Long past after hours, most house lights off.. music's off. A Hosting time available to… no one really. Night shift bar staff grabs for their bags… a final nod from the owner on their way out for a day well done.
Carter sips a beer sat next to Gina, their wounds steadily numbed by alcohol, he watches the metal shutters across the lounge clank down shut. He glances over at Brian and Zaunya headed for the exit... Gina slamming her chugged beer bottle to the bar snatches back his attention. Clearly she's had too many… her words slur with conviction and animosity.
"Was an ambush but the engagement was fucking clean." She mutters with no eye contact. Carter reaches over the counter for a couple more Brosephs. "Same damn sequence I've found myself in plenty of times. Was quick… but he wasn't quick enough." Gina seeing the sequence in her mind as clear as glass… the kinetic force of their impacts… the speed and complexity executed within such a small window of time.
They each sip their fresh beer during a pause.
"...Took his fuckin' hand.
Carter's eyes squint slightly.. having thoroughly digested the entire story over the course of the night.
"And he… he was still able to parry n' counter?"
Her eyes close tight with emotion she buries faster than her quickdraw. A look of stoic intensity washes over her.
"...Was a prosthetic." She throws him a fleeting glance before downing her beer.
Carter hears the emotion seeping from her vocal cords.
"….H-he… he made sure I… Iw-was watching." A lone tear trails from her eye she quickly wipes.
Carter sits in the silence of her catharsis… piecing it together.. finally he speaks up.
"...So the hunt's two fold huh. Vengeance for your…. Coach." She glances over at him. "And finding that through locating this… 'sacred order of samurai'? Are you sure they're even-"
"-Only a few blades out there that can best me… I know of eight." A half shake of her head.
"And these deets you've managed to scrape together…" He nods slow. "They got coords?"
The shift in his tone of voice is unfamiliar to her. The mutters of a helping hand from who exactly? She again briefly looks over into his eyes… several quick flashes of the street war they both nearly died in cycle in her head. Who he is she may be unsure… but what he's willing to do has shown inarguable.
She slowly draws her gut hook knife… the sound of sharpened steel licks the holster in the silence of the warm lounge. She holds it up at the neon lit bar counter closed for business… slowly turning the blade as the dim reflection catches on the cleaned steel.
They meet eyes with intoxicated smiles up to no good.
TuckTuck lays past out, strapped down in a makeshift compartment in the crew's van. His mechanical whines and whirs restlessly jostling around for a comfortable position in his sleep. The streets are dark… eerie… oddly dead for prime time… the roll of the tires and rumble of the engine are alone in the ambiance tonight.
Gina and Carter... venturing forth on a road as unknown as they are. At times the city tends to pay extra close attention... when the hazards and have-nots take the night off.
"Turn up here.. then we should be straight for a while." Gina mutters… a steady gaze out the window.
With one hand gripping the wheel Carter glances in the rearview at TuckTuck then over at her. He opens his mouth to speak but catches himself... retreating to a gaze out the window.
With the feeling fleeting… he forces it out.
"Livin' in Heywood there uh… there used to be this saying: 'If the scratch is right, take a bite."
Gina looks over at him. He continues.
"...Thing is didn't learn that as a merc.. was still a kid. Just what you heard growin' up. Streets've always been forever evolving… day to day… packed with opportunity… that don't got shit on where you start."
Carter takes Gina through a distant memory of his.
Across the street from El Coyote Cojo, down in the open community square, stall owners close up shop for the night. Ramen shop regulars bundle up headed home… even the street vagrants make their way to much warmer pastures.
There little Carter stands about a block away… his eyes fixated on the square down below as the last lingerers finally wander away.
He makes his move, hurrying over to the abandoned community square with lights out. A final look around at distant passersby before he makes his rounds. Any half eaten food ditched in wrappers? Any dropped valuables? Drops of real water at the bottom of crushed cans? Perhaps even a stray enny or two on a really lucky night. However again, tonight offers no luck.. only a break from the whistling wind behind a line of rusty and robbed vendits long out of service. Tucked back here, he was pretty hard to reach. He'd built a roof from scraps of street signs.. car parts to stop passersby from casually tossing trash down into his little spot. Allowing the thrown trash to accumulate above the metal layer only helped overtime minus the occasional leak. Torn up Buck-A-Slice boxes plug convenient holes for rats to run through. This was home… better than the Night City orphanage he developed in.
