His top priority, securing the apartment next to the Martinez family, was resolved in an instant without any hassle—just a swift, decisive slap of cash. It took all of two hours. The cost was 30,000 eddies, which was… pretty cheap. Mean, it was expensive.
He'd ordered the necessary furniture online, so he couldn't move in until it arrived. A glance at the UI clock showed it was 16:00.
He was getting hungry, so he decided to head to El Coyote Cojo for a meal.
He threw on some clothes you'd expect to see in the Glen district and stepped outside. Using the vehicle call menu, he summoned his favorite Kusanagi CT-3X. Within a minute, the distinctive red silhouette of the motorcycle came driving up to him on its own from the parking garage.
He couldn't help but grin. Even in his past life, people had built these, but he never could. It was his number one dream to ride one before he died.
"She's beautiful… This is it. This is the one."
He resisted the strong urge to lick it all over, settling for just running his hands over the sleek bodywork. Even so, he could feel strange looks from people around him.
"Who gives a damn about their stares? Show some respect in front of this lady, you gonks!!"
After a solid thirty minutes of admiring the motorbike, he swung a leg over it, cranked the accelerator, and sped off stylishly towards El Coyote Cojo.
The bike was electric, so it was nearly silent, but the motor was specially modified to spit sparks when the throttle was wide open, making it look incredibly cool. He wished the ride could last forever, but he arrived in no time.
He parked it haphazardly and set the anti-theft system to deliver a high-voltage shock to anyone unauthorized who touched it.
"That oughta flatline any thief!"
He stepped into the dimly lit bar and scanned for Jackie. He soon spotted that characteristic broad back at the far end of the counter. That somewhat ridiculous topknot and large frame were unmistakable to anyone who'd ever played the game.
He felt a sudden warmth behind his eyes, but bit down hard, knowing that crying here would just make him look like an emotionally unstable weirdo. Suppressing the emotion, he pretended to be a first-time customer and took a seat next to Jackie.
He ordered a NiCola Classic and some tacos from the unfamiliar bartender. The can of NiCola came first. He took a sip while waiting for the tacos. It was surprisingly good—tasting like Pepsi with a hint of Dr. Pepper. He could get hooked on this…
He was gulping it down and about to order another when Jackie, who had been glancing his way, finally spoke up.
"Hey there, choom. Don't think I've seen you around. You new here?"
"Hm? Yeah, choom. Just got a place over in the Glen recently."
"Welcome to the Glen! Well, it's a dying part of town, but still… Name's Jackie. Jackie Welles. Pleasure to meet ya, choom." Jackie knocked back a shot of tequila and gave a thumbs-up.
"I'm Nate. Nefer Asukai, but just call me Nate. I'm, well, supposedly a half-Japanese, half-Greco-Egyptian mix."
According to his current life's memories, that seemed to be the case, though his memories of his parents were pretty hazy. He'd just have a feeling they were his parents if he saw their faces. It seemed he'd attended an Arasaka elite school from childhood and had decent grades. It made it even more puzzling how he'd managed to leave the corporation so amicably.
"Nate… Solid name. So what brings a guy like you to set up a house in the Glen?"
"Well, let's see. I guess you could say I'm establishing a base to start working as a full-time freelance merc."
"Whoa, for real? That's preem! Actually, I was just about to start out as a merc myself."
"Is that so?"
From there, Jackie launched into an enthusiastic, tequila-fueled story about how he decided to become a mercenary and his dream of making it big in Night City.
His tale was full of humor and jokes, drawing in the crowd until half the bar's patrons were gathered around them, cheering them on.
Nate and Jackie had their arms around each other's shoulders, drinking tequila straight from the bottle by now…
'Huh?? This is weird…'
'We've become friends without me even realizing it!'
"What incredible charisma. Good thing it was me, or anyone else might have missed this chance."
After hitting it off, riding a wave of drunken enthusiasm, they found Misty—who didn't have her own shop yet—hanging out in the alley behind El Coyote Cojo.
They sort of ended up dragging her along and, under the pretense of Jackie making an introduction, stormed into Viktor's clinic, causing a ruckus.
Viktor, who initially seemed annoyed, soon found himself leading the impromptu party. Misty spent the whole time dizzy and confused about how she'd gotten swept up in it all.
