Cyberpunk Edgerunners IF: Going to the Moon with Kiwi, Not Lucy - Episode 5

His fingertips were cold. David Martinez clenched his fist, opening and closing it over and over. But it wouldn't warm up at all. Only his heart was pounding, obnoxiously loud. Thump, thump, thump. *Shut up*, he told his own chest. The night in the Watson district was the same as always. Neon lights flickered and flashed, and from beneath a distant overpass came the angry shouts of drunks. The air was lukewarm, thick with the smell of exhaust fumes and burnt synthetic oil. But tonight, something was different. A chill clung to his back, like someone was pressing a block of ice against it, and it wouldn't go away. Room 1407 of Megabuilding Zeta. Kiwi's safehouse. Last time, he'd had coffee with her here. It was bitter and tasted awful, yet it was so warm it almost brought tears to his eyes. The faint smile she'd shown him for the first time. Back then, he'd shouted. "[serious] I'm gonna be the man who stands beside you." Only a few days had passed since then. But it already felt like a lifetime ago. Tonight, Kiwi had summoned him. No call, just a short text message that streamed directly into his brain. *'Come. Emergency.'* Just four words. But that was more than enough. David strode quickly down the fourteenth-floor corridor. Under the flickering, dying fluorescent lights, he stopped in front of the iron door of Room 1407. The surveillance camera that served as an intercom whirred, its lens focusing on him. *Click.* Before he could even wait for a response, the lock disengaged. "[scared] Kiwi!? What's going on, you said it was an emergency——" David burst into the room, and his feet stopped dead. The usual sterile room. Monitors covering the walls, a mess of cables crawling across the floor. But in the center, in front of the large dive chair, Kiwi wasn't standing. She was huddled in the corner of the room. Hugging her knees, leaning against the wall. Her pink and blue two-tone bob cut hid half her face. Only the pale light from the monitors illuminated her. The monowire ejection port on her left wrist was blinking with an eerie brightness. "[whispers] ...Come in. Close the door." Her voice was trembling. None of its usual ice-like sharpness was there. David did as he was told, closing the door and cautiously approaching Kiwi. Five steps away. But it felt incredibly far. "[sad] Hey, what happened? Did that bastard Phantom pull something again?" Kiwi didn't answer. She just tightened her arms around her knees. David crouched down three steps away from her. He tried to peer into her face, but her bangs were in the way, making her expression unreadable. Still, he could see her shoulders trembling slightly. "[gentle] ...Kiwi." The moment he said her name, her shoulders flinched. Then, a hoarse voice escaped her lips. "[whispers] ...I almost killed you." David's breath stopped for a second. "[surprised] Huh...? What are you talking about——" "[crying] Just now, Phantom hacked directly into my brain." Kiwi's voice was wet with tears. "[crying] He forced me into cyberspace through my net-diving interface. There, he laughed and told me, 'I gave your stupid apprentice a present.' He planted a remote activation program in the monowire on my left hand. It was programmed to slice your back in two on our next mission." David swallowed hard. "[cold] I resisted with everything I had. I hacked back into my own cyberware, using my own will, and neutralized the program. But... if I'd been a few minutes later, you'd be ground meat on the floor of this room right now." She lifted her face. Through the gaps in her bangs, her ice-blue cyber-eyes were visible. Deep within those lenses, tears reflected the neon light, glittering and distorted. "[crying] I've... always lived alone. Even when I teamed up with someone, I'd just end up betrayed or used. So I thought it would be the same with you, eventually. But... you were different." "Kiwi..." "[crying] Because you said you'd trust me, I tried to trust you too. And then this happens. My own body tried to kill you, against my will. I'm scared. I never knew... trusting someone could be this terrifying." Her words came out in broken fragments, as if they'd gotten all tangled up in the back of her throat. She gently gripped her left wrist, handling it like something fragile. The blinking of the ejection port had stopped. But she didn't know when it might start glowing again. David took a deep breath. Then, without a word, he sat down next to Kiwi. He leaned his back against the wall, bringing himself to her eye level. "[serious] ...It's scary, right?" He murmured the words. "[serious] I was seriously scared the first time I used the Sandevistan, too. It felt like my body wasn't my own anymore. Like my heart was gonna explode, and someone was screaming nonstop inside my head." Kiwi listened silently. "[serious] But in my case, I still had to use it. If I didn't, I'd either die or lose something even more important. One or the other." David raised his right hand and stared at it intently. "[gentle] Yours is different. It's a weapon to protect yourself. To protect *you* from the bastards trying to kill you. And yet, that scumbag Phantom tried to use that weapon to destroy something precious to you." David gently placed his right hand over Kiwi's left. It was shockingly cold. Like gripping a lump of ice. "[scared] ...Ah." Kiwi's shoulders trembled. But she didn't try to shake his hand off. "[serious] I'm not gonna run." David stared straight ahead and spoke quietly. "[serious] Even if your hand tries to kill me again, I still won't run. Because that's not your will, right? It's just that shithead Phantom using your body without permission. If I got scared of something like that and ran away, leaving you behind... I'd rather be dead." "[crying] ...How can you say that?" Kiwi's voice trembled again. "[crying] I haven't done anything for you. If anything, I might just be dragging you into danger and using you. So why..." David smiled a