"Never knew my parents. Lady who ran the orphanage wacked out one day on me n' screamed. Said they were just a couple strung out junkies that just… left me there. Never really believed her though… she was pretty pissed that day." He smirks.. wiping it away during a pause. "Rakin' trash n' slingin' scrap was never for me.Found myself runnin' suppressants n' pickin' sockets from past out blue collars before it was too late… was able to get somethin' in my stomach that wouldn't turn it."
Gina looks over.. growing attentive as he continues.
"… At that age, can only do so much workin' alone.. only people I ever really 'knew' were on the street with scratch for the scraps I had worth sellin'. Would try n' follow the occasional merc around to try n' pick up game. Would hear horror stories about NC prison… shit like BD prison torture served by the corp owned state is why most end up goin' out in a blaze of glory. Learned a lot about how they move that way… the risks n' struggles of the life. But like any given day in Night City… opportunity offers a hand."
Another quiet night of no luck has little Carter antsy… impatiently waiting for the final strays around his square to make their way elsewhere.
While fishing in a nearby dumpster with a steady history of results, sharp skidding tires snatch his attention. They come to a loud crash not ten yards away sending loaded trash bins flying... the impact jolts him as his little body tumbles into the dumpster. The rapid footsteps of spooked bystanders scramble as Carter pokes his little head just outside the dumpster.
The first thing his eyes see is the rear passenger door click open… blood pours to the street like a waterfall of syrup splattering. A thick combat boot steps out into it... Carter hears the groans of someone in pain muffled by blood as the steps approach.
"H-help me choom… p-PLEASE! C-can't… can't feel my-"
*BOOM!!!!*
A single shot Carter witnesses sends him ducking down into the dumpster shaking. It silences the area… leaving behind only the heavy breathing grunts of a man trying to gather himself. Carter finds a hole down in the dumpster, giving him a view.
His high collar jacket shifts with a tired sway.. the man's head looking around in all directions. He yanks an inhaler out the driver side window… he shakes it for a whiff but finds it empty.. slamming it to the street before an attempt to take off. With a single step, he buckles… a shriek of pain stops him in his tracks.
With a brief look down at himself he shifts his intention… instead a steady limp down into Carter's square turns into a drag… streaking blood behind him.
Carter's head puts it together; He won't be going far.
Steady coughs with struggled breathing emit from the street tough as tattered little shoes approach… finding him sat up against the wall right next to Carter's smashed vendit hut.
Carter gets a clear look at this guy straining to breath. He looked like someone from the future.. not only was his style blazing paths but his cyberware was top of the line. His all black getup was both stylish and intimidating… moreso the iron clutched tightly in his hand. The jet black revolver had an extended barrel and yellow trim that caught Carter's eye as the man's grip loosened on it… passing out from the blood loss.
Carter's next step toward.. heavier than the last trigger's the man's instinct. He jolts awake, cocking the hammer on his revolver pointing it at Carter with whiplashing speed. Carter's eyes and mouth widen with a gasp as he freezes in place. The man gets a clear look at the kid… with a tired sigh… the revolver skids loudly a few yards away.
He steadys his heavy breathing with eyes trained on Carter… both just… looking at each other.
"Heh… no idea who I am huh kid." He finally mumbles, spit coughing blood to the street. His mortal wounds crippling.
Carter doesn't respond. A frozen look of shock on his face watching a man die. The merc looks up and away at the streets and high rise apartments. His inward thoughts pouring out in volumes rivaling his own blood.
"Spent all my life… how hard I worked to be someone a choom knew. Feared… respected." Another heavy cough of blood… he nods over toward his crashed wheels. "Now look… not even two shakes later n' they're already pickin' me clean."
Carter turns to look at the aftermath… seeing a faceless group of vagrants shrouded in darkness as limbs frantically reach and yank for valuables inside and outside the car… darting off in random directions. The merc's voice pulls back his attention.
"Nothin' lasts kid… the annals of history are... e-ever replaced by the moment… the now. Longer you last… the less remember… till all that's left if you're lucky's a name." His voice shakes with pain trying to steady his breathing.
He gazes around at the city's soil he sprouted from… the sharp edges… the bloodied concrete beneath him… the dirty streets… a blank look up at the polluted night sky… his voice tired. "That's what I chased kid… my whole life...… only for it to... end with the next generation starin' at me blankly-hahaaha!" His laugh is choked by blood… a deep gasp for air.
With so much more than he can say racing through his mind… he gathers himself looking deep into Carter's stunned little eyes.
"….Got a daughter… bout your age I bet. W-with a choom of mine over in a Valentino Alley apartment... left her there for the week… do me a solid would'ya?"
Carter watches the merc shakily reach for a credchip tucked away hidden in a chrome compartment in his forearm.
