Chapter 11: Are You... Into Classic Anime?
The night wind swept across the landscape. The shipping container was only a few dozen meters from the main Santo Domingo highway, flanked by a dense sprawl of low-rise housing. Having just come from the neon-drenched canyons of the City Center, the stark contrast was disorienting for Rhys.
The rich get richer, and the poor die in the gutter. That's Night City for you...
He brushed his hair back, took the hair tie—Rita's hair tie—from his wrist, and quickly tied his black hair up. Then he looked at the figure standing in front of him. Sasha was on her tiptoes, her hands clasped behind her back, eyes眯ed as she enjoyed the cool breeze.
Rhys said nothing, just quietly observing her. Her black netrunner suit had a few tears, revealing the pale skin beneath. It wasn't the same synthetic material the Mox used; her skin looked closer to the real thing, lacking that glossy, manufactured sheen. Her hands were linked, swaying gently behind her. She looked completely relaxed.
"Don't you have anything you want to ask me?" she said suddenly, her back still to him.
"Ask about what? Didn't you tell me to mind my own business?" Rhys replied. He could be petty when he wanted to be.
"You really hold a grudge..."
Sasha turned around, an exasperated look on her cat-like face. The wind whipped through her black hair, revealing a hint of red at the roots. It seemed her natural hair color was red. She'd dyed it.
"Securicine. Ever heard of it?"
"Can't say I have."
"It's a drug. Reduces pain, suppresses neuro-degradation. You can think of it as a kind of neural booster," Sasha said with a small smile.
"Sounds like something we'd use," Rhys mused.
Putting the pieces together—Sasha's sudden break from professionalism at Biotechnica, her story in the Edgerunners credits, and now this—Rhys could already guess the shape of the story. But he knew his role right now was to be a listener. He'd done it often enough with the Mox. The gang was full of dolls, and whenever the pressure got to be too much, they'd always seek out Rhys, the youngest and quietest member of their family, to vent. He'd gotten used to being a "trash can" for their emotions. Sometimes, he felt like he could have been a therapist.
"It sounds like that," Sasha continued, "but it was actually meant for medical patients. It was expensive, and because of its powerful effects, it sold out the moment it hit the market. I worked my ass off to buy a vial for my mom. It took almost all the savings my sister and I had."
Rhys listened in silence.
"I thought it was a miracle drug. I gave it to her like I was presenting some grand treasure. Half a week later, I got a call from the hospital. My boss screamed my head off for leaving work, but by the time I got there, they'd already cremated her."
"I was so confused, Rhys. Neither my sister nor I were there. No family member signed off on it. What right did they have to cremate my mother so quickly? I never understood. Until tonight."
Sasha looked straight at him, a deep sadness in her blue-and-pink eyes. "I killed my own mother. Securicine was a scam. For the sake of profit, Biotechnica ignored and covered up its side effects. It reduces pain, yes, but it also causes degenerative neuropathy. Thinking back, I understand why they cremated her so fast. It wasn't because of some plague or contagious disease. It was because Biotechnica was afraid of the data getting out. That hospital was in their pocket."
She pressed her palms down, stretching her body with her eyes closed, the movement uncannily like a cat stretching after a nap. "The mystery that haunted me for years is finally solved. The burden is gone. To be honest... I didn't really want to live after that."
"In our line of work, you get used to the idea of death. All I could think about was how to get revenge on Biotechnica. So, I thought of WNS News. WNS is backed by Militech, and they're old rivals of Biotechnica. Pretty smart, right? Figured out a way to get back at them in an instant."
"I thought WNS was backed by the NUSA," Rhys commented. The Mox ran an underground radio station in Dogtown, mostly playing their own tracks and spouting anti-corpo and anti-NUSA rhetoric. Rita sometimes ran security for them, so Rhys had heard a thing or two.
"Let me ask you, who's the President of the NUSA?" Sasha asked. When Rhys didn't answer, she sighed. "I'm a netrunner, Rhys. And I'm not bragging when I say I'm a damn good one. With proper training, I could be on par with any top corpo netrunner. I've taught myself more than most people will ever learn."
