuded dad energy like most people breathed, and Rebecca had caved to it before she even understood what was happening. She had no idea how he did it, but somehow, he made her feel wanted.
They all did, really. Even when Jay was laying down the law when they first met, it felt like he was at least trying to lay it out for her, to make sure she fully understood what was happening.
Rebecca lay back on the couch, looking around the large apartment, echoes of her old life playing through her head. Shadows of her friends, of her life, danced and moved even as she closed her eyes. She had no doubt she would be haunted by what had happened for a long time.
She had cared about her team, and whatever levels of care or dislike they had felt for her, losing them had left a hole in her.
She only hoped her new team would help her fill it.
Viktor Vektor
The sound of clicking echoed through Vik's workspace as the older man leaned over his desk, a cyberware arm half disassembled and spread out over the table. One of his patients, a thirteen-year-old boy who lost his arm to gang violence two years ago, had come in, complaining that his arm was malfunctioning. The kid had been lucky, as the cheap chrome arm, the only one his parents could afford, had a faulty power cell. If he had waited just a few more days, it could have caused some serious problems. Now, though, it was just a relatively simple fix. Thankfully, it was also a relatively cheap one.
Well, cheap for him, considering he had asked Samwise for help when they had arrived at the Ridge earlier that day. The AI robot had been eager to help, and as they had left, after dinner and Jackie's surgery, they had handed him a package. A quick look inside revealed fifteen power cells, all ready to be charged and used. Nearly twenty thousand eddies worth of replacements, handed over like it was nothing.
Vik shook his head, carefully removing the faulty power cell and dropping it into a box for disposal. After checking the interior for corrosion or any other issues, he grabbed the replacement power cell he had already prepared.
He shouldn't be surprised at this point, not after everything that Jackson had shown them. Jay and his help were working at a totally different level than most people. No eddies were needed, apparently, just piles of dirt turned into raw materials, then converted to tech. Same with the briefcase full of life-saving drugs he had handed him only a week or so ago. The one he promised to keep him supplied with.
Vik glanced over at the temperature-controlled cabinet across the room, where those drugs were stored. He had already handed some of them out, some to ease the pain of surgeries, some to treat various side effects and illnesses. All to people who couldn't have afforded them if he hadn't cut their prices down to nearly nothing. These people came to him looking more for a doctor than a ripper, but he made time and helped as he could. The good news was that, after cutting all of the edgerunners,l gang members, and other punks he worked with to keep the lights on, he had even more time to help those who needed it.
Of course, not all of the people he had let go had been happy to be kicked to the curb. Twice now, Rebecca had to step in and escort some of the less-than-happy chrome heads. Nothing too drastic, and nothing Vik couldn't have likely handled himself, though he was glad not to have to. As much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't as young as he once was. He didn't have much chrome to begin with, having stayed almost entirely clean for his boxing career, a habit he kept even after he retired.
The new power cell, which lacked any branding, covered only in the standard information and warnings, clicked easily into its holder, locking in with several microscrews. Before starting to close the arm up, Vik attached a diagnostic tool to its feeds, letting it run to confirm the arm was functional. As it did, he leaned back, spinning slightly to look around the room.
While he had always appreciated the security that came with keeping his business in the near bunker-like basement, as well as the rock-bottom price, he found himself wondering if he would take up Jay's most recent offer. The prolific inventor had explained his rather brilliant strategy to acquire a huge portion of the land in Watson for cheap, then use it as an excuse to dismantle Maelstrom. Jay anticipated remodeling massive swaths of the district and running security to keep it safe. After he explained the idea, he offered Vik a proper office in that area, with people working with him, genuinely helping people, with programs in place to help those who wouldn't be able to afford care otherwise.
The way he described it made it sound like a miniature hospital, funded with his insane technology, something that would put most corpo services to shame.
Vik let out a long breath, focusing back on his task as his scanner beeped, confirming the new power cell was in perfect condition and seated in the socket correctly. All that was left was for him to painstakingly reassemble the limb.
As he began the reassembly process, his mind drifted back to Jay's offer, as it had been frequently since he made it. He had already been loving their current deal, and Jay had come through majorly, supplying him with parts and drugs to let him help more people. Despite the tighter schedule, he was actually helping more people now, since he emptied his schedules of random punks.
It made him almost want to accept the offer right off the bat, but Jay had explained it was more of a long-term plan, since it would likely take a while for building to begin. Once they had cleared the land and started building, Jay assured him he was on a short list of people with dibs on an apartment and on space for an office, right there with Misty's shop and Jay's own business, TinkerTech.
The thought of Jay's company brought to mind the inventor's business partner, which pulled a chuckle from the older man as he wiped down servo with a gentle cloth before securing it into the joint of the arm. The poor woman had clearly been like a fish out of water the entire dinner, barely keeping it together among the surprisingly close group. Even more so when most of the AIs joined them after dinner, the whole group chatting and laughing before they were finally ready for Jackie's surgery.
Considering how it seemed that Jay was determined to keep her as part of the group, Vik hoped she learned to adapt quickly.
It took nearly another thirty minutes for Vik to finish reassembling the arm. He wiped it down one last time before hooking the whole limb up to a diagnostic link, running it through one last test. As he waited, Vik looked over at his trophies and then down at his workspace.
He had been happy with what he was doing for a long time, but a small part of him had always known it wasn't sustainable. Too many people ran out on their IOUs, and too many people couldn't afford to pay them, no matter how much they wanted to. His goal had always been to help people as much as he could for as long as he could, but now, with Jay at his back, he felt like it was no longer a losing battle, something that would eventually have to end.
Maybe, with Jay's support, his slowly shrinking dream would be something he could do for a while longer without having to settle or sell out.