Once the initial frenzy died down, Nate and Viktor got deep into a Ripperdoc discussion, passionately debating the causes of cyberpsychosis.
The conversation quickly became filled with technical jargon, and Jackie, who had gotten bored, had somehow managed to hit it off nicely with Misty.
In the game, Jackie and Misty would date for a year before he met his end.
Nate didn't know if a 'V' existed in this world, but he wanted to see the two of them happy. He wanted to protect that.
Moving their relationship forward by a few years probably wouldn't cause any major problems.
Viktor noticed Nate watching the two of them with a soft, narrowed gaze, but didn't say anything about it.
'He really is a good guy!!! Though I think he might be getting the wrong idea…' Viktor thought.
Later, feeling a bit responsible for having dragged Misty along, Nate talked with her at length. Just like in the game, her spiritual side was already fully intact five years prior.
He still didn't really understand auras or chakras, but there was no doubt that Misty's intuition was exceptionally sharp. Talking to her also reaffirmed what a genuinely kind soul she was.
When he asked, she said she was currently working odd jobs to save up money to open her own shop. She was even looking for a patron...
'Well, after that, there was only one thing left to do…'
Striking while the iron was hot, Nate stood up and loudly declared he would be her patron, earning cheers and applause from the drunk Jackie and Viktor.
They went to the storefront that would become Misty's shop pre-readings, and Nate dealt with the current owner with another swift slap of cash (the second time).
The guy initially tried to hesitate and drive up the price, so Nate used a brick of thousand 100€$ notes to physically and metaphorically slap some sense into him.
The man became very compliant after that…
'Power plays feel good. I wanna do that again.'
Misty turned pale when she saw the 100,000 eddies, but… well, it probably wasn't a problem.
"...Why would you spend 100,000 eddies on a girl like me, who you don't even really know? And… when I look at your aura, Nate, I see a color all mixed up with joy, sadness, and nostalgia…"
Her intuition was just too sharp. 'Is Misty a Newtype? Wrong franchise, Misty…'
Seeing her anxious, wringing her hands in front of her chest, Nate gently unfolded them and enveloped them with his own. At the same time, he transferred the shop's deed and passkey to her.
"I can't tell you the reason yet. But I promise I'll explain it someday. The only thing I can say is that, in a way you don't know, you saved me once."
"What do you mean…?"
"Well, this shop is yours now. Don't worry about the money. Just give me a reading sometimes, okay?"
"…Okay. I understand. Thank you, Nate."
She looked so endearing that he gave her a tight hug, taking the opportunity to whisper in her ear.
"...Jackie's a good guy, right? I think he likes you. Maybe give him a chance?"
A slightly blushing Misty gave a small nod. Seeing that, Nate promptly released her and turned back to the drunken Jackie.
"Jackie! Amigo! I've got a few gigs lined up from the NCPD. Wanna team up? We split the rewards down the middle."
"For real? Heh heh, looks like my luck's finally turning!"
"Okay. Let's get moving then."
"Hey now, you two sure you're good to go without sobering up? ...Ah, I won't stop you, but be careful out there."
They both gave a thumbs-up to the exasperated Viktor and strode out of the clinic.
After that, they went on a rampage, hopping from one crime scene to another, strictly avoiding Valentinos turf.
They built mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, turning cyberpsychos into Swiss cheese and earning a filthy amount of eddies. In their wake, they left only beehive-riddled or dismembered corpses.
Perhaps they'd gone a bit overboard, because the gangs grew wary, and the next day, the crime rate in Night City reportedly hit a record low... or so the story went.
"Whew~! We made a killing!"
"H-hey, Nate… don'tcha think this is a bit much...? Is this really okay?"
"Fine, fine. It's their own fault for committing robberies, murders, and cop assaults out in the open, where any civilian can report them. Besides, it's usually just desperate low-level gangers doing this stuff, and we're working on official NCPD contracts. I doubt we'll get any retaliation from them. And just in case, we avoided the Valentinos altogether, so we should have their protection no matter what."
"You even thought that far ahead, choom? …Sorry."
"Don't worry about it. We can learn the ropes of taking gigs together from now on, right? Looking forward to it, choom."
"…Yeah! I'm counting on you!"
"Alright, here's your half of today's earnings."
Nate transferred 110,000 eddies to Jackie.
"...I can't believe we earned this in one day…"
"Welcome to Night City… Let's go major league, Jackie."