Chapter 37: Need Me to Call the Cops for You?
"Wait, explain yourself. What do you mean, I picked the wrong pocket?"
The beautiful netrunner stared at Rhys, then suddenly slammed a hand against the wall behind him, trapping him. She leaned in, tilting her head up slightly, her eyes narrowed, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips.
"..."
Her scent washed over him, pleasant and intoxicating. Lucy lowered her head slightly, taking in his scent, her stunning face incredibly close to his. Then, she looked up into his eyes.
"You're interrupting my work, you know that?"
Rhys just chuckled, unfazed by her attempt at intimidation. He shifted slightly to the side. "Look, if you hadn't tried to lift my shard, I would have pretended I didn't see anything. But you came after me. You can't expect me not to react, right? You just got interrupted. I almost lost my eddies."
"Shut up. Spare me the lecture," Lucy snapped, pulling her hand free from his grip. In the next instant, her other hand darted towards his face, while the first tried to grab his arm, seemingly attempting to restrain him. Rhys simply raised his own arm, easily blocking her.
He wasn't comfortable with people running scans on him up close. From a distance, fine. But letting someone get this close, feeling like his entire being was being laid bare... it felt wrong. He held her hand back, meeting her gaze.
Her eyes were narrowed, the irises shimmering with the tell-tale light of active cyberware, data streams flickering across her vision.
"..."
Unbelievable. Netrunners. They just scanned you whenever they felt like it. Right now, Lucy was probably pinging the NCPD criminal database.
Optical implants weren't just for enhancing vision with night-sight, zoom, or recording. They could also interface directly with NCPD databases, providing instant background checks. In a way, good optics were a crucial survival tool in Night City; they let you instantly gauge how dangerous someone was.
And right now, Lucy was gauging Rhys.
"Petty theft, selling pirated goods... looks like your rap sheet is pretty minor league," she commented after accessing the NCPD files. She ran another, deeper scan on Rhys himself. After a moment, she pulled her hand back, a look of genuine surprise on her face. "You don't even have any significant neuralware installed. How the hell did you notice me?"
"Hmm. Natural talent?" Rhys offered after a moment's thought.
"Fine. I'll buy that. So, why are you interfering with my work?" Lucy took a step back, her expression unreadable. She seemed to accept his explanation; stealing data shards like that was a skill she'd spent a long time perfecting. Most nine-to-five corpo-dogs, exhausted after a long day and crammed onto the metro, never noticed. Even some street-level mercs missed her subtle movements. Of course, she was careful not to target anyone who looked genuinely dangerous; there was always a chance of getting caught. Which was why she was so surprised that this seemingly weak, unchromed guy had detected her.
Rhys almost laughed out loud. "Didn't I just explain? Did I interfere with you? Or did you pick the wrong pocket? See? It was your mistake. You chose the wrong target. You should be thanking me for not causing you more trouble."
"And hey, if you really think I'm the one interfering... go ahead, call the cops. Want me to do it for you?"
Lucy fell silent, just staring at him coldly. But after a long moment, her expression shifted. A calculating smile touched her lips. "Alright... I have a proposal. Interested?"
"Team up to lift shards?" That's how it started between her and David in the anime. Rhys shook his head, about to refuse. He had no interest in pickpocketing. The pay wasn't great, and it was an easy way to make enemies.
He opened his mouth to say no, but just then... a system notification popped up. Fuck. A mission triggered.
So, the words that came out were: "What's the plan?"
"Your speed and reflexes are delta. We work together. I pop the shards, you grab them the instant they're loose. We split the eddies afterwards. Simple as that."
"It's a fair deal for you."
"What's the split?"
Lucy hesitated. "Sixty-forty. Sixty for me, forty for you. I'm taking the bigger risk."
"Who are the targets? And just so we're clear, I don't hit ordinary civilians," Rhys stated, looking down at her.
"I don't hit civilians either. What's the point? You need to lift from ten, twenty of them to make what you get from one corpo-dog," Lucy replied.
"Then how come you targeted me? Don't I look like an ordinary civilian?"
"Uh... force of habit."
"..." Rhys just stared at her.
"What about the rich kid you were with?" Lucy asked, glancing towards where David had been standing.
"I'll send him home," Rhys decided. He hadn't planned on teaming up with Lucy, not because he had any moral objections—after five years with the Mox, he'd done plenty of dirty work. And stealing from corpo-rats and mercs? What did he care? They were all scum anyway, exploiting the poor or killing for eddies.
Besides, he was free tonight. After leaving the diner, everyone had gone their separate ways. Pilar had repairs to do, Maine and Dorio were going car shopping tomorrow, Kiwi was tasked with finding the crew a driver. And Sasha... she said she was spending the next few days with her sister. Yes, Sasha had an older sister.
So Rhys had time. A mission had triggered, offering attribute points. And getting to know Lucy wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He'd liked her character in the anime. If the timing hadn't been so weird, meeting her right after David... he would have been happy just to chat with the beautiful netrunner.
"Okay. You tell him. I'll pick our next target," Lucy said with a nod and a smile. She held out her hand. "Lucy."
"Rhys." He took her hand, a brief, firm shake.
He let go and walked back to David.
"Where'd you go?" David asked curiously.
Rhys nodded towards Lucy. "Something came up. You should head home. I've got some business to take care of."
David looked confusedly from Lucy back to Rhys. "Okay... Are you getting off at the next stop then?"
"Mmhmm." Rhys nodded.
After David got off the train, Rhys rejoined Lucy. She quickly explained her method: pick a target between stops, lift the shard, jump off at the next station, take the train back one stop in the opposite direction, get back on the original line, and repeat. Safe, efficient. Her standard routine.
Although... Rhys found it kind of absurd. Lucy was a skilled netrunner. Maybe not on Sasha's level, but anyone who ended up on Arasaka's hit list, who survived being exploited as a child net-miner in their black sites... she clearly had talent far beyond the average deckhead. A netrunner of her caliber, working as a common pickpocket?
Well, whatever. Rhys wasn't going to argue with a beautiful thief. Especially not when there was a mission involved.