Minor refinements to previous chap.
The Wannabe
His hands shook as he stared uselessly at the scene in front him. His mother was unconscious and he could see multiple bullet wounds on her torso and even a gouge in her neck.
And he knew even one of those could be deadly.
To make things even worse, in the next instant he felt a thought violently insert itself into the forefront of his mind, and he stopped breathing or moving at all... He'd used their last dose of MaxDoc.
He wasn't sure how long he was standing there but when a metal hand landed on his shoulder he nearly fell over, realizing he'd been stuck hyperventilating like a complete idiot.
"Calm down, it isn't over yet." Svetlana ordered and knelt over the still bleeding Gloria.
"Is she-" David choked on his words.
The older woman didn't answer him and instead reached for his mother's pockets, pulling out an injector he didn't recognize and depressing it into Gloria's neck with a quiet hiss.
"This should keep her stable until we get her to Mikey." Svetlana informed him.
David's thoughts were already racing though. He'd gotten curious about his mom's work a couple of months back, and he'd already learned about most of the medicine available on the market, even the high shelf corpo stuff only the most powerful could get.
None of them should be capable of doing what was happening before his eyes.
The wounds on Gloria's body seemed to be actively closing on their own, and the blood had practically stopped flowing in less than five seconds.
He very nearly smacked himself for the next thought that came to mind 'You don't use a life saver on bruises, asshole.'
"I called for a ride." Svetlana dragged him from his idiotic thoughts "Come here and help me get her out."
He got to work immediately, and carefully dragged his mother out while Svetlana crushed the car pressing down on her into pieces so she wouldn't get even more hurt.
Usually he'd be wowed by that kind of show of strength, but right now all he cared about was his mother. Everything else could wait.
About a minute later, Svetlana became alert and cursed "Shit." She reached for Gloria, nearly bowling David who wasn't paying attention over, and tossed her over her shoulder "We need to make some space. The NCPD is coming."
She was already moving by the time she finished her sentence, and David was left with no choice but to chase after her through all of his aches, the distant sound of police sirens reaching his ears only a moment later.
Only he found himself slowing down as he passed one of the Scavs who somehow survived being gutted by a round of buckshot, and was currently trying to crawl away with his hands, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
David wasn't sure what came over him as he met the filth's eyes, but in the next moment he was reaching for one of the pistols scattered across the road, and aiming it at his head.
The Scav was young, probably younger than him, and his eyes widened in pain and panic as he saw what was happening. With fearful tears in his eyes he choked out a "Pleas-"
David pulled the trigger, ignoring the painful tug of the Nue fighting against his grip, and the far too bright flash of the muzzle, as he glared hatefully at the fresh corpse.
He shoved the gun into his pocket and ran after Svetlana.
When he finally caught up all he got was complete silence, and the cold, judgmental gaze of a murderous cyborg.
He did not gather the courage to speak up before Rebecca and Sasha reached them, and they were speeding back to H11.
-----
"Wanna come upstairs?" Rebecca asked him with a concerned look in her eyes "Mike is going to take his time in there, yaknow?"
"No thanks." David shook his head absently "I think... I think I need some time to think."
"Sure thing, Davey." She chirped and waved, the expression turning strained as he failed to react "We'll be in the dining room if you change your mind."
He just nodded, saying nothing else as she kept looking at him for few seconds before accepting it and leaving him alone in the reception room.
They had practically been pushed along when they arrived, even the Tyger Claws made sure that their way was clear, which briefly helped him deal with his previous numbness.
But then they got to the clinic and Magos pretty much shut the doors in their faces the moment Gloria was inside, his only words a cold "Out." Before his back unfurled with his inhuman tool implants.
Even out here, David could just barely make out the distinct sound of a medical drill meeting bone, and it made him shiver in discomfort. Even if he knew there was probably no one better in the city to make sure his mother would live...
All he could do now was wait, and hope. And think.
And think he did, about everything that had happened and more. He blamed the Scavs, then the Animals, then the Academy for dragging his mom there, and most of all he blamed himself for being weak.
There was no question about their chances of survival if Svetlana had not been there, and David hated that, hated the fear it made him feel.
The kind of fear that made him shoot the Scav, just so he could feel a tiny bit of control again.
He felt pathetic.
Another hour passed as he stewed in his own head, and he nearly missed the distinct ringing noise echoing in his head as he received a message that shoved itself into his retina without his prompting.
[Magos: Get your ass in here, Martinez.]
