Chapter Text
"Kiwi and I'll hang back here til the pigs show to clean up," Maine grumbled. "It's a pain in the ass, but somebody's gotta explain this clusterfuck."
"Boss man's spoken."
"You too, kid. Stick with Lucy and Dorio."
David looked up at him, eyes wide, face still caked in a stranger's blood. Still wet. Still warm. The smell was inescapable. "Huh?"
"We'll tell the badges exactly what went down. Fucker's chromed up the wazoo, it'll be easy. Minimal questions. They'll file it as a cyberpsycho incident and done."
"Yeah, but--"
"Saw what you did back there, dawg. It's high time you stop thinking like a rookie."
David shook his head, turning slightly. "I think there's somewhere else I gotta be." Maine followed his gaze. Rebecca was climbing on top of the cargo crate, gun in hand, glaring at the corpse the psycho left behind.
"You sure, kid?"
"Dorio's going with Lucy, you and Kiwi gotta talk to the cops. Go easier if she's not beating up a dead body without a head, making them think she's over the edge, too, right?"
"Maybe you're not thinking like a rookie after all. If you can get her out of here, go for it." He gave David a pat on the back, and went to talk to Kiwi.
"Hey, Rebecca!" He called up the side of the crate. "Do...do you need a minute? With Pilar?"
"Oh, I need a minute, alright! A minute to rip the chrome dick off this psycho and shove it up his asshole! Put my iron on his starfish and pull the trigger till it pops out the other side!"
"Can I talk to you first?" David responded, numb to her intensity.
She turned toward him with fury in her eyes, her teeth gritted, but she paused as she registered the blood splatter on his face, the emptiness in his expression. She gave the corpse a stiff whack with the stock of the gun she swiped from Maine, then called for David to catch her after she'd already jumped toward him. He grabbed her out of the air, losing his balance and stumbling a bit before managing to straighten himself out. "Let's get out of here," She told him, not moving to get down or looking at him. He nodded, walking away from the scene of the fight, his body heavy, his senses dull.
"Are you going to be okay?" He asked. "I don't really know a lot about how close you were--"
"I don't wanna talk about it yet," She interrupted. "Let's just get you cleaned up. That was your first time, right? Seeing someone you know die, pulling the trigger to kill someone...I mean, fuck, choom, I've seen a lot of people, a lot of friends, die in front of me. This is your first time, not mine, are you okay?" He didn't answer. He just kept walking. Eventually, she pointed down a street. "There's a dive I know down this way. Grab some drinks, you can clean up in the bathroom."
David gave a slight nod, following her directions, leaving her at the bar where she was getting into a shouting match with someone who recognized her as he went into the bathroom. He stared at his face in the mirror for a long moment. His hands were trembling, he threw up in the sink. He could still hear her out there. He cleaned the blood off his face and went back out to the bar. Rebecca waved to him from a booth, and he made his way over.
"I'm sorry you had to pop both those cherries in one night, choom." She opened her beer, sliding a bottle across the table to him. "Seeing a head explode's a lot harder when you know the face attached."
"Yeah, but...But Pilar was your brother --"
"It was a bad way to go. We've spent years with bullets flying at us, though. Wish he coulda gone down fighting, but...Fuck, at least he was having fun busting that fucker's balls at the last moment." She took a long pull from her bottle. "Nobody's invincible. Not me, not Maine, not even you with that Sandy. The longer you play this game, the more likely a bullet catches up to you, and that's true for everyone you run with, not just you. We take care of each other, try to keep ahead of that bullet. We do what we gotta do, but eventually it just won't be enough. We're living life by our rules, though. Have a good life, even if you have a bad death." She raised her bottle toward him. His face was still so blank, his eyes empty as he tapped the neck of his still-capped bottle against hers.
"Look, David, I'm gonna give it to you straight. If you can't handle it, you take the money you got, you get out, you spend the rest of your life paying back Maine for the Sandy at some dead end job. I could throw a few eddies your way to help out, though. Fuck, I'll even give you a place to sleep, choom. Bed just opened up back at my place. Tonight's the night, if you're out, you gotta get out."
He took a long breath, more than he needed with his new lungs, taking a moment to think. "...If I wasn't here, it would've been Pilar and Lucy. Next time it could be Maine, or Dorio, or Kiwi, or you..." He slowly looked up from the surface of the table, staring at her face. "Gonna do what I can to help you all keep that bullet away."
"Fuck yeah, choom! To living your own life, and going out as yourself!" She cheered, raising her bottle again.