Rhys nodded. He believed her. Maine's crew was destined to become legendary. Any netrunner who could keep up with legends like Maine and David Martinez had to be top-tier. And neither Kiwi nor Lucy had Sasha's deadliest skill. Sasha... she could use the Cyberpsychosis quickhack. In the game, that required an Intelligence of at least twelve.
"I've done some digging," Sasha said. "It's one of those things everyone knows but no one dares to say out loud. The NUSA and Militech are two sides of the same coin. Both the last president who served nine terms and the current one, Rosalind Myers, were CEOs of Militech before taking office."
She let out a small, bitter laugh. "It's like a presidential inauguration ritual now. Become CEO of Militech, then become President of the NUSA~"
"So now that the cool wind has sobered me up..." Sasha held a hand up to Rhys, her fingers dancing in the air near his face. "I've calmed down, and I see things clearly. Sending that data to WNS will cause Biotechnica some trouble, but that's all. Tomorrow, that company will be operating as usual. This is Night City. The corps are all tangled up in each other's business. At worst, they'll just pay WNS a hefty sum to kill the story."
Rhys listened quietly, then tossed something to her. It was a bottle of booze he'd grabbed from the table back in the hideout. The place might be a mess, but it was never short on alcohol.
Sasha caught it, looked at it, then met Rhys's eyes. She smiled, took a long pull, and handed the bottle back to him.
"Thanks. I'm really happy right now," she said, her tone sincere. She felt lighter, the dark cloud that had hung over her for years was gone. The future was no longer a blur. Maybe now, she could truly live for herself. Because now she had a new goal—to fuck over Biotechnica.
"Happy about which part?" Rhys asked, taking a drink himself.
"All of it," the netrunner replied after a brief pause, a genuine smile on her face. She didn't need comforting. Just having someone listen quietly, like Rhys was doing, was enough. She needed to share her secret, not to be told what to do.
[Gig Completed: Rescue]
[Reward Granted: Body +0.1, Skill Acquired: Potential Overdrive]
Mission complete...
Rhys眯ed, checking his internal interface. His Body attribute was now 9.15, and a new skill had appeared in his limited skill tree. And it was an active ability.
[Potential Overdrive]
Grants a 30-second combat buff upon activation.
Body attribute increased by 60%.
Reflexes attribute increased by 50%.
Cooldown: 30 minutes.
Post-activation status effect: Overheat (Minor Weakness).
Rhys's eyebrows shot up. This skill... was incredibly powerful.
"By the way, Rhys, you don't have a place to stay, right?" Sasha's voice pulled him back to reality. He looked at her and nodded.
"You can't go to Japantown in Westbrook, and Kabuki in Watson is out for now. City Center is completely off-limits for people like us. So, that leaves you with two options," Sasha mused. "Heywood or Santo Domingo. I'm assuming you're not choosing Pacifica, right?"
"Are there any good places in those districts?" Rhys asked.
"Of course. But I'd recommend Santo Domingo. We're all active here. Maine's been thinking about buying an office in Arroyo to use as a proper base for the crew, so living in Arroyo would be best for you."
"Do you mind crowded places?" she asked.
"No. I lived in the basement of the Mox, with a party going on upstairs every night. I'm used to it," Rhys replied. A flicker of excitement sparked within him. In his five years here, he'd lived with Korna for six months and at Lizzie's for the rest. He'd never had a place to call his own.
"Then the H8 Megabuilding it is. I'll ask around for you," Sasha said, walking up to him. She took the bottle, had another swig, and handed it back. "I'll get the housing sorted, two days at the latest. So you'll have to rough it for a bit. Either the warehouse or a motel?"
"Two more days in the warehouse is fine," Rhys said, taking the bottle.
They passed the bottle back and forth, and it was quickly drained. A blush crept up Sasha's cheeks, and her eyes grew misty. Rhys was in a similar state. The industrial-grade alcohol was potent; it was the kind of stuff that made even a fully-chromed V stumble.