"G-get this to her huh… c-coords on me. Ain't a far trip… even for you." He coughs up more blood.
Carter looks at the presented chip and doesn't respond… his energy shifting to fear and hesitation. The merc lets out a tired giggle with a bloody smile.
"How bout ya get HALF of this to my daughter… with the rest alll for you choomba. C-can… can ya do that for me kid..?" The merc's expression serious and waning… his eye lids growing heavy… Carter grabs the chip… staring at it in his hand.
By the time able to look back up… the merc's life is gone.
Carter quickly looks to the revolver as it clacks to the floor. He slowly reaches with hesitation and grabs it.. thrown off by its heavy weight. A final stare down with shock at a merc that didn't live long enough to even hear his voice. A majority of his last words holding firm in his head though hardly understood as he makes his way down the street.
With revolver clasped in one little hand and credchip gripped even tighter in the other, an idle shout causes Carter to look back in the distance; Seeing a shadowed group swarm the merc's body like a pack of rabid hyenas… he takes off into the night. Ending the flashback.
The van slow rolls to a stop at a red light. Gina's gaze now fixated on Carter invested in his words. She catches her energy with a gentle tone tamed.
"The girl…. did you… did you ever find her? I mean like go see her?"
The red of the traffic light illuminates his face refusing eye contact with her.
He fixes his gaze out into the black streets… the idle engine steady rumbling. He sits in the lack of response with her… his mind flooded with thoughts behind a pokerface.
"Look- this place is fucked in all the right ways for all the wrong people. You wanna get ahead in thesestreets- you deal with the dirt. Or stay at the bottom of the fuckin' dumpster with your morality- your good will intact. Tch… didn't make the fuckin' game…. just know how to play it." The red light turns green as they drive on. "Was off and on overtime… only really ran the edge when the wallet called for it… otherwise you'd find me degenerating in the night life… getting truly lost in it. Drugs.. women..intense bonds but fleeting… hm… still think about some of those faces… some of that energy shared with names I can't even remember. Was like the experience always mattered more than who with y'know. Till I... met someone…."
Gina's expression shifts.. the tension in her body relaxing further with the alcohol buzz.
"She'd been casin' a mark a contact of mine keyed me in on. Gonk had a stash of modified doll chips he klepped from this famous underground network so they were hot. She hid… watched me do all the work from a distance. When I took off… she stumbled into the street.. made me swerve. I crashed... through the smoke I heard her strainin' to yank the door open. She clicked my seatbelt off- thought she was tryin' to help me honestly. Heh… she yanked me out, patted me down n'rolled me over… a quick look through my ride for the kit n'she split. Tracked her down a few days later… rest was history."
Gina's demeanor softens… at times it can be easy to live in your struggle, while completely disregarding the ones other people carry. With so much time spent alone in her own pain and history… Carter's gives her space for something she's needed desperately beyond her own grief. Perspective. That there's so much more to these people she's now risked life and limb for… and how a drunken drive with a complete stranger strangely feels less so.
Connection in Night City… hard to find, and often something you never see coming.
"...Where is she now?" Her tone softened with intrigue.
"…..Gone... like I should've been."
She doesn't respond… for once, thoughts with weight having nothing to do with her squirm about the mind. An injection of perspective healing in ways she can't understand let alone feel. She hears Beretta's voice in her head laugh with that energy she misses… is this the direction she talked about?
"That big fucker with the scar on his jaw... saved my life… n' more than once now."His voice more than done with vulnerability concludes. The van makes a final turn slow rolling to a stop. He pulls over, putting it in park… he nods up. "Your coords."
Gina's mind re-centers in an unfamiliar way… she glances into the back checking on TuckTuck before her eyes are drawn to the building they've arrived at. Sitting in the shadows… a mutter of confusion leaves her lips.
"..What the fuck..?" She squints with hazy vision, opening the passenger door hopping out. Carter quickly follows.
They stand before this dark building. No lights on through a lone window, a heavy metal shudder covering the wider entrance, and a completely dead street from end to end. She giggles. The liquor in her system making her tank top feel like a winter coat in the late night breeze with a bite.
"Know this place?" Carter asks looking up and around at the two story building.
"Nah… blade's gym though for sure. Can tell by the setup.Choom who gave me the deets said the 'coords are in the ballpark I'm lookin' for'… tch.. fuckin weirdo never knew when to shut up with his reaches for connection." She mutters checking out the building.
"A 'blade's gym." He mock whispers with marvel. "..Heh.. In all my years on these streets I've never heard of some shit like this. What do you guys even do exactly..?"
"Slice each other the fuck up- what else."