He finally gave her a real smile. "To runnin' with people you can trust more than your own chrome," he replied, clinking his bottle against hers.
She laughed at him playfully. "You might be a badass, but if you trust me more than your chrome, you're in for a disappointment. Last I checked, implants don't get hung over."
"I'd rather go down for trusting this crew than make it without you guys. All I got is the eddies on my shard, my chrome, my iron, and this crew. Eddies don't last, always need more. I use the chrome too much, I'll start to sizzle. Lexington only holds twenty one rounds at a time."
"You're adorable. Fuckin' gonk. I'll try not to let you down, though," she told him earnestly. She took another swig, then watched him. "You gonna open that thing or what?"
"Huh?" He looked down at his bottle, still capped and sealed. "...Not sure," he answered honestly. "Feels like I shouldn't. Usually just drink to celebrate, and tonight’s not..." He left the sentence hanging, unable to find the words.
"Sure, fine, not your money you're wasting, right?" She grinned, reaching across the table and snatching it out of his hand, downing the rest of her bottle and popping his open.
"Okay, okay," He grabbed it away from her. "I'm not gonna let you leave me behind like that."
David made it through three bottles in about two hours. Rebecca was outpacing him at a factor of three to one. When she drank, she drank, but going through nine bottles the way she was, it was crazy, especially given her size. He finished his third in a hurry, trying to get through it before she managed to grab a tenth.
"Probably about time to get going," he told her, standing up. "You gonna stick around or...?"
"Come home with me, David. I don't wanna be 'lone," She mumbled, her arm under her head as she rested on the table, tilting the bottle nearly upside down to angle it to her mouth, swallowing what she could as it ran down her face. "Nobody's gonna be there when I get home. Never gonna be anybody there again. Gonna be too quiet. Won't try to fuck you or nothin', less you wanna..."
He stared at her, then moved in, gently hefting her up out of the booth. "Sure. I can...Yeah, I can keep you company."
"Gonna try to get at this preem pussy? Straight 'ganic where it chounts, coom." She slurred, leaning her back against him and tilting her head back to look at his face.
"Maybe another night. If it happens, I want you to remember it. What's the point if you can't tease me about it the next day, right?" She let out a raucous laugh, someone yelled at her for the noise, and she wobbled awkwardly, screaming obscenities as David picked her up and carried her out of the bar. He navigated the city, the petite woman slung over his shoulder. "Try not to throw up on my jacket," he told her, almost as an afterthought.
"...Can we go to your place? Nobody's missing there..."
He nearly mentioned his mother, but managed to catch himself. "And you won't have to clean it up if you hurl," He joked instead. She gave another laugh, and he hauled her all the way back to his apartment, putting her on his bed, pulling her shoes off, and putting the blanket over her. "I'll be sleeping on the couch. Lemme know if you need anything."
"...Maine probably woulda just let me wander off, drink myself stupid, fall asleep in the bar, pay the barkeep to put up with it..."
"You still drank yourself stupid," he smiled.
"Why're you so nice to me tonight?" She asked, still slurring.
"Y'helped me get through some shit before you finished your first bottle. You were nice to me first." He moved to leave. "I'll be right back with a bucket in case you need it."
She watched him go, the alcohol, anger, sadness, worry, and desire all stirring up into one big mess inside of her. She wanted to say so many things to so many people, and somehow David had edged out Pilar and all the things she'd never get to tell her brother. He stayed by her side, he brought her here, he saved her ass so many times being all slick with his Sandevistan. She drunkenly decided she'd tell him she loved him when he came back, but passed out by the time he brought her the bucket.
He gave a slight smile, knowing that, if nothing else, she was getting some rest. He gently rolled her onto her side, facing out into the apartment, just in case, and headed back out to the couch, going to sleep himself.
Rebecca woke up at three in the morning, remembering where she was and why. She grabbed the pillow, pulling it tightly to her chest, beginning to cry. David slowly woke up, the quiet, muffled sobs rousing him. He looked over to the source of the sound, staring at Rebecca's back. He got up, making his way over and sitting down on the edge of the bed. She gasped in surprise when the bed shifted from his weight.
"Sorry," He said quietly. "I...I don't know why I came over here, but you're...I couldn't just lay there..."
"...Get in," she instructed, her voice choking. He looked at her for a moment, then moved into the bed, laying on his back. When she didn't feel his arms around her, she immediately rolled over, burying herself in his side, pressing against him, letting herself quietly cry as he put an arm around her.
"I know. It's hard. I've been there. If there's anything you need, just tell me." He slowly rolled onto his side, wrapping his other arm around her as well, holding her tightly against him.