V: (How’s it on your end? No troubles at the backdoor?)

JACKIE: (Went nova. Was really easy to sneak up on the gonks from behind. Preem job distracting them.)

V: (The silencer came in clutch, huh.)

JACKIE: (Heh, definitely. Now that I can aim the damn thing. I should’ve tried one earlier.)

V: (Alright, I’m comin’ in. Lets get the info for Padre and delta.)

JACKIE: (You know it.)

JACKIE: (Maldito diablo! Hey, stay down!)

V: (You okay?)

JACKIE: (Jup! Everything fine. Maybe my aim isn’t that good yet...)

V: (Heh. Com’on, its getting dark. Let’s deliver and then crash at Lizzy’s.)

#-----------------------------------

Lisa sighed as she relaxed in the faux leather seat of the Delamain and buckled in. The AI taxi service was probably the only place besides home that Lisa could feel safe. And home was were her mom was. She closed her eyes as she tried to let go of her grouchiness by focusing on the soothing background music that floated through the cab. Probably perfectly AI-tailored to the observed moods of his clients. Barbara took the other backseat. “Alright Delamain, let’s be off.”, “Of course.”, the AI answered.

Turning to look out of the window, Lisa winced when turning her head made her aware again of how different her neck felt. She had to suppress the urge to madly itch at the fucking chrome and dig it out with her own fingers. Fuck, it’s so disgusting... and its basically part of my brain now. Why would anybody chip this shit willingly?! Lisa sighed. She was riling herself up again. Turning to Delamain she decided to poke the AI. Maybe he could distract her. “So, where are we going?” Her mom had made it a secret. “The destination of this car is Lizzy’s bar.” Barbara pouted when Delamain answered. “Preem.”, Lisa said. She looked at her mom and raised an eyebrow. Lizzy’s was a braindance club. I hope we’re only going for drinks... Barbara sighed. “Lizzy’s is the homebase of the Mox. They don’t allow any shit on their home turf, so its a pretty secure place. Plus their bartender’s nova.”

Her mom sighed again. “Aih, Delamain, that was supposed to be a surprise. You can be such a buzzkill...”, “My apologies. I was unaware of the necessity for secrecy. For a more successful surprise, I suggest to inform me before hand. Keep me in the loop, so to say. At that time, I might also be able to offer a selection of locations or perhaps offer advice for said surprise.” Barbara huffed. “What are you implying? That I’m bad at preparing surprises?”, “My apologies. It was not my intension to imply anything. I was simply informing you, that your Gold Membership allows you access to part of my extensive capabilities beyond simple personal transport. With my vast processing power, there might be a multitude of ways I can assist. You need only ask.” Her mom clicked her tongue. “Tsk, the cheek of this AI, boasting about its superiority while sounding all pleasant...”

Lisa was curious now. She had wanted to ask Delamain some questions anyway. “What does having a Gold Membership mean, exactly?”, “Gold Membership is one of the midrange packages that Delamain Transport Services provides, that uses a prepaid payment plan. The membership comes with an account that can be charged with kilometers in exchange for eurodollars, which will then be drawn upon as my services are used. The Gold package also includes other benefits, for example requesting a car to wait at a location for up to 20 minutes and access to more advanced customer services and interactions, similar to this current conversation. Essentially, the Gold Membership turns a Delamain vehicle from a simple taxi into a chauffeur service.” Lisa blinked. That was a lot to take in. “Oh, by the way, how do you prefer to be addressed, Delamain? As a man? Woman? It? Something else?”, “To cater to common perceptions in human society, my cheauffeur persona is crafted to appear as male, although personally, I do not prefer any outward appearance over another. Technically accurate would be ‘It’.” Huh, yeah. Delamain doesn’t care. [What a surprise. The advanced piece of code doesn’t care for human perception, except when it needs to interact with the meatworld.]

“Not many of my customers ask how I would like to be addressed. I appreciate it when customers show interest in my person, although very few do. The amount of people that ask my preferred way of address is, infact, only slightly lower than the fraction of customers that use my seatbelts. Surprisingly few make use of the safety feature.” The blue man on the screens in the front seats took a glance at Barbara, who wasn’t buckled in. “Come on, Delamain. You don’t do accidents.”, her mom argued.

“While I appreciate the trust and confidence in my skill as a driver, unfortunately, Delamain vehicles are part of traffic incidents on a regular basis, although in 99% of accidents, other parties are at fault. The last accident caused by a Delamin vehicle, was a rear end collision at low speed, when stopping for a red light. The cause was a faulty sensor array. Other incidents are caused by the volatile nature of Night City traffic.” The AI was very informative. Lisa thought he was doing a good job of keeping up a conversation. Or the AI just likes the sound of its synthesised voice. Oh, wait. Maybe this is a chance for revenge... Lisa smirked.