He blinked, and then practically leapt onto his feet, rushing into the clinic so quickly he had to be stopped from crashing into a wheeled tool bench by a mechanical pincer grabbing him by the scruff of his academy uniform.
His eyes immediately found his sleeping mother and they very nearly fell out of his skull when he saw her laying on the ripper chair, looking practically undamaged.
Ignoring Magos' unimpressed the stare, he managed to stammer out a "H-how is she?"
"We were fortunate." The cyborg began as he hosed blood off his knife-like fingers "There were no headshots, and only one lower spine hit. The bleeding was bad but she reached only critical levels of blood loss."
"How the fuck is that lucky?" David asked before he could stop himself.
"Tone, Martinez." Magos's eyes narrowed before he elaborated "What I mean to say is that she received no brain damage." He paused as he started cleaning his other hand.
David looked away, doing his best not to pay attention to the volumes of blood being washed away.
"I can repair, regenerate, or replace most things." The cyborg went on "But brain damage means there is a chance of memory or personality loss. That is why I say we were lucky. I only needed to sew some skin and graft some muscle."
The clinical tone in which he explained it made David shiver all over again "So she will be fine then?"
"Oh, more than fine, she will wake up tomorrow at the latest." The borg's four golden pupils brightened "Of course, I made sure something as banal as low caliber gunfire will not bother her again."
"...What?" David asked dumbly.
"I have taken the liberty of providing Ms. Martinez with high grade subdermal armoring, and thickened muscle grafts. Both articles of my own design from the private list." The borg went on like what he was saying was completely normal.
"What?" David repeated, shaking his head, before his world narrowed "You can't just-"
"Answer me this, Martinez." The borg cut him off without so much as a twitch, and something in his tone made the teen stop in his tracks "Why am I not going berserk about what happened today? When by all rights I should be tracking everyone involved down?"
"Because it wasn't your mom getting shot up." David snapped.
And his emotional response may as well have been a wet fart as the borg simply tilted his head "True, but that is only half of the answer."
David's shoulders slumped "Stop jerking me around and just tell me, man. I'm really not in the mood right now."
His answer seemed to briefly amuse Magos, who huffed and said "The point, Martinez. Is that no matter what those fools did, or for whatever reason, they are incapable of so much as scratching my mother.
"The flesh is weak, Martinez." The borg's optics narrowed "And cyberware removes that weakness. In the end, those gangoons were nothing but bugs for her to crush beneath her boot. Do you understand?"
The sheer intensity of the stare made David take a step back before he caught himself, clearing his throat and forcing out a "Y-yeah. I get you." 'Guess he was just showing his worry in his own way...'
"I feel like you are thinking something incredibly stupid just now." The borg said dryly "But I suppose I can ignore it for now. More importantly, what are you going to do about all this?"
"Do?" David blinked "Is there even anything I can do?"
"I don't know." The borg shrugged as he began methodically rearranging his tools "Its all up to you, isn't it?"
David found himself unable to answer.
"They nearly took everything from you." The cyborg went on calmly "And for what? Nothing more than collateral." He gave David a questioning sidelong look "They did not even find you relevant enough to stop shooting for a blink."
David's fist clenched so hard the skin turned paper white.
"And your plan is to just let them get away with it?"
"They are already dead!" David hissed out "There is no one left to kill!"
"And what about their chooms? The ones who made the job possible? The ones who gave them weapons?" The borg paused, voice still just as flat and mildly curious as before "Do they get to get away with everything just because they didn't happen to be there?"
"Stop!" David raised both his hands, his whole posture deflating as the questions hit one after another "Just... stop."
The borg folded his arms and waited.
"I... you are right. They don't deserve to get away." David exhaled "But I have no idea where to even begin looking for them-" Suddenly he stopped himself and his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked the towering cyborg over "Teach me."
"Oh?" Magos tilted his head.
"Teach me how to make them pay." David demanded.
And Magos grinned, terrifying rows of teeth on full display "I thought you'd never ask."
Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
"They are closing in." I heard from below me "He's got them boxed in."
"Good." I said "Hopefully we won't have to interfere."
"Hmmm." Rebecca glares through the scope of her Nekomata "For once I agree. Even if I'd like to see my baby make the Animals go poof."
"You always choose the most delightful pastimes." I quipped lightly and sent out another ping across the localnet.
Kicking David into gear was incredibly easy considering his mental state and to my genuine surprise he took to my 'lessons' like a fish to water.
