Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Afterlife
Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
"Sealing seems to be in order." I noted in what I believed to be a professional tone "The Subdermals should still work as advertised, though some of the cracked spots will have slightly reduced resistance."
"How reduced are we talking here?" Dorio asked with a small frown.
"Barely noticeable." I shrugged and stepped away from her "But that kind of wear and tear is to be expected, and inevitably stacks up. I recommend replacing your armor within two years at the longest."
She considered it briefly and nodded "I'll look into it."
Content with her answer, I looked at the rest of the group, having returned to the safehouse after a suspiciously peaceful morning to check on them all.
Maine was still stuck with his perpetual not quite glare whenever he looked at me. He said absolutely nothing but his desire to just get everything over with was palpable.
His partner, whom I had just checked on, was far more of a tolerable patient, and seemed to accept my words with the weight they were owed.
Pilar looked dead inside.
A fact no doubt attributed to the smug smirk of his sister, who was practically vibrating in place while waiting for me to finish up.
And then there was... her.
The complete and utter idiot that had netted me a fat payday, and nearly cost me a dear friend.
She had awoken just an hour before I returned, and seemed both horrified at what she nearly did to her team but hid a deep satisfaction at her 'accomplishment' against Biotechnica.
Naturally, all of that fell apart whenever I arrived.
Sasha Yakovleva when in my presence was skittish in the extreme, looking at me with an awed kind of terror I'd only really ever seen shared by Jugo's Dweller* after I showed him just how utterly outclassed he was.
She overcame that emotion halfway through my checkup and tried pestering me with questions that quickly revealed she had pieced together my identity as the 'famed' netrunner, Magos (not that I made it difficult in the first place) but I did not feel like indulging her in any way and so treated her with cold detachment the entire time.
A treatment that made her wilt for a while, before her lacking mind no doubt came up with some immense bullshit that made her eyes light up with misguided determination.
I honestly did not want to comprehend that level of delusion, and so I didn't.
Satisfied with my work, I took Maine's silent request and promptly left the building, followed by an excitable Rebecca who did her best not to wince whenever she stepped on her wounded leg.
Rolling my eyes I grabbed her by the back of her jacket, ignored the startled "Eep!" And placed her on my shoulder.
"Shoulder gremlin get." I deadpanned.
She choked on air briefly and then burst into full blown laughter before playfully smacking my head "Gonk."
"How harsh." I chuckled as well, walking over to my home away from home, The Van™, opening the side door and gently sitting her down on the edge while I remained standing.
For a moment neither of us knew exactly where to begin, so I decided to just barrel through the awkwardness.
"How are you feeling?" I asked "I hoped we could catch up inside but, well." My hand flopped as if to say 'What can you do?'
Rebecca groaned "Maine is a fucking gonk sometimes, but he is good people I swear."
"Being good doesn't stop you from being a moron." I shrugged "But I frankly don't give a fuck anymore. What is done is done. How are you holding up?"
She frowned for a moment and then made a detached "Eh." Noise "Everything finally hit me in the morning when the drugs wore off and I maay have had a bit of a panic attack." She looked away as if ashamed "But now? Now I am just happy we didn't flatline."
"Panic is a perfectly normal response to that kind of stress." I immediately said.
She looked back at me with a bemused glint in her eyes "You are just too precious, you know that?"
And seeing my own incredulous look she chuckled "Don't worry, I am not a gonk. I am perfectly fine now!"
Something told me that was a lie.
And that same something told me pressing the issue was foolish.
"Fine." I sighed and promptly decided to change the topic "You seen the news yet?"
Her eyes lit up "Oh yeah! We are famous now!"
"Try too famous." I griped "Got a call from the Afterlife last night."
"No shit?" She goggled "Seriously?"
"Yup." I smacked my lips, holding back a sigh "Straight from the old queen herself."
Somehow, Rebecca's eyes managed to light up even more.
"So uh..." I forced myself not to shift on my feet "Wanna come with?"
She looked just about ready to jump me then and there but managed to stop herself in the last moment, looking hesitantly in the direction of the safehouse "Shouldn't I stay hidden with the team? Showing my face this soon will probably fuck us over."
It looked like each syllable pained her to say.
And it only made me appreciate her more for doing it anyway.
"Don't worry about it." I smirked "A quick wardrobe change, a small reprogram of your Optics, and net coverage from me, and no one will even notice you."
"You sure?" She asked hopefully.
"Without a doubt." I nodded.
