Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"Let's see if I understand everything correctly. Besides GLaDOS here, you have three other wives: Bellatrix, Enid, and Ravel. And they joined you in that order, with GLaDOS being the latest member of your... harem?" Rebecca asked, sounding much calmer than I expected as she chewed her lunch.
She was still stark naked as she sat with the Malorian propped up next to her food. She really wasn't planning on parting ways with it, was she?
"Exactly." I said simply, shrugging my shoulders.
"Not even denying the harem part?" Rebecca snorted. "But let's see... that Bellatrix, your first wife, is on a different mission than you, while the other two didn't want to go anywhere near Night City." Rebecca continued with the same ease.
"Intelligent," Lucy said as she ate her food. I smiled slightly.
"Yes, that's exactly what happened," I said simply.
"And what am I?" Rebecca asked slowly. "You have to go back to wherever your wives live, right? You'll be leaving Night City sooner or later." Rebecca said with a grimace, trying to look indifferent. I put my fork down halfway and stared at her.
"I will." I said honestly. Night City was temporary; GLaDOS might stay in this world regularly to keep implanting devices or stealing technology, but Night City held no appeal for me other than completing the mission.
"Oh," Rebecca said as she looked down.
"Do you want to come with me?" I asked directly, resting my chin on my palm and smiling lazily. Rebecca lifted her head and looked at me intently. "I like you, Becca, a lot. If you want to keep exploring where this is going, and if you don't mind a couple of secrets I have to tell you later, I'd be happy to take you with me," I said honestly. Rebecca's eyes widened slightly, as if it hadn't even occurred to her that I wanted to take her.
"I..." Rebecca tries to say awkwardly.
"Just think about it, you don't need to decide now, I'm not leaving Night City until I kill Smasher." I interrupted her.
"Yes," Rebecca said immediately and blushed slightly. I looked at her in surprise, and she wasn't the only one; Lucy also looked at her in surprise.
"Yes?" I asked, confused.
"Yes, gonk! I said yes!" Rebecca exclaimed, embarrassed. "Look, it's not like I can't go back to Night City to visit my idiot brother and the crew once in a while, right? Besides, if Maine gets a Sandy and doesn't turn into a psychopath, I have nothing to worry about. They won't need me even if they take on tougher jobs."
"So... yeah, I... yeah, I mean, I like you a lot too, the sex was amazing, the food is incredible, and if you have more missions just as amazing as killing Smasher and incredible weapons or implants, then I'm in. What more could a woman ask for?" Rebecca asked with a wide smile.
I opened my mouth before closing it in disbelief. Well… I mean, I didn't see it coming, but I should have. I chuckled softly.
"If... if you're sure." I said awkwardly. Rebecca just smiled broadly.
"Great! Because I'm eager to meet your other wives! I mean it! The more the merrier! Besides, I really want to beat you in bed, I won't give up until I do." Rebecca growled, pointing her silverware at me. I snorted and smiled.
"Good luck trying it, I know I'll enjoy it a lot." I said with a wide smile.
"Me too!" Rebecca said happily. Well… I guess Rebecca was joining in on all this? Even so, maybe I'll wait a few weeks before telling her the whole truth and that she was literally from another universe. Perhaps she'll regret it at some point, but… seeing how cheerful Rebecca seemed, I seriously doubted she'd back out.
…especially if I took her to meet Bella and let them both wreak havoc in the Orario dungeon.
"I want to join too," Lucy interrupted calmly. Rebecca and I turned our heads so quickly our necks cracked slightly. Lucy just smiled broadly. "Don't worry, I wasn't referring to your harem," Lucy sneered. I just sighed wearily. Rebecca snorted.
"So?" I asked, confused.
"The mission to kill Smasher... I want to join." Lucy said seriously, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "And any mission you have to cause any harm to Arasaka." Lucy added menacingly.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, tone it down a bit. What happened to staying away from the Corps, especially Arasaka?" Rebecca asked incredulously. Lucy just grunted as she tightened her grip on the cutlery she was holding.
"If it were someone else, or another crew, I would do the same. I would turn around and run as far away as possible, but these two—" Lucy pointed at GLaDOS and me. "—they're very likely to kill Smasher, they're my best chance to do real damage to Arasaka. So yes, I don't care what my role is, I want to join." Lucy said without hesitation.
"Hmm, my mission is to kill Smasher, but my contractor said he'd pay me more depending on how much substantial damage I do to Arasaka." Lucy hummed softly, her eyes widening.