By which I mean I gave him a few contact numbers and attached my name to the call, and left him to it. It was sink or swim, and I wanted to know if he would swim like I did when my time came.
He wasn't even aware we were up here, watching his every move.
And my hunch was proven right as it looked like his academic performance wasn't some fluke, and he managed to negotiate with both Regina and Padre while making only a few amateur mistakes.
Admittedly acting a bit emotional with this particular duo of Fixers was the least damning as Jones was very soft under her professional surface, and Padre looked at David like one of his own, which considering he grew up on his turf was technically true.
Once he got over the initial hurdles and got the investigation going from both ends, I discreetly sent the Fixers the relevant data about a certain Scav cell in Watson and a group of Animals that kept one of their 'gyms' in Vista Del Rey, and organizing the strikes for some premium urgency pay was as easy as firing off a number after that.
It also helped that the Animals stole a massive stock of medicine-relevant chemicals the Scavs were bringing in from overseas, and the Fixers were all too happy to get their grubby hands on that kind of stash.
So they were more than happy to make give my 'protege' a good deal.
Privately, I was quite amused when David realized he'd need to cover the costs from his end once he realized I wouldn't be participating (as far as he knew), and even more so when he realized he had access to Gloria's accounts, and saw the numbers hiding in there.
His mom was one of the bigger fish in this city (though not quite one of the sharks just yet) by sheer virtue of her own diligence, frugality and all around usefulness, and neither of them knew it. It was hilarious.
It was also why I decided to give David a push. Despite his academic successes, his studies at Arasaka's brainwashing center were still aimless, and considering my future plans it wouldn't do for him to be a weak link that could be used against us.
I needed to know if he could stand on his own, or if he'd need constant protecting.
And so I settled on a trial by fire.
Gloria was going to be so incredibly pissed when she wakes up, but I personally thought a furious rant from a livid Latina was a worthwhile price to pay for some reliable help.
And if I just happened to poach a hidden talent from Arasaka in the future, then that would just be another happy little accident.
"Breach." Rebecca informed me despite me already having a perfect view of the situation "The Animals still don't see them."
It was almost nostalgic in a way, watching David covered head to toe in the best body armor he could grab on short notice, as he snuck into the base with three veteran ex Valentinos Padre sent his way.
He was incredibly stupid for participating directly like this, mind. But it was exactly the fact he moved in without barely any experience to punish those who would harm his family that made me feel that way.
Doubly so as they began putting them down like dogs with copious bursts of incendiary ammunition.
Animals were juicers, steroid abusers to the point of making their skin nearly impenetrable to small arms fire, but point an assault rifle at them with a tiny little incendiary charge in every single bullet?
They went up like dry straw. Watching them try to put themselves out was quite cathartic.
The execution, for that was exactly what this was, lasted for all about three minutes before Rebecca clicked her tongue in seeming disappointment and stood up "They got them all."
"How did our newbie do?" I asked, quickly looking over the message about what was going on in the Scav hideout and grinning as Jones notified me they'd all been put down.
"Shaking like a lil' bitch but still standing." Rebecca grinned "We'll make a solo out of him yet."
"And Gloria will kill us for it." I chirped.
Rebecca stilled, her smile turning strained "Guess he can be the Fixer wannabe then."
Snorting at the idea I shrugged "We might actually survive that one."
"Back in position." I barked suddenly as I saw the three Valentinos surrounding David through the outline, only to exhale in relief as I saw them patting his shoulders and cheering him on.
'Damn 'Tinos probably think he passed some rite of passage or something.' I shook my head 'Not far from the truth now that I think about it.' "Never mind."
"Its really cute how paranoid you are." Rebecca coos from her prone position.
"How is paranoia cute?" I frown.
She hops up with a cheeky grin on her face "Aww don't pretend Mikey." She hops and pats my shoulder "You know I love it when you get all protective."
"I'm just being responsible." I huff and look away, much to her amusement "Let's get going, we did what we came to do."
She tittered and then cheerily frolicked towards the maintenance stairs without a care in the world.
Looking back at the burning gym I couldn't help but smirk at the hauntingly familiar scene, in essence if not in appearance, before feeling something was off and frowning.
When did I become so comfortable with ending lives by the dozen just some petty vengeance?
I wasn't sure I wanted to learn the answer to that.
[Are you well?] Logos asked.
'Just peachy.' I answered mentally 'I suppose the rest can live.'
For now.