“Delamain, can you remind my mother to put on her seatbelt when she drives with you? You know, just in case something happens. You drive perfectly safe, but being careful can’t hurt, right?” Lisa thought she saw the shadow of a smile fleet across the blue mans lips. “Certainly, miss Lisa. I will make a note to remind your mother of your concerns for her safety.” Her mom was bewildered and looked at her in confusion. “You don’t like it when the kitten plays with you?”, Lisa teased. Her moms’ eyes widened in realisation and she whipped her head toward the screen in front of her. “Delamain, can you refer to Lisa as ‘kitten’ from now on? You know, since she’s as cute as one?” Lisa paused for a moment. The AI wouldn’t right? But mom is the one paying. No, he’s to polite for that right? Right? A troubled frown grew on her face at the thought of her mom turning the tables so quickly.

“I apologize Miss Schmidt. I’m afraid I am not so well acquainted with Miss Lisa to refer to her with a nickname.” Lisa sighed in relief and gave a triumphant grin. Her mom gave a groaning sigh. “Oh my god, bullies. Both of you.” When Lisa turned to look out of the window, she could swear she saw the blue man on her screen wink at her. This time, when she turned her head, the weirdness in her neck didn’t bother her as much.

#------------------------------------

Lizzy’s bar was smaller than Lisa expected. Just a three-story building surrounded by skyscrapers. It was quite the surreal sight. The parking lot was packed full, just like any other parking lot in the middle of the city. Judging from the shiny and expensive cars, the clients of Lizzy’s didn’t care about the most likely horrendous parking prices. Walking up to the intimidating bouncers, Lisa got a little self conscious. She had redone her bun during the car ride and had once again left out a large strand, that she brushed behind her left ear. She wondered if her yellow synththread hoody and dark blue breathable pvc leggings were too ratty to be let in. Her mom looked a lot cleaner in her all-black outfit, with t-shirt and pants. She was basically all black and white, with her black eyes and hair contrasting against her face and bare arms. Lisa was quite nervous as they passed the two women standing guard. Tall, arms chromed and armed with metal studded baseball bats, they scrutinized everyone who wanted to enter. Their scowls promised violence to anybody trying to make trouble. Her mom was completely unbothered as they went inside.

The inside of the BD club was... also smaller than Lisa expected. The floor was mostly open, some couches in the corners, but otherwise, the only other noticeable feature was the bar in the back left, hidden behind a long couch where a bunch of patrons were slumped, eyes staring blankly into the flashing visuals of their BD wreaths. The couch wrapped around some sort of processing unit, that went from the floor to the ceiling. Next to the bar was a doorway that probably led to private booths. There were a few people dancing, shrouded in fog and illuminated by the laser show above them. The whole colour scheme was blues and purples. Lisa could appreciate the style of the place. Though it really was incredibly small for the headquarters of a gang. Maybe they had more private booths or something on a second floor? Maybe a basement?

Luckily for them, there was some space at the bar. Exactly two barstools, in fact. Lisa sat between her mom and some tired looking suit nursing his drink. The bartender had a square face with silver eyes. A few synthskin inlays ran over his cheeks down his chin. His light blue shiny button up shirt was completely open and tucked into his black pants, showing off his lean chest, and his medium length hair was nicely styled back, keeping it out of his face. He greeted them. “Welcome to Lizzy’s. What can I get you.”, “Make me a mojito would you?”, her mom answered, as she sat on her stool. The bartender nodded and looked at Lisa. “And what would you like.” Lisa sat at the bar. “Just a boring cocktail.” The man nodded once. “Any particular flavour of boring? Fruity, sweet, hot?”, “Something sour but not acidic.”, she said, and the bartender nodded and went to prepare their drinks.

Lisa turned on her barstool and looked around the club. Now that she took another look through the room, there was indeed a second floor. It ran around the ground floor like a balcony. The DJ booth was also upstairs. Maybe the building was bigger than it looked. The architecture was confusing, with plenty of nooks and crannies. Some of the patrons were grouped together. Groups of men and women lounging around, a few teenagers with their chooms and younger hanger-ons, but most people seemed to be here alone, simply wanting to use the BD services instead of hang out. One small group of well-dressed teens that was standing in a corner near one of the couches caught her eye. They had a few squirts buttering them up, probably crawling into their asses hoping to be graced with some new toys or chrome. She studied their group mechanic for a bit. They were focused around one well groomed young man, with everyone else either worshiping him or doing his bidding. He was probably something like the alpha of the pack. Lisa turned back towards the bar. Her drink had arrived.