Sasha held the empty bottle, hopped up onto the guardrail, and sat down, her back to the highway below. She patted the rail next to her. "Come here."
The wind whipped at her pink jacket and sent her black hair flying to one side. She swung her long, well-proportioned legs back and forth. Rhys watched her for a moment, then walked over and leaned against the rail beside her.
"There's so much I want to say, but some things are hard to put into words. After my mom died, I became like this. I always keep things bottled up inside."
"Don't expect an apology from me. In this line of work, mission-first is still the most important rule. Minding your own business is, too. But tonight... I was wrong."
She took another imaginary sip from the empty bottle, then turned her head to look at him. "You're a really good listener, Rhys. But a conversation is a two-person thing. You can't just listen."
"What do you want me to say?" Rhys asked, looking back at her. The distance and coldness were gone from her face. The drunk Sasha wasn't spitting fire anymore. She was already cute, but now, calm and gentle, she was even cuter.
"Ask me anything. Maine was right about one thing. Once you've run a gig together, you're partners. And is there anything that brings people closer than a near-death experience?"
"Okay, I'll ask."
"Go ahead."
"Sasha... are you... into classic anime?" Rhys asked, his expression strange. Seeing her face go slack with confusion, he quickly clarified. "I mean, what's your connection to the Dangerous Girls?"
Dangerous Girls—a detective agency franchise born decades ago that was still popular worldwide. In the 2040s, their style had been a global phenomenon. That's right, thirty years ago, Night City was full of old-school geeks. Pink, cute outfits, priceless custom chrome, huge eyes, and... cat ears. It was a massive fad. There were even movies made about them. Rhys had gotten a BD from Anna once, an old Dangerous Girls story.
He'd wanted to ask her this question from the moment he saw her. Who wouldn't love a cute girl decked out in high-end combat chrome with top-tier professional skills? Rhys was a fan. But times had changed. The Dangerous Girls aesthetic was no longer in vogue. Street style, the various gang looks, was what was popular now. It was a bit of a disappointment for Rhys. In a jungle of steel and chrome, a cute girl in a school uniform carrying a gun... it was just so cyberpunk.
"...How do you know about that?"
"I watched a braindance about them," Rhys said with a cough. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe the netrunner in front of him had unlocked a hidden memory, but for the first time, Rhys was sharing one of his own secrets. Anna might have introduced him to the BD, but she had no idea he'd become obsessed. She would have tried to stop him. Everyone knew Michiko Arasaka's creation was a money-printing machine. The Dangerous Girls' annual revenue reports were so high other corps always suspected them of being fake. Getting hooked on those dangerous girls was more terrifying than becoming a junkie.
"You're a fan too?!" Sasha's mouth fell open, her surprise mixed with delight. Her speech quickened. "When I first started working with Maine and the others, they had no idea what my style was. Rebecca even laughed and called me a kid. What do they know? This is fashion! The Dangerous Girls are so cool. I love them."
"Look at this, this one cost me twenty-four hundred eddies," she said, pulling out her small bag and sharing her treasures with Rhys. "It's an official Dangerous Girls collab. This Omaha is a replica of the one signed by Linata."
Rhys leaned in, fascinated and a little envious. The merch was insanely expensive. He'd once seen a pair of Dangerous Girls-branded headphones for over three thousand eddies. The base model was only two hundred. Sasha was clearly a hardcore fan; her bag was filled with their memorabilia.
At some point, without realizing it, Rhys rested his arm on her thigh as he leaned in to look at the photos she was showing him on her agent. In the dark... the two of them had gotten very, very close.
...
Meanwhile, back in the container—
Pilar was wailing loudly. "Why aren't they back yet?!"
Maine and Dorio ignored him. He was talking to Dorio about expanding the crew. Maybe they needed another netrunner. Relying solely on Sasha for infiltration was too risky; tonight was a lesson in that. And maybe a skilled driver, too.
Rebecca chopped her brother on the back of the head.
"Shut up!" she yelled, thoroughly annoyed.