Her previous excitement returned, and her grin with it "Then fuck the hell yes!"
This time she did try to jump me.
Except she tried doing so with her injured limb.
Cheeky little shit laughed the entire time as I fixed the stitches.
-
We didn't immediately make a beeline for the Afterlife of course, I was invited at the evening and going too early would look pretty pathetic to the usual gonks that frequented the place, and as much as I hated it I now had an image to maintain.
If only to secure the best business possible came my way.
Thankfully I wasn't given much time to gripe about my 'woes' as Rebecca practically dragged me through half of Little China with all the appreciation for life someone who had it flash before their eyes could have.
Our first stop was a clothing store, where she changed her usual outfit for a deep green hoodie that was a few sizes too big for her and a pair of jeans, and with my quick modification of her eyes' software replacing her usual striking colors to a mundane brown, she really did end up looking like a whole different person.
Which gave us enough confidence to sit ourselves in one of the more well off restaurants of the district. Not one of those scams made to milk as much money as they could from the usual corpo with their 'cultured meals' but a neat place on a relatively peaceful street that had actual real food on their menus.
They were a bit suspicious of me, being a literal death machine and all, but as soon as I greeted them with the proper politeness and showed myself to be a paying customer all of that disappeared.
Naturally, I made sure to take a picture of Rebecca's face when I made our order of real foodstuffs, holding absolutely nothing back.
Some of the best eddies I ever spent.
That the money came from her irritating boss only satisfied my inner pettiness.
We chatted as we ate, about random things that were of no real consequence whatsoever, and were non the less enjoyable due to the company, but inevitably the topic returned to the one we discussed last night.
Thankfully, I had the foresight to sit us down in a more secluded corner of the restaurant, and with only slight hesitation I resumed my tale.
"Holy shit." She muttered as I finished telling her about the rescue of my mother "Wait. She is fine now, right?"
Her eyes told me she expected my answer to be negative, and at the same time that she was hopeful she was wrong.
I was more than happy to reward that hope.
"As fine as can be, she is coherent and getting better by the day." I let out a long exhale, leaning back into my seat "I'm just happy she is alive after going through all that."
Rebecca's eyes widened slightly, before she smiled "Well, I am happy for you!"
"And I am happy to hear it." I smiled back, ignoring the fuzzies trying to play with my internals.
She nodded a few times, and then her eyes narrowed "Wait. You weren't shitting me when you said that night at Lizzie's was after your first gig?"
"Why would I?" I smirked.
She muttered something along the lines of "Fucking hardcore..."
"Why thank you." I drawled.
She couldn't help but snort "Gonk."
The rest of the midday we spent just wandering the district, visiting shops, chatting, shooting at a range, simply relaxing with each other.
Not since I was half-conscious as a child did a day pass this quickly.
As if in a blink, the sun disappeared and the agreed upon time arrived, and I was silently driving my war machine to the famed gathering spot of Night City's mercenaries, the creatively named repurposed morgue known as the Afterlife.
Which just happened to be in Little China.
Oh how I loved convenience.
We parked a good distance away from the locale itself, and took our time walking over to the increasingly crowded, and increasingly loud, space surrounding it.
Rebecca was still buzzing in place with all her excitement but thankfully wasn't trying to skip along the way like I was afraid she would.
I almost felt guilty for not trying to get Jackie to come as well, but knowing his prideful ass if he didn't get a direct invite himself he'd call it something stupid like a 'handout' and bitch and moan at me for minutes like a gonk.
He'd get there on his own efforts soon enough anyways.
The crowd around the bar was thankfully not suffocating, and all it took to assure it did not become such was my bulk looming over anyone stupid enough to try and interrupt.
The entrance was surprisingly mundane for all the place's rep, and only the long line of hopefuls trying to get in, only to be turned away by the Animal** bouncer without a single care for what they had to say.
Thankfully I wasn't forced to wait in said line and merely passed them by, drawing angry looks and curses but no actual darwin award attempts, at least not today.
The bouncer didn't so much as twitch at my appearance, nor at my 'cutting' the line, instead simply raising an arm to stop me "Names?"
"Magos." I answered simply and pointed a thumb at Rebecca "This is my plus one."
He didn't react visibly but I detected his Agent buzzing for a moment.
A few seconds later he offered a slow nod "You are on the list." And stepped out of the way.
An action that immediately spread murmurs among the crowd, and even some exclamations as they finally recognized who I was.