While her mom was already sipping from her mojito, Lisa studied her drink. The milky white glass contained two liquids, one red and opaque, the other pink and clear. They swirled into each other, the two liquids dancing around another, until they would inevitably mix into something new. The rim of the glass was sprinkled with sugar. Lisa wondered what the result would be once both liquids had mixed. What shade of colour would it be and what its opacity might settle on. Her musings didn’t matter for the drink though, it would taste the same whether before or after mixing. She took a sip. It tasted like strawberries, but instead of sweet, the drink was sour. But it also wasn’t sour enough to warp her mouth. The sugar on the rim provided a good contrast. It was nice.

Barbara had been watching Lisa judge her drink. Seeing her small smile, she knew she liked the alcohol free cocktail. “Told you the bartender’s nova.” Lisa glanced at her. “Then why did you go for a mojito?” Her mom sighed. “Because when I can have him mix me something custom, I go for something wild and it ends up being undrinkable. Its never a bad drink, I doubt Mateo can even make a bad one, just... undrinkable.” She took a sip from her mojito. “Next time we’re here I’ll show you what I mean.” They spent some time just enjoying their cocktails. Somehow, Lisas drink just refused to settle in one configuration. Even though the two liquids had completely mixed by now, every time she took a sip, something changed. Red and opaque, sip, pink and cloudy, sip, purple and clear, and so on. It was fascinating. [Some sort of chemical reaction? Maybe something with the sugar from the rim?] Maybe... Lisa sighed. She was starting to wind down. The rumble of the music mixed with the chatter and laughter of the other patron enough of a pleasant distraction for her to relax her tense shoulders.

Of course, that was the moment something happened. Someone slapped her ass. The hit didn’t hurt or smart, but it gave her a disgusting and humiliating sense of deja-vu. The disgust turned into formless wrath in an instant and, whirling around, she found one of those twerps that was crawling up the teens asses right behind her, looking at her. His round face was tense with nervousness. Lisa saw the rest of his group in the corner of her eyes, not to far away, watching them, probably having a laugh at sending their underling to harass somebody. Lisa wasn’t feeling like laughing. Lisa felt like squashing a bug. In the most gruesome way possible.

She steadied herself against the bar with her left hand while her metal one snapped out and went for his neck. The shmuck didn’t even finish widening his eyes in surprise when Lisa had already slammed his back into the bar. None of the drinks on the bar trembled at the impact. The bar was built with sturdiness in mind, probably so it could be used as cover in case the Mox’s headquarters was attacked. Slamming him had probably knocked the wind out of him, but breathing wasn’t really something he could do with Lisas steel hand clamped on his throat. The left side of her neck grew warm, but it didn’t heat up further. She was boring her red glowing eyes into him when he recovered from the impact.

The shmuck took a moment to recover and realise what had happened. Once he did, his eyes widened and his hands want to his throat, trying to pry off her iron grip. She let him stew for a bit. His meat hands didn’t find any purchase, her fingers didn’t budge. His gaze was locked on Lisas eyes. “How did you think this would end.” Cold fury dripped from her voice. It wasn’t a question. The boy started struggling. Veins were showing on his forehead. He flailed his hands towards her face in an attempt to break her hold, but whenever he tried, Lisa would tighten her grip a bit more and he would return to prying off her fingers. She looked him in the eyes as fear made way for panic. Why is it that I seem to just draw attention wherever I go. Why do people come looking for me. Why me specifically? His legs were thrashing, and he started clawing at her yellow hoodie. She squeezed a bit harder. Why is it that today, fragile things just keep turning up between my metal fingers? First Vic with the shard and now this. Don’t they understand how hard it is to not crush things in my hand? How long it took me until I stopped breaking things on accident? What do I have to do so these fucks understand to stay away? His eyes were rolling up and his face was getting puffy and red. She could hear a commotion behind her, but it stopped before it reached her, so she didn’t care. Why do these fucks keep messing with me, especially when their necks are so soft. With just a little more effort I could...

