Cyberpunk Edgerunners IF: Going to the Moon with Kiwi, Not Lucy - Episode 6

The taste of blood. His own blood. Metallic, lukewarm. David Martinez knelt on the fourteenth floor of Megabuilding Zeta, beneath a flickering red emergency light. His left flank burned like fire. A bullet had grazed him in the earlier firefight, gouging into his flesh. " [serious] Kiwi, can you still run?" He gripped her hand as she crouched beside him. Cold. Her fingertips trembled faintly. " [cold] ...Don't worry about me. You're the one with that wound." Kiwi's ice-blue cyber-eye locked onto David's flank. Blood was forming a dark stain on the floor. " [excited] This is just a scratch! More importantly, their reinforcements are thirty seconds out. We're getting out of here!" He activated the Sandevistan. A heavy *thud* as his spine groaned. This was the umpteenth activation since morning, and his vertebrae screamed as if about to burn out. At the edges of his vision, the world warped into slow motion. Down the corridor. Three armed gangers slowly raising their guns came into view. " [angry] Out of my way!" David pulled Kiwi's hand and broke into a sprint. One shot, two. The revolver spat fire. Bullets punched precisely through enemy shoulders and legs, splattering blood across the walls. In the accelerated world, only the enemies' screams stretched out, drawn and slow. The third man leveled a shotgun. Without hesitation, David threw his own body in front of Kiwi. *BOOM!* A searing pain in his left shoulder. The buckshot tore through muscle. " [scared] David!" " [angry] No problem!" He smothered the pain with rage and slammed the revolver into the man's throat. The ganger collapsed, eyes rolling back. The end of the corridor. A fire door leading to the external stairwell. David kicked it open, and the two of them tumbled out into the cold night air. Behind them, a steel shutter slammed down with a thunderous roar. " [excited] Hah... hah...!" He slumped onto the rubble, breathing heavily. Above the Watson district, the night sky flickered with its usual garish neon. Distant sirens from a patrol car. Gunfire and furious shouts still echoed from the floors below. The entire building was sinking under a siege of thirty gangers. " [cold] ...Let me see your shoulder." Kiwi roughly tore David's jacket off. Her face twisted slightly when she saw his blood-soaked shoulder. " [cold] Just as I thought. The buckshot's embedded. If you keep fighting like this, you won't last fifteen minutes." " [serious] Perfect. Fifteen minutes is all I need to reach that bastard." " [angry] You idiot! Do you want to die?!" Kiwi shouted. Her usual icy expression melted in an instant, raw emotion bursting through. The lens of her cyber-eye wavered. " [crying] You said it yourself earlier. That you'd become my memory. Then take responsibility for that. If you die first, it's all meaningless." Her voice was wet with tears. Due to the brain virus, her memories were vanishing moment by moment. She was already forgetting the route she had memorized just minutes ago. And yet, she hadn't missed a single detail about David's wound. " [gentle] ...Heh." With his bloodied left hand, David touched Kiwi's cheek. Cold. But undeniably alive. " [serious] It's fine. I'm not dying. I'll get you to the Troy abandoned factory, no matter what. I'll take down Phantom there, get your memories back. And then, this time, I'll say it properly." " [whispers] ...Say what?" " [laughing] Isn't it obvious? That I love you." Kiwi's cheeks flushed red, visible even under the neon glow. " [crying] ...At a time like this, what are you saying, you idiot. You're such a complete idiot." She wiped her tears, but the corners of her mouth were smiling. A tearful smile. " [cold] Then prove it right now. We've got over twenty kilometers to run to that abandoned factory. How are we doing this?" David stood up. Blood dripped at his feet. Pain made his vision flicker. But his heart alone burned hot. " [excited] Just watch!" David hauled out his beloved ride, hidden in the shadow of the rubble — a modified bike, the Yaiba Kusanagi. A 600-horsepower monster he'd had Doc Marquez at the Black Dog Garage painstakingly assemble for him. Its jet-black body pulsed with glowing red neon lines. " [excited] With