Chapter 35: Mission: Reshape Worldview
Kabuki, Watson. Two young men walked down a narrow alley.
"You've got some serious balls, kid. Wearing that uniform and still wandering around Watson? David, are you trying to get jumped?"
David glanced at Rhys. "I only come here during the day. Never at night."
"Still dangerous. Day or night in this district, the only difference is more witnesses during the day. And for the real psychos, witnesses just egg them on, make 'em crazier," Rhys said softly, trying to keep his tone gentle. He could tell the kid was still afraid of him.
Back at the diner, David had explained why he was here. He was looking to buy a black-market braindance, and later, he needed to meet a ripperdoc to get some pirated software. David hadn't specified what the software was for, just mumbled something evasive.
But Rhys knew. It was to jailbreak his school-issued learning interface, bypassing the expensive official software. This was probably the plot point from the first episode of the anime. Rhys's memory was a bit fuzzy, but it lined up. So, David's story was already beginning...
But something felt off. Lucy hadn't shown up yet... Then again, the timing felt right. It was late 2075. Sometime this year, David would lose everything and fall in with Maine's crew. Then would come his year-long tear through the merc world, making the Martinez name echo through Night City. A short, brilliant blaze.
Rhys followed David, pulling up his mission interface.
[Adolescent Confusion]
Threat Level: Low
Objective: Your good neighbor, David Martinez, is struggling through a difficult adolescence. Crushed by his mother's expectations and bullied at school, the boy is breaking. He finds himself increasingly drawn to the edgerunner world. Help David Martinez reshape his worldview.
Reward: Support Skill [Rapid Healing], Random Attribute +0.1
Description: Become a corpo-dog and stand atop Arasaka Tower? Choom, we both know his poor mother might have gotten a few things wrong. I think you, more than anyone, know that the odds of shooting your way to the top of Arasaka Tower are probably better than climbing the corporate ladder. There's more than one way to reach the summit. I think you know what I mean. So, use your hopes for him to change his life...
Rhys had to suppress a snort at the last line. Shooting your way to the top is easier than climbing the corporate ladder? But then he thought about David's end in the anime... yeah, he did kind of shoot his way to the top, didn't he?
"You really don't have to follow me. I know this area well. It's safe," David said again, noticing Rhys still quietly trailing him. Truthfully, David didn't want him along. The braindance he was buying... it wasn't exactly something you watched with company. It was illegal contraband.
"It's fine. I've got time to kill lately," Rhys replied, then added, "Besides, I made a deal with your mom."
It wasn't just the mission prompt. This kid had serious potential. He became a Night City legend in just one year, after all. And he wasn't even an adult when he died...
"My mom..." David blinked, then hesitated. "If my mom knew you were an edgerunner, she definitely wouldn't..."
"Hold up." Rhys suddenly cut him off, putting an arm across David's chest. He narrowed his eyes, staring at the alley intersection ahead. "Come out!"
As Rhys spoke, a figure emerged from the right side of the cross-alley. He wore a long black coat and a wide-brimmed hat.
"Shit!"
The man looked nervously at Rhys. Seeing that Rhys didn't appear heavily chromed, looking no different from David, he started cursing. "Kid, you didn't say anything in the message about bringing a friend today!"
David quickly reassured Rhys. "It's okay, don't worry. That's the underground BD dealer. I already contacted him."
Rhys relaxed his arm, giving the dealer a strange look. The man was walking towards them, pulling open his coat like some kind of degenerate flasher.
"If I hadn't dealt with you a few times before, kid," the dealer grumbled as he approached, "this stunt would have gotten you blacklisted!"
"Didn't I tell you to be careful? Who the fuck told you to bring a friend?"
He stopped in front of them, the inside of his coat lined with dozens of glittering braindance shards.
"Sorry, my... my friend wanted to come see," David stammered, then started browsing the selection. Rhys leaned in too.
This guy was definitely a black-market dealer. Most of the BDs were titles Rhys had never even heard of, and he considered himself something of a connoisseur, having spent years around the Mox. He scanned the titles, but after reading a couple of synopses, his brow furrowed.
"This one, Martinez. This is the one you wanted. About the cyberpsycho. This guy was fucking legendary. Got into a firefight with NCPD in the Corpo Plaza, zeroed a whole squad. After they finally took him down, the clean-up crew extracted the data shard from his skull, processed it into this BD."
"Price?" David asked, looking up.
"Two hundred eddies. Non-negotiable," the dealer stated flatly.
"Isn't that a bit steep? The robbery BD I bought from you last time was less than a hundred," David protested.
"Are you kidding me? You think this is the same shit? This one's got MAX-TAC rolling in! Plus, the psycho in this wasn't some nobody. Stop wasting my time, you want it or not?"
"And since you broke the rules today, the price just went up!"
Suddenly, the dealer pulled a pistol and aimed it at David. "You brought someone else, increased my risk. So now it's three-fifty eddies. That's my compensation."
"Or maybe," he sneered, his finger tightening on the trigger, his eyes glinting maliciously, "you want a taste of this instead?"
His expression shifted instantly. In the deserted alleyway... he could kill both these kids, and no one would ever know.