“Lisa, stop studying trash and just toss it. There’s no waste separation here.” Her moms bored voice cut through her thoughts. The trash’s eyes were completely rolled back in his head and his mouth was foaming. Lisa clicked her tongue and tossed it behind her. She glanced towards her mom who was staring into her almost empty mojito with frustration and annoyance. Lisa sighed as she leaned forward on the bar and took her glass. Her last sip had settled in a clear red. The bartender, Mateo, was standing right before her across the bar, wiping his hands with a white cloth. He studied her with an intense gaze, but his face was neutral. They had a short standoff. “So, you gonna ask me to leave?”, she snipped at him. He didn’t break eye contact as he answered with a slow voice. “No, since you stopped when you should have.” The threat that he would have stepped in if she hadn’t was clear. “Great.”, Lisa said and finished her drink. “Just the cherry on top of a shitty evening.”

Her mom sighed. “Hey, wanna say hi to to V and Jackie before we delta? Turns out they’re drinking in the corner over there.” Barbara gestured to the corner behind her towards the right. Turning to look, she saw V giving her an awkward wave and Jackie shooting her a thumbs up. She also saw that most of the club had turned to gawk at the commotion. Or more specifically, to gawk at the group of teens gathered around the coughing and wheezing piece of trash writhing on the floor. A few of the Mox doing security were also gravitating towards the bar. She turned back around. Urgh. I just wanna go home... but I should at least say thanks for the rescue, even though mom probably didn’t leave any open debts... She sighed. While I’m here, might as well. Things can’t fucking become even more shitty, right...? “Sure. Can I take another drink with me?” Barbara smiled. “Another sour but not acidic? Sure, I’ll try.” She turned towards Mateo who had moved on, caring for his other patrons.

Lisa sat up on her barstool and looked towards the ceiling. Her eyes were back to their usual soft pink. I really want to go to bed right about now... “Who are you?”, someone demanded, rudely interrupting her musings. Urgh, did I just jinx myself? Turning towards the annoyance, she recognized the groomed young man with his entourage. “Yeah, who the fuck are you, bitch? How dare you attack Kevin!”, an angry boy snarled at her, probably trash’s friend. Lisa snorted. [Oh my god, what’s with the boss and minion dialogue...] I know, right? Lisa studied the group of gonks. Sure, they were trying to be intimidating and there were quite a few of them, but there were plenty of Mox around and the gonks didn’t look like they were part of the gang. Her mom was right, the Mox ran a tight ship. One of the girls flanking the alpha was for some reason eager for her attention. “Hey, answer when someone talks to you, bitch!”, minion 1 threatened. Yeah right. What’s he gonna do, touch me? The Mox are gonna be all over his shit before he gets anywhere close to me. Just when Lisa turned back around the eager girl couldn’t take it anymore. “Lisa! I thought you were dead!”

Lisa turned back toward them and studied the girl more intently. She looked like she was the same age as Lisa. Generic dark blond straight hair cascading down her shoulders, blue eyes and silver inlays running from below her eyes down her cheeks and neck. Lisa didn’t recognize her face, but obviously the girl knew her from somewhere, which really left only one group of people. She must have been one of her classmates from Arasaka Academy. But who the fuck knows who she is. I don’t have the name overlay for my classmates anymore. That was wiped in hell and I didn’t bother to rewrite it, because I wouldn’t be returning. [Such a shame. And she actually looks like she cares about you.] Yeah right. More likely that she’s putting up a front. This close to graduation there’s nobody who hasn’t been caught in the corporate brainwashing. [That includes yourself?] I like to think I’m special. Conny snorted. Lisa had just been staring at the probably-classmate with a blank expression for an uncomfortable amount of time now, without saying anything. The girl was growing distressed and hesitant. “You know her?”, the alpha interjected. He wore some neo-militarist streetwear, just some fancy shirt and vest combo with some pants. Lisa didn’t bother to remember his face.

“Yeah, that’s Lisa. She vanished three weeks back, together with Cassandra...” She sounded unsure. the alpha turned back towards Lisa. “Really...” He squinted his eyes. Lisa didn’t like being scrutinized by him. Oh well, time to play amnesiac. [Not like you really need to play...] “Who are you?” Lisa frowned in annoyance. [Oh, the girl looks really hurt by that!] Conny laughed with schadenfreude. “What? But Lisa... It’s me, Hanna. You don’t...?”, her voice was cracking up. Lisa just raised an eyebrow, irritation clear on her face. Oh, great. Its my ‘best’ friend. Just what I needed on this shitty evening. Can’t she just fuck off? I really don’t want to deal right now... Her mom came to her rescue, playing the oblivious parent. “Thanks Mateo. Com’on, sweetie. Let’s go.” She stood up with two yellow drinks completely ignoring the annoying pests and Lisa followed suit, but Hanna called after them. “Wait! You are Lisa, right? Where have you been?”, she had tears in her eyes now. Her mom glanced toward them. “These some of your chooms, sweetie?”, she asked. Lisa just gave her a bewildered look. “Uh, No? Don’t know any of their faces.”, “Well that’s that then.” And with that, her mom brushed off the group of teens and they made their way over towards Jackie and V, ignoring any protest behind them. [Is acting part of the curriculum at the Academy?] Na. I just spent years pretending. And I don’t need to pretend if I don’t have any shits to give.