Even without me being a 7ft tall pure cyborg, my getup was pretty distinct, and the damn sword I liked too much to leave behind was even more so.
"Mr. Bronson." I offered a polite nod back, completely ignored the rowdy onlookers, and we stepped into the Afterlife.
The place was... underwhelmingly small from the inside.
All the harping on the net made it seem like it was supposed to be this mythical realm where the 'heroes' gathered to conduct business and celebrate their successes, but all I saw was just... a place.
It was just as loud as other night clubs, just as bright in neon lights and posters that had long since lost both relevance and much of their ink, it played the same music you'd hear on the radio, and it even had the fucking vending machines.
Even the furniture was just as worn at places, but I suspected that was meant to add to the charm, which to be entirely fair it did.
The only real difference from other places was that a good chunk of the clients were among those mercenaries intelligent enough to wear some kind of protective clothing, or sported advanced cyberware, and thus intelligent enough to ensure a chance at survival.
How... mildly disappointing.
Rebecca and I walked over to the bar proper, even if Rogue had invited me there was an unspoken (but certainly written as far as the net went) rule that you didn't approach her unless her guard called you over.
Sensible. She was a busy woman.
I remained standing while Rebecca hopped onto a bar stool, and the bartender gave us a quick "Be there in a sec!" As she zoomed past us carrying a tray of drinks.
"Man." Rebecca exhaled "I can't believe we are actually here."
"Meh." I couldn't help the anticipatory snort that left me.
"The fuck you mean, meh?" Her head moved so quickly she almost snapped something "It is the Afterlife! Most people die trying to get here and all you have to say is 'Meh'?!"
"Meh." I repeated smugly, saying nothing else.
"Ughh." She groaned and pointedly turned to the bartender "Gimme a silverhand. I need to unhear this shit."
The woman who had approached us in the meantime laughed "One silverhand coming up." As she fiddled with the cocktail she gave me a look "You drink?"
A fair question for a cyborg, I hummed to myself "A beer. Whatever you think is interesting."
She placed the cup of cocktail in front of the groaning Rebecca and grabbed a bottle of black liquid "I think you'll like this one."
I gave the 'root beer' a quick look and shrugged "What makes you so sure?" I asked even as I opened it and took a sip.
It was an odd mix of spicy, bitter, and sweet I never guessed I would end up working together but to my surprise I found I quite liked the combination.
Even if I had to stop my eye from twitching as my internal scanners went through the components.
The woman smirked victoriously "Told ya."
"Yeah, yeah." I rolled my eyes "I bow to your greater wisdom, Ms. Russel."
"Didn't know I was so famous." She chuckled and then gave me a curious once over "Not like you 'Magos'." She added a teasing lilt to the tag "Planning on earning yourself a place on the menu?"
"Only idiots plan on dying." I said, feeling slightly annoyed that it was the first assumption, but also knowing my statement was the truth. If you planned on having a drink in the Afterlife, you were subconsciously accepting that dying was an option.
And I would outlive all of these idiots.
"If you say so." She shrugged easily "You aren't the first one."
"Truly?" I drawled "To think this city actually has intelligent people still living in it."
She shook her head, still smiling "Well I can't force you but you could give me a mix just in case. You never know what might happen."
Rebecca immediately gave me an expectant look.
And I will admit, for all my harping, I caved almost immediately "Fffiiine." I groaned, and then felt that little spiteful devil on my shoulder whisper something.
And promptly began listing a mix for high efficiency coolant fluid. One that was a proprietary patent of Arasaka I may or may not have... acquired from one of my netrunner friends.
Looking to die a cool death was something I would never accept.
But spiting those most probable to end up killing me if it did happen?
Now that was something I could get behind.
Claire Russel's eyebrows kept rising as I listed the ingredients, while Rebecca was trying, and failing, not to laugh her ass off, and by the time I was done we had drawn quite a few eyes.
The poor bartender exhaled as she finished the extensive list and pouted at me "You know if you wanted me to fuck off, you could have just said so."
All I could do at that was tap my beer bottle while radiating smugness "But where is the fun in that?"
Before she could respond I detected a heavy set of steps to my left and turned to see a man built similarly to the bouncer outside but more heavily cyberized with obvious heavy modifications to his head.
He gave me a short look and grunted a simple "Rogue will see you now."
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*A stationary netrunner whose usual task is to defend the localnet of a set area.
**The Animals are a juicer (stereoid abuser) gang, usually working as bouncers and the like.
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