"I-mean-yeah-but… y'know the streets you walk carry far more than just steel. And i've seen you not afraid to pull a trigger… rookie form n all." He smirks.
"Hah… rookie form." She smirks, rolling her eyes. "My coach was always better at explaining it than me but… think of it almost like a secret society right.. a shadow culture if you will. And good luck finding who got it started.. that's probably a couple steel bouts for you just for that. No entry point, no invitation… no hierarchy.. just a strict set of guidelines some follow closer than others." She giggles.
"Guidelines..? And those are?"
She scoffs... looking through the dark window then up at the building.
"...Don't lose."
He squints.. a half shake of the head. Curiosity pulled in with every obscure answer. His voice soft with a slur. "...and you lived in that? Like even growin' up?"
He watches her take a step away from the building.
"Tch…. growing up." She mutters… her inhibition taken by a drunken night.
They find themselves walking side by side… not too far- just up the sidewalk.
She plants herself up on the back of a concrete bench… boots rested on the seat itself. Carter plants next to her on the seat.. their difference in height now making an easy match.
"My parents graduated from saka academy together.. got full ride scholarships. Self-made, true blue corpos. My dad had a gift for using his tone… his energy to control a room. It's like without even uttering a word people knew what he felt… you could just feel it on him. Quite the valuable trait when rising through a white collar conglomerate. My mom…" Her mouth opens but nothing comes out… raising Carter's attention as he looks over.
She looks at him but the eye contact cowers away… the frail discomfort wears itself on her face with the subtlest quiver of the bottom lip. She looks down and away and so does he… more than able to listen to her memory.
"Things overtime had already gotten pretty bad but...….. one night." Her voice shakes with a whisper.
Late in the night, little Gina lays awake in the darkness of her room. Her mind skatters with fear and stress after a loud and long day in the house between her fighting parents. The steady white noise of freeway engines and distant car horns bleed in through her closed window.
The plush, roomy house is dead quiet… all familiar idle noises doing their thing; The house settling pops and creaks, the air conditioner beeping off, that stray cat that likes to rummage out back.
However, another noise enters… one more than familiar but not at this hour.
Gina's ears latch onto it… her little head naturally rising from the covers to look at her door sat in the darkness.
Muffled footsteps on carpet gently grow closer… the steady rise of their sound nearing snatches Gina's little throat. Her eyes widen… little heart pounding in her ears as she grips her blankets tight enough to make her shake.
The carpeted steps stop at her door… it feels like minutes go by hearing nothing… Gina's adrenaline drowning all the common noises from hyper focus.
The door finally nudges… a light attempt to slide it open is halted by an unexpected lock.
A brief pause.
Another attempt… this time much stronger.
Gina catches her gasp by covering her mouth… the shaking in her hands uncontrollable as repeated attempts to yank her door open are resisted. The frustrated grunts of her mother trying to stay quiet build with each attempt.
Gina feels the anger of each yank stab through her body… mother's quieted grunts turning to quieted shrieks with feral yanks on the door.
She wants more than anything to get inside.
What feels like an eternity passes… Gina shaking under blankets with eyes closed tight hears the struggle finally lose it's steam. The sounds cease with a final aggressive yank… the gentle footsteps fading away into the house.
She cries deeply into her pillow… a frantic surge of emotions shes left to endure alone.
"…..Never saw her again after that." A single tear escapes the corner of Gina's eye she quickly wipes away. "My uh…. I think my dad knew." She squints slowly nodding. "Just… just not how bad I guess. She...…. s-she made sure he never saw it."
"G-gina I…."
Carter's tone grabs her… one so unfamiliar, so sensitive that it pulls her eyes to his under this lone street light. The cold, unforgiving concrete bench beneath them warmed like your dad's favorite leather living room lazyboy.
Carter opens his mouth to speak… but his words are taken by an approaching engine loud enough to compensate for a dead night in the city.
Comfortably posted on warmed concrete, they both look up at set of luxury wheels screech to a halt not even ten yards away. Before even bothering to react, they see all four doors click open. A group of young, healthy night citizens hop out.. spryer than ever. Even their attire looked ready for a gym workout at all times.
Their loud banter and laughter fills the quiet block… the undeniably recognizable call of the civilian.
Uneducated to the streets yet existing in them, their life's a bubble… loaded to the gills with safetyware and Trauma Team platinum plans... indifferent to the true grit and hardship of those grown from its being.
Their obnoxious shouts and bonding laughs reflect fondly on the gym they hopped out in front of. Looking up at the place calling back to fond memories with charisma and confidence.. checking facts as they shove each other rowdy. They're so self involved that they fail to see Carter and Gina sat right off to the side alone looking right at them.