#-------------------------------

“I’m telling you V, I was sure I nailed the gonk.”, Jackie grumbled as he took another swig from his beer. “I got him in the back, no idea how he stood back up...” V chuckled as he took a sip from his own bottle. “I’m sure you did, Jackie. Maybe he was wearing some armour or had some chrome that took the shot. Maybe a metal kidney or something.” He leaned back into the couch corner of their regular spot at Lizzy’s. It was where Arasaka had oh-so-politely informed him of his new employment status, but he and Jackie didn’t want to let that bother them too much. “Want to come to the shooting range with me tomorrow? I still need to work through the shakes.” Jackie hummed. “You mean the Tino place down the street? Mh, sure. Could probably use the practice. Took me a while ‘till I was comfortable with the silencer.” They spent a moment in silence. “You know, Jackie, I really think you should lean into stealth. Imagine some gonk turn around and piss himself when he sees your bulk towering over his flatlined chooms.” Jackie gave an exasperated sigh. “Jeez, V, you’re really pushing...” Something slammed against the bar.

Looking toward the commotion, V got a weird sense of deja-vu. The picture of Lisa dragging the TC-chick up by her neck overlapped with the girl in the yellow hoodie pinning a kid, maybe 14 years old, against the bar. Although the kid was struggling a lot more. The suit that was sitting next to her was lucky there was enough space between the barstools, or he would have been dragged into the mess. Like this, the kid hit the bar in between them and he just took his drink and backed away from the commotion. A few of the Mox working as security and a group of teens was making their way over. The bartender had also noticed. “Hey, isn’t that the nina?”, Jackie asked. “I think so? Or maybe red glowing eyes and black hair are in style...” A group of teens, probably his chooms, was having fun, pointing to the unfortunate kid and having a laugh, but when he was still being choked on the bar half a minute later they got anxious and approached. At least they tried to approach. The woman in all-black to the left of the girl turned around and glared at them, stopping them in their tracks. “Oh, yeah, that’s Barb right there, must be Lisa then. Why’s she slamming the kid though?” V wondered, an eyebrow raised, as the woman kept the teens in a standoff. Jackie chuckled. “Good to see the pequena leona showin’ her claws. Com’on V, call her over for a drink. If they don’t get tossed out, I mean.” Jackie hadn’t been able to get the little psycho and her mom out of his head. V called Barbara.

She picked up quickly. “What.” Terse, demanding. Barb was busy herding some kids after all. “Thought we could sit for a drink. We’re in the corner next to the kids.” V waved at her when Barbara glanced over. “Depends if we don’t have to delta. I’ll ask Lisa.” She hung up. “What’d she say?” Jackie asked. “Depends on Lisa and if they can stay.” V watched as Barbara turned back towards the bar and said something to Lisa. A moment later the girl tossed the kid behind her, where his chooms crowded around him. After a short exchange with the barkeeper and finishing her drink, Lisa turned to look at them and V waved. I still get shivers from those eyes. There was still some red, but it was fading. “Guess Mateo let her off the hook.” Jackie commented, as the gifted cocktailmixer went about his business.

#-------------------------------------

As they made their way over, Lisa noticed her mom carrying two drinks. “You got yourself one too? Those aren’t with alcohol right?”, she asked. “Of course they’re boring, I don’t want you falling asleep. One hit was enough for me, but I’m feeling something sour.” Her mom gave Lisa a smirk. “And I’m not having you drink with two men alone.” Lisa rolled her eyes. Her mom handed her one of the yellow drinks as the came up to the table. “Barbara! Lisa! Its good to see ya!” Jackie greeted them excitedly. “Ladies.”, V said with a smile. Barbara gave them a small smile of her own. “Hello Wells. V.” Lisa didn’t feel like she belonged with the grownups. “Hi.”, she said and followed her mom to sit to the left of the two men. “It’s good seeing you about, Lisa.” Jackie gave her a warm smile. “Thanks...” Lisa awkwardly answered. Jackie seemed satisfied with that. “So, what have you two boys been up to.” Barbara started engaging the duo and Lisa sighed as she settled deeper into the couch, drink in hand. The gaggle of teens were picking up trash from the floor, talking to each other and sometimes glancing her way. Hanna was near tears with her arms crossed, talking to a choom of hers while the alpha was contemplating something. Lisa didn’t like how he occasionally threw intrigued glances at her. She took a sip of her drink. The taste of sugar from the rim was quickly overtaken by the taste of sour apples with a tang of bitterness.