little. "[excited] Isn't it obvious?!" He squeezed her hand tightly. "[excited] It's because I like you! You're cool, smart, crazy strong, but sometimes you're weirdly clueless, you suck at making coffee, and you hide a pamphlet for the Charter Hill Observatory in the back of your desk... That's the you that I——" He stopped mid-sentence. His face suddenly flushed with heat. "[scared] ...Wait, huh? Did I just... say something completely insane?!" Timidly, he looked at Kiwi's face. Her mouth was hanging open slightly. Her tear-stained cheeks were rapidly turning red. "[whispers] ...Idiot." She said it in a voice that was barely audible. "[whispers] What are you saying at a time like this? Read the mood, you idiot. Total idiot. You're worse than faulty cyberware. Has your brain melted?" "[excited] Shut up! I didn't plan on saying it at a time like this either! But it just... it just came out! The flow of the moment!" David shouted, his face bright red. "[angry] It's your fault for crying! When you make a face like that, I don't know what to do——" "[laughing] ...Pfft." Suddenly, Kiwi burst out laughing. "[laughing] Ahaha... what is that? 'It's your fault for crying' as a reason for confessing? That's the absolute worst." She wiped her tears roughly with the back of her hand and started laughing out loud. Her shoulders shook, as if her trembling from moments ago had been a lie. "[surprised] Huh, you're laughing...? Did you just laugh? Kiwi did?" "[laughing] Of course I'm laughing at this. You really always exceed my expectations in the weirdest ways. Why do you say stuff like that only when I'm being dead serious?" She was still laughing. Holding her stomach, to the point of tears. David watched her, dumbfounded. (*Ah... she really is beautiful.*) He felt it from the bottom of his heart. After a while, her laughter subsided, and Kiwi let out a sigh. "[gentle] ...Thank you." It was a small voice. But much warmer than before. "[gentle] When you held my hand, strangely, I wasn't scared anymore. I was so terrified that my monowire might go berserk again. But your hand was so warm, I felt like it would be okay." She gazed at her left hand. David's hand was still resting on it. "[gentle] You know... that stupidly honest part of you... I probably don't hate it. Or rather..." She stopped there and closed her mouth. Her ears, visible through the gaps in her hair, were bright red. "[surprised] Huh!? Or rather!? Or rather what!? Come on, say it clearly!" "[angry] Shut up! Are you trying to make me say more?! I'll sew your mouth shut with my monowire!" "[scared] Eep! You really went there!?" David recoiled dramatically, and Kiwi laughed softly again. A quiet, yet gentle atmosphere filled the room. The distant sirens of patrol cars, the usual noise—it was all just a faraway sound now. "[serious] ...Let's formulate a plan." Kiwi's voice suddenly returned to its cold edge. "[surprised] Huh? A plan?" "[cold] Obviously. Phantom has proven he can breach my neural interface. His next attack will be more direct. For example, remotely controlling your Sandevistan and stopping your heart with an overload." A chill ran down David's spine. "[serious] ...Seriously? But what do we do? His location is the abandoned Royal Pacific Hotel in Pacifica, right? Even if we storm the place, the prep——" "[cold] The preparations are already done." Kiwi stood up and took a data chip from a drawer in her workbench. "[cold] This is a detailed map of Phantom's nest and a backdoor program for his security system. I got it by reverse-tracing his brain hack on me earlier. With this, we can go directly into his server room and completely erase all traces of the program he installed in me." "[excited] As expected of Kiwi! You're amazing!" David clenched his fist. "[cold] But the problem is firepower. Phantom's nest has at least six of Chromejaw's elite crew members. Plus, the man himself is a full-body cyborg combat freak. In a head-on fight, even with your Sandevistan, the odds are against us." Kiwi tossed the data chip to David. "[cold] So this time, I'm going to the front lines too. I can't just be a hacker watching from the rear anymore." "[surprised] Wait, but Kiwi, your combat skills are——" "[cold] Do you think I can't?" Kiwi's ice-blue eyes glinted sharply. She raised her left hand, pointing the ejection port at David. Its tip glowed faintly. "[cold] I never told anyone this, but I originally worked in a corporate assassination squad. When it comes to handling a monowire, there's no one better in Night City. Phantom only valued my hacking skills, so he doesn't know this fact." "[scared] No way... you have a past like that?" "[sad] ...A dirty past. That's why I never wanted to tell anyone. But now's not the time to say that. To stop him, I'll use any means necessary." David looked straight into Kiwi's eyes. He saw the fear still flickering deep within them, not yet gone. She was putting on a brave front. Exposing her past just to move forward. "[serious] Got it. Then let's do this." David grinned. "[excited] I'll be the decoy. I'll charge in from the front with the Sandevistan and draw all their attention. In that gap, Kiwi, you infiltrate the server room from the back and crush that bastard Phantom. How's that?" "[sad] ...A decoy? You'll die." "[excited] I won't die! I'm the man who's gonna stand beside you. I haven't even managed to stand there yet, so how could I just go and die on my own?!" David drew the revolver Kiwi had given him from his hip holster. It felt heavy. "[serious] Besides, I've got this. The weapon you gave me. Together with this, I'll definitely come back alive." Kiwi looked up at David intently. A moment of silence. The monitor fans hummed lowly. "[whispers] ...Fine. But promise me one thing." Kiwi placed her hand over David's, the one holding the revolver.

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Episode 5

Name: Cyberpunk Edgerunners IF: Going to the Moon with Kiwi, Not Lucy
Author: Novelia

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