"So-"
"But why would I do that?" I interrupted Lucy, looking bored at her. "My mission is to kill Smasher. Although killing Smasher is... a challenge, it's feasible. On the other hand, trying to harm Arasaka in any way is dozens of times more complicated."
"The reward isn't even worth the trouble of trying to annihilate Arasaka." I said, sincerely, and I was telling the truth. While credits were always welcome, and 1 IMG Ticket would be really cool to keep just in case, it wasn't worth the effort.
There were easier missions to complete than trying to eliminate Arasaka. Arasaka had existed for over a century and a half; its political power and capital were simply enormous. I'm almost certain it even controlled more than half of Japan.
Trying to bring down a megacorporation of that magnitude went beyond simply killing Saburo Arasaka and all his descendants who could directly inherit the Arasaka name. Or… maybe not so much.
Killing Saburo would be easy. I could also seek help from Yorinobu; he wanted to get rid of Arasaka more than even Lucy. If I could reach an agreement with Yorinobu, it would be terribly easy to access key points within Arasaka.
Mikoshi was one of them. In the game, when ALT released all the information within Mikoshi, Arasaka suffered a tremendous financial loss, not enough to eliminate Arasaka, but enough to weaken them significantly.
If we add to that the ability to give GLaDOS access to Arasaka's core network, she could sabotage and delete all of Arasaka's data. Even if she let GLaDOS create her own Daemons and unleash them within the Arasaka network, she could create a mini Datakrash that would completely wipe out Arasaka.
I could feel GLaDOS's interest increase considerably.
"I don't want to destroy Arasaka," Lucy said with a resigned grimace. "I know it's impossible to defeat Arasaka, but... if I can cause it any damage, anything... will do." Lucy said, completely determined.
"What if we honor my new Malorian and plant a bomb in the Arasaka tower?" Rebecca asked as she happily spun the Malorian around.
"I can easily create something stronger," GLaDOS said distractedly while rapidly fiddling with a keyboard. I snorted in amusement.
"And I'll let you use my body however you want," Lucy said immediately. My eyebrows rose slightly, and I looked at Lucy incredulously. She simply stared back. "You seem to have a very high sex drive, and it seems you won't be satisfied with just two people. As long as you decide to attack Arasaka in any way you want, I'll warm your bed as many times as you like," Lucy said without hesitation.
"I'm sure it will be a really difficult job." Rebecca snorted mockingly, Lucy smiled derisively, and shrugged.
"Hey, it's not my fault if that happens. I'm just paying for their services; my enjoyment doesn't lessen the payment," Lucy said playfully. I rolled my eyes.
"Fine, I'll think about it." I snorted playfully. "I have to plan a few things before I even think about attacking Arasaka." I said honestly. Really, if it weren't for the fact that I really didn't want to cause a worldwide panic, it would be very easy just to go and destroy all of Arasaka with magic.
If it were a world we'd never return to, maybe I'd consider that nuclear option, but if Rebecca were to join, she'd want to keep coming back to visit the crew.
"Great!" Lucy chirped, smiling slightly. "And also... I'll obviously help with anything you need, and I don't need payment... but... if you can get me a one-way ticket to the moon when all this is over..." Lucy tried to say shyly. I hummed softly.
Should I? No, I shouldn't send her to the moon. That would be easy; I could even create a portal and send her there without her noticing… I think. I've never tried traveling to the moon, but my portals can cross the dimensional rift, so the distance to the moon shouldn't cause any problems.
But that's not what I meant… Lucy hates Night City with all her heart; she considers it a prison and longs to leave it, to go to the moon, just to be free. If that were the case… perhaps I could offer her the chance to come with us to other worlds.
Perhaps it's a better option than going to the moon; after all, there was no better way to be free from this world than to literally abandon it. But I didn't even know how I'd react to the idea of going to another world.
It would be better to simply keep the option open and see how things progress with Lucy, maybe even ask Rebecca later, but yes, Lucy could easily consider prison, simply joining me and going to other worlds, or perhaps not. I didn't know her well enough to know.
I'd only ever had sex with Lucy. Yesterday, while she joined Rebecca and me as a third wheel, she practically ignored us most of the time, so I didn't really know her well enough to know.
I would simply… put the option there and see how it all unfolds.
"I'll think about it." I grunted again, and at that moment, we stopped when we heard a soft knock on the door.
"I'll go." Rebecca said without hesitation, grabbing her Malorian as she walked quickly towards the door.
"She's taking over your place," Lucy mocked in my direction. I shrugged.
"Let her do what she wants," I said distractedly. Rebecca opened the door and pointed her Malorian at the person behind it.