“So what did the gonk do to be slammed?”, V asked with a careful voice. When Lisa looked at him she saw a sliver of apprehension on his face. Ugh, looking at me as if I needed pity, handling me with kiddy gloves. “He commented on my ass. Physically.” Lisa said flatly. She could see the gears turn in V’s head for a moment before he wrangled with a morbid smile, his jaw clenched. Jackie used that moment to turn the conversation more lighthearted. “Well, pequena leona, I might have something to scare the flies away.” He fished around for something deep within in his jacket. Lisa frowned. “Why am I a little lion?”, she asked. Jackie looked at her with blank innocence. “Well your mom’s the leona feroz so you are the pequena leona.”, he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He glanced at her mom to see if she had taken offence, but Barbara just turned towards Lisa with a teasing expression. Lisa sighed. Great. He didn’t mean it that way, but that’s just another cat nickname... “You don’t like it?”, Jackie asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, looking intrigued. He had guessed something was up. “It’s nothing.”, Lisa answered while narrowing her eyes toward her mom. Don’t you dare tell them about you pushing the cat theme. Her mom smirked.

While the two women had their mental battle, Jackie found what he was looking for in his jacket. “Here.”, he said with a smile, while putting a gun on the table. A Kenshin. “Oh, I’d forgotten you held on to that.”, V said and turned to Lisa with a smile. She just raised an eyebrow. “It’s the Kenshin that you flatlined the TC gonks with. Thought it would be a nice lucky charm, y’know? Even had a choom shine it up a bit.” Jackie gestured for her to take it. Lisa took the Kenshin and passed it to her left hand. The grip felt right. Stable. It fit well in her hand. The iron had a decent weight, nothing she would struggle with, but more than enough to lend it a sense of gravity and power. The colour scheme was the standard metallic black with red highlights, though the usual hard plastic grip had been replaced with a grippy rubber like material. The boxy barrel sported a custom engraving instead of the usual ‘arasaka’ marking and the corps logo. Ira rubrum luscus deamonia? What’s that mean?  [Wrath ruby something demons. Demoness?] You know latin? [It’s been a long time. I know some vocabulary, sure, but don’t ask me to translate anything.] Lisa traced the engraving with her chrome hand. She remembered the control and surety she had felt when she had first picked it up. Lisa smiled softly as she felt it again. “What’s with the engraving?”, she asked. Jackie mirrored her smile with a bright one of his own. “Well, V told me the story of how you came up the stairs all psycho and popping the TC chicks head. Said you nearly scared his pants off.” Jackie laughed as V shot him a look of betrayal. Lisa studied the inscription thinking back to what the TC woman had said before she blew her brains out. “Wrath of the ruby eyed demoness. That’s what it says, right?” Jackie nodded. “Red eyed, but yeah.” [Told you to not have me translate.] Eh, close enough.

“Thanks Jackie.” She smiled at the hunk. “You too V. Thanks for getting me out.” The men smiled at her. “Any time, nina.” She was having a moment of happiness when Conny started rambling. [Aren’t you glad you came for a drink? Got to choke some trash half to death and even got a present.] Shut up Conny, don’t ruin it. I’m feeling good here. She frowned. [I’m just sayin’. And all this after leaving the doc and being grumpy because of new plastic in your neck!] Lisa sighed when he reminded her of the BD upgrade. You really want me to hate you and wish you gone, don’t you. Conny laughed. [Yes! Yes I do!] Hints of concern flitted across the men’s faces at her apparent mood swing and sigh. Her mom didn’t react, she had guessed that Conny had said something. Lisa sighed again. Well, that put a dampener on things... What do I even say now. I don’t want their concern and I definitely don’t want to explain Conny... Need some sort of joke as distraction, joke, joke...

“Oh, and thanks, V, for not shooting me when I came up the stairs looking all psycho.” Lisa deadpanned. Jackie and Barbara started chuckling and V grasped to find something to say. He dropped his head and sighed in defeat. Her mom raised her glass “To good fortune and steady trigger fingers!” The men raised their beers, Jackie with a chuckle and V with a resigned smile.