They all realize it together… just how goofy it makes them all feel socially having not noticed their presence considering how close they are.
….Sat in the brief, awkward silence of that realization…. Their reaction is beyond predictable. With chests puffed out, the loudest one acknowledges their gaze.
"Yo! What up!? Ya'll got a starin' problem?" His eyebrows lower with a smirk.. a slight tilt of the head. This gets the rest of the overly self involved bunch to chuckle.
The looks on all their faces shift… some seeing it better than others. The scars… the tattered clothes… the dirt and grime covered chrome and gear. Without a word, they quickly realize the type of people they've acknowledged out here in the street's dead of night. Those from a life… a world they'd never indulge let alone understand.
Their tone… their energy tightens catching the eyes of two inebriated street vagrants gazing at them in silence unflinching. The one that barked notices Gina's blade on her back… a series of deep scarring throughout her neck, shoulders and arms. Several other signs providing answers to a question he's yet to ask… his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Y-yo…. you a blade?"
Carter looks at Gina just like the rest of them… her smirk remaining firm… her stare of daggers into the choom's eyes as she lets the question hang for a while.
Eventually she squints… a slow shake of the head staring right at him.
".....Nah." She grumbles.. her smile growing bigger.
Carter giggles… his smile never leaving her face… it makes her look over at him with her smile.
Without a word he nods in the direction of their van… they promptly get up.. walking away toward it.
"Heh… in my time heard only the best deny it. Think you're the best?" He raises arms out at the pair walking away. His entourage rumbling with bravado and confidence… condescending mutters encouraging her to keep walking.
Gina stops… looking back at him over her shoulder with a big smile
She turns to face him in the dark street.. her balance woozy with booze.
"Take a bite." She gently offers smiling... Carter turns back around to face them.
ooo's and ahh's grumble from the group with chuckles of doubt… mad question asking who this little bitch is.
After they finish.. the silence following their reaction carries with it an air of intensity Night City eats for breakfast like its favorite meal.
With his level of confidence yanked down it's too late- the challenge has been issued. To walk away now would the beginning of a-
"-Witness." One of his chooms barks, causing the challenged to turn around. The rest understanding what's happened chime in with the same… their confidence not nearly as waned as his.
Everyone takes a few good steps back as he draws his blade… the streets now as quiet as when they arrived… he points it at Gina and gets into stance.
She scoffs with a smirk… gripping the blade on back with her right hand… elbow pointed toward the night sky. Her eyes never leave his as she walks toward him… her prompt pace intimidating- walking right at him.
Her move leaves little room for thought… instinct takes over.. defaulting to a technique owned by muscle memory… not confidence.
He charges toward her with a lowered blade to swing up.
Gina releases the grip on her blade… instead holding her empty arms out, goading him in. Carter's face quickly switches with nervous astonishment.
He swings the blade up with refined technique… Gina sharply pivots a step and catches both of his wrists mid swing. In a deadlock, he struggles to yank the hands from her grip… giving her a final look into his eyes.
She steps to the side… crank twisting her upper body hard as steel meets flesh… the wet shink echoes through the sound starved block.
His chooms flinch with wide eyes of disbelief as blood sprays from his neck. His bloody gurgling is ceased by a final swing of his blade slicing his head in half while she returns it to resting position at her side. His body collapsing to the street with a heavy thud.
With it over before it even began she raises the blade in the dim light with boozy balance, admiring its quality as the group of blades immediately draw their steel in the quieted streets.
Carter draws and points his iron at half speed as he steps to all of them with his lanky towering frame. The cocking of the hammer jolt freezing them all in place.
"Ah-ah-ah-ah" Carter mutters with a head shake… gesturing with the gun to drop their steel as he stands right in front of them.
The steel of multiple katanas clank to the ground as Gina admires the blood dripping blade completely detached from the moment.
Snapping out of it, she looks over at the group held at gunpoint… frozen in shock at what they tributed witness to. Her eyebrows raise.. her voice nonchalant.
"Anybody want this?" She chimes with slurred speech holding it out for them.
She gets no response.
She shrugs.. chucking it to the street as the steel scrapes toward them through their chooms blood to gasps.
"Then leave the blood." She slow nods.. tapping her chest with the index finger. "That's mine now."
She turns to walk to the van.
Carter smirks at the blades stood before him silent in fear. "Heh.. good luck to Trauma Team piecin' that one back together."He de-cocks his iron… turning to catch up with Gina as they walk away into the night.