"Hey! Gloria! My girl! What's up, choom? Do you need something?" Rebecca asked without even lowering her weapon.
"R-Rebecca?!" Gloria squealed in surprise. I blinked slightly, confused. "I-I'm here to see GLaDOS," Gloria said shyly.
"GLaDOS! It's for you!" Rebecca shouted, turning around. GLaDOS looked up.
"Oh yes... let her through." GLaDOS said as she stood up as if she had just remembered. Rebecca nodded and stepped aside.
"L-Lucy? You're here too?" Gloria asked, sounding completely confused. I guess she wasn't even bothered by the fact that we were all naked. I chuckled softly.
"I think it's obvious what happened," Lucy scoffed, shrugging. Gloria glanced at Lucy, then at Rebecca, and finally at me. The three of us were completely naked, without a care in the world. Her face lit up with understanding, and she smiled shyly.
"Putting that aside, why did you tell her to come?" I asked, looking at GLaDOS, confused.
"I hired her," GLaDOS said, shrugging. "I needed a receptionist," she added simply.
"S-she's paying me three times what I was making working as a paramedic and selling implants," Gloria said shyly. I looked at GLaDOS, confused.
"Do you really need a receptionist?" I mentally asked, addressing GLaDOS.
"Of course, I need someone to answer calls, schedule appointments, and deal with clients. She's a paramedic and also knows medical treatments, so she can act as a nurse. I'll need help at the clinic since you won't be available all the time. It's an excellent decision." GLaDOS said, nodding and patting her own back in praise. I just snorted.
"You just don't want to deal with other humans more than necessary," I mocked her. GLaDOS smiled slightly.
"Several things can be true at the same time," GLaDOS said wisely with equal ease. I chuckled slightly.
"Okay, hire whoever you want," I said jokingly.
"Excellent, now that you're here, let's start moving everything to my new clinic. The sooner it's ready, the sooner I can start cutting people up almost legally," GLaDOS said, sounding enthusiastic. I chuckled.
"I don't know how legal Ripperdoc's work is." I scoffed. GLaDOS just shrugged.
"Did you finish your conversation?" Rebecca asked boredly, and I just nodded.
"Yes, we have a new task to complete." I said simply as I finished my meal.
"What is it?" Rebecca asked excitedly. I smiled slightly.
"Help GLaDOS move her things to the place where she's setting up her clinic." I said with a wide smile. Rebecca groaned loudly; I could even hear Lucy swear.
"More moving work?" Rebecca complained.
"Yep, and don't complain, this time we won't be using your Maimai as transportation." I said playfully, Rebecca, just grunted.
"Remind me that I have to get that thing cleaned," Rebecca complained.
"Don't worry, I'll do it later." I said nonchalantly, nothing a few cleansing charms can't fix.
"Um... if the clinic isn't open yet... what am I doing?" Gloria asked, squirming slightly. GLaDOS appeared and handed her a tablet.
"Read the documents; there's a list of all the treatments, medications, and prices. Memorize them. I've also already posted an ad about the clinic online, so if you receive calls, you'll start scheduling appointments for tomorrow," GLaDOS said simply before turning back.
"I understand!" Gloria said confidently, though her smile trembled slightly. "And... I know I shouldn't ask about the Edgerunners' work, but... what the hell is that?" Gloria asked shakily, pointing at the Dragoon's body. We all stared at it for a few seconds.
"You don't want to know." Lucy, Rebecca, and I said at the same time. Gloria grimaced before nodding quickly. She turned on her tablet and tried to ignore everything around her. I sighed slightly.
"Do you want something to eat?" I asked playfully as I walked back into the kitchen. Gloria looked up in surprise.
"Oh no! I couldn't! I already ate something on the way here!" Gloria said quickly. I ignored her and served another portion of food, placing it in front of her. Gloria gripped the tablet tightly and looked at the food longingly, as if she were remembering yesterday's meal. "J-just one bite."
Gloria said shyly before putting the tablet down, and just as I expected, that first bite turned into completely devouring the food in front of her. Rebecca let out a joyful laugh.
Well, I suppose I already had my plans for the day, and I also had a lot to plan for the next few days. I quickly checked GLaDOS's memories and saw what I was looking for: GLaDOS had left Grayson alive, still on the Ebunike.
Perfect. Grayson had seen my face, so my face should already be in Arasaka's system, especially Smasher's. Even if I didn't go looking for him, he'd come to me. Smasher wouldn't let an insult like stealing from his secret stash go unpunished, so that was settled either way.
Now it was just a matter of waiting.