#------------------------

Once they had finished their toast Jackie went digging in his jacket again and had pulled out a holster for the Kenshin. It was more a harness type thing, a belt that had a strap running down the outside of her leg to another strap that would run around her thigh. The holster would keep the Kenshin at just the right height that it would be easily drawable. And highly visible. Hopefully keeping the iron out in the open would scare away any more flies. Lisa went ahead and put it on. The extra weight resting at her left thigh was comforting. They spent a bit more time gossiping. Or rather, her mom, V and Jackie were gossiping. Once they had finished their cocktails and the men their beer, they called it a night and made for the exit. Stepping out of Lizzy’s, Lisa took a deep breath. Although the sky was dark, Night City glowed with the light of thousands of advertisements. The sky was clear and pitch black with no stars in sight. Sometimes, Lisa wondered if stars were even a thing. Light pollution wasn’t something the corporations concerned themselves with. Unlike air pollution, it didn’t make their cogs and slaves call in sick in droves just from breathing. Only the moon was able to overcome the ever present ambient light. Its waxing gibbous form stood fixed in the sky among the skyscrapers.

“Well boys, it’s been fun.” Barbara smiled at the two men. “You need another lift?”, “Na, it’s fine. I got a Hella parked down the street.” Barbara raised an eyebrow. “Really? Got yourself a ride?”, “Yeah, V got a sweet deal on it too. Almost made me jealous, it’s some nice wheels.”, Jackie said. V was a bit embarrassed. “It’s nothing special. Function over style, you know.” They spent a moment enjoying the chill of the night air. “Well, senoras, if you happen to be in the glens, hit me up. I’ll show you around.” Lisa gave a small wave as the two men left. She wondered how they even found parking nearby. Shortly after, a Delamain pulled into the lot. Settling into the back seat, Lisa gazed out of the window, over the expensive cars parked in the parking lot. Maybe some of them had changed since they arrived. Her eyes caught a kid sitting on a motorcycle.

“Welcome, Miss Schmidt, Miss Lisa. Please allow me to remind you to make use of the seatbelt, Miss Schmidt.” Her mom groaned. “This is gonna get old fast...” She sighed and buckled in. Lisa shot her a wide grin. When Delamain pulled into traffic, Lisa turned back towards the window. She caught the headlight of the motorcycle following after them. Maybe he just happened to also leave, but Lisa had a hunch. “Delamain, can you track the motorcycle behind us?”, “Certainly Miss Lisa. Do you believe we are being followed?”, “Maybe...” Lisa turned to look out of the rear window. “Think it has something to do with the trash you tossed?” Barbara joined her. Unfortunately, they couldn’t see much. The darkness combined with the bright headlight of the bike meant, that the driver was shrouded in shadows. Even the ambient advertisement didn’t provide enough light. Only when they passed below a streetlight did the driver come into view.

“I have calculated a 34.2% chance the motorcycle is following us.”, Delamain informed them after driving down a few blocks. Barbara hummed. “Can’t really stop him without drawing attention. I don’t want to start shooting out of the window with that percentage and hacking is gonna be hard. We only partially have eyes on him with the streetlights.”, “Can we hack his bike? Or hack him during a red light? I don’t want to risk him following us to our home.” A hint of red flickered in Lisa’s eyes. Barbara glanced at her little angel and clenched her jaws. “I don’t want to risk it either. Hacking him at a red light won’t do much. Just rebooting his optics won’t do us much good without another Delamain to draw him away once he recovers and I don’t want to do anything offensive if we aren’t sure he IS following us...” Lisa tilted her head. “We could just drive in a circle as a test, then slam him when we have confirmation.” Silence settled between them. Lisa was getting restless, but she didn’t want to order Delamain around without having her mom on board.

“Mh. Tell you what, let’s make a stop at megabuilding H11. It’s on the way anyway. If he’s following us, he’ll come after and we can loose him in the building, maybe make them think we live there. Put them on a false trail. If he isn’t and he just happens to live there, we’re just doing a small walk and then continue.” Lisa thought for a moment. “Huh. I like that.” They grinned at each other. “Delamain, you catch that?”, “Certainly, Miss Schmidt. I will stop in front of the main entrance, then continue and wait inside the buildings garage.” They both relaxed back into their seats. Lisa sighed. “Sounds like a plan.” They drove for a while in silence.

Soon they arrived at the megabuilding. Delamain had stopped right next to the stairs to the elevators and continued towards the garage. Next to the stairs was a large industrial liquid storage and the sound from construction from behind the building mixed with the rumbling of the trains and traffic nearby. The motorcycle was slowly coming up the street. “Right, well let’s go on a stroll.” Her mom led them up the stairs. Slowly making her way up, Lisa could see the stalker pull onto the sidewalk and park his vehicle between some trash bins beside the liquid tanks. The driver hastily fiddled with the engine and hurried after them. Lisa turned her gaze forward. The stairs opened up into a small landing, blocked on the left with a fence securing some crates. Coming up on their right was a small corridor with elevators lining the sides. Most of them were out of order. Only one in the back right and the front left one were working. Well, let’s make this harder for the gonk. With a look, Lisa breached into the elevator system. “Ah let me just...”, her mom started saying, when the call button for the elevator turned off. Lisa gave her a smug look. “Beat ya to it.” Barbara chuckled and they went to called the last working elevator. Staying aware of her surroundings she noticed a kid standing at the top of the stairs, nervously looking around and shooting them glances. Once the elevator doors opened, he rushed and tried to enter with them. Lisa didn’t let him.

“Well look at that. Minion 1.” Lisa lifted her nose a bit, looking down on the boy. Her face was impassive, as if she was looking at a bug. Her left hand was placed threateningly on her Kenshin. He stopped in front of the elevator, his eyes nervously shifting. “What a coincidence you live here too.” She said and gave him a condescending smirk. He tried entering the elevator. “Can I...”, he started, but Lisa took a step forward and blocked the door. “No.” Being a more then a head taller, she loomed over him. Lisa smirked when he glanced at the elevator dials behind her, probably trying to see which floor her mom had punched at random. He clenched his jaws and gave her an intense stare as the doors closed between them. Lisa sighed. “Fucking cockroach.”, “Well, he’ll take a cargo elevator up to floor 83 or run himself ragged taking the stairs.” Her mom was leaning leisurely against the inner railing. She took a deep breath and waited for a moment. The floor dial was slowly counting towards 83. “Alright, that should have been enough time. Let’s meet up with Delamain again.” Abruptly, the elevator stopped and then raced downwards. Her mom smirked. “Beat ya to it.”, she said and Lisa rolled her eyes.

Exiting the elevator, they entered a garage packed to the brim with old and beat up cars. Most were scratched in some way or another. Damn. How many of these can even start? I bet at least every 5^th car is just an abandoned piece of scrap metal. [Na, can’t be that bad, right? Maybe every 7^th?] Delamain was waiting relatively close by. Once Lisa plopped down into the backseat with an annoyed sigh and the doors of the cab were closed, it made its way back out of the garage. “Welcome back. May I remind you to make use of the seatbelt, Miss Schmidt?” Barbara groaned loudly. Passing the entrance stairs of the megabuilding, they saw minion 1 standing by his bike with glowing orange eyes. He was making a call, probably reporting his success or something. He didn’t see their cab pull around the corner and back on the main street. Lisa heaved a long sigh. “What a... I can’t even decide if the evening was shitty or not...” Her mom turned toward her. “You mean because of the stop just now, Lizzy’s or doc Vektor?” Lisa thought for a bit. “This stop was annoying, Lizzy’s was mixed and the doc was shitty.” Barbara looked at her for a moment before pulling Lisa into a side hug.

“What do you think brought this on?”, she asked. “It’s probably something the alpha ordered. Y’know, some sort of revenge for choking his minion? Either that or it’s Hanna.”, Lisa idly answered. Her mom hummed. “The alpha’s the older guy, right? I doubt he’s the one that wanted to do something. He looked to much like a corpo for that and those don’t care for subordinates that aren’t useful. More likely that minion 1 wanted to have revenge for his choom and the alpha just didn’t veto? Or its Hanna.” Lisa relaxed into her moms hug. It’s probably Hanna. Though the alpha was giving me that weird... [No! Stop, don’t finish tha- aw, to late. You just raised a flag.] Lisa frowned and narrowed her eyes. What... What the fuck does that even mean...? [You jinxed it! Now it’s definitely something with that alpha dude! You can’t just haphazardly think stuff like that without consequences!] Lisa sighed and let the scenery past the window distract her from his crazy ramblings. Just shut up, Conny.

#- edits/corrections -#

Other incidents are cause by ->Other incidents are caused by

some sort of revenge for chocking -> some sort of revenge for choking

Lisa gave rolled her eyes. -> Lisa rolled her eyes.

Lucky them there was some space at the bar. -> Luckily for them, there was some space at the bar.

The architecture was confusing with plenty -> The architecture was confusing, with plenty

The sugar on the rim was also a nice contrast. It was nice. -> The sugar on the rim provided a good contrast. It was nice.