this, we'll blast down Highway Route 7 and be there in ten minutes. Get on, Kiwi!" Kiwi hesitated for just a moment, then let out a small sigh. " [sad] ...You really are an idiot through and through. But — I don't hate that about you." She swung onto the back of the bike and wrapped her arms around his bloodied waist. " [excited] Let's go, hold on tight!" David opened the throttle wide. The engine roared like a beast, tires biting into the asphalt. The two of them shot out into the dark highway, slicing through the neon sea. --- Highway Route 7, leading out to the Badlands. The massive four-lane elevated road cut straight through the ruined suburbs. The midnight highway was deathly quiet, only the distant streetlights flickering irregularly. David crouched low, minimizing wind resistance and pushing the speed higher. The meter read 240 kilometers per hour. The wind stung. His wounds screamed. Suddenly, the strength in Kiwi's arms weakened slightly. " [excited] Kiwi!?" In the rearview mirror, he saw her face had gone pale. The light of her cyber-eye flickered weakly. " [whispers] ...The brain virus... it's progressing again. For a while now, even my own name... feels hazy..." Her voice was faint, as if coming from far away. " [angry] Damn it...! Hold on! We're almost there!" Ten kilometers left. The silhouette of the abandoned factory was visible on the horizon. At that moment — *BOOOOM!* A deafening roar from behind. The engine sound of heavy vehicles. He checked the mirror. Three black armored trucks were chasing them with bloodshot intensity. The truck beds were packed with Chromejaw's crew, all loaded up with heavy chrome implants. " [angry] It's the Ghost girl and that new brat! Just like Boss Phantom said — turn 'em into roadkill on the highway!" They started spraying automatic rifle fire. Bullets gouged the asphalt, sparks scattering around the bike. " [surprised] Persistent bastards!" David activated the Sandevistan. A *crackle* — the sound of his spine burning out. At its limit. But he couldn't afford to care. The world shifted into slow motion. On the truck bed behind him, he could even see the gangers' fingers pulling triggers. He dodged. Reading the bullet trajectories, he leaned the bike by a hair's breadth. One shot grazed David's earlobe. Blood sprayed. " [angry] You bastards, how dare you!" He drew his revolver with his left hand, twisting back to fire a single shot. The lead truck's windshield shattered, the driver letting out a groan. The truck swerved, slammed into the guardrail, and flipped. Two left. " [angry] We'll take you on! Don't think one brat can handle us!" The second truck pulled alongside, a huge man leaping from the bed to pounce. At that moment — *Shing.* A faint sound slicing through the air. The huge man's arms were cleanly severed at the shoulders, spinning into the night sky. Fresh blood sprayed out like mist. " [cold] Your opponent is this monowire." Leaning against David's back, Kiwi had her left wrist raised. The injection port glowed pale blue. Her face looked ready to lose consciousness at any moment, but her voice alone had regained the cold ruthlessness of the ice-cold netrunner she once was. " [surprised] Kiwi, don't push yourself!" " [cold] Which one of us is pushing it? If you've got time to worry about me, speed up." " [laughing] Heh, roger that!" The huge man tumbled onto the road with a scream. In the moment the remaining truck flinched, David opened the throttle wide. Cutting through the wind, he accelerated into the dark wasteland. --- Troy Abandoned Factory. A colossal ruin towering at the eastern edge of Night City, on the border of the Badlands. The steel frame of the former automobile plant jutted out under the moonlight filtering through the crumbling ceiling, like a giant's gravestone. David slipped the bike into the shadow of Building A and cut the engine. Silence. In the distance, only the eerie *creak-creak* of the wind swaying rusted steel beams echoed. " [cold] Phantom's net-diving server room is in the basement of Building B. He should be waiting for you there now. He's set traps in both cyberspace and reality." Kiwi pressed her trembling fingers to her temple. The virus's progression was entering its final stage. " [sad] I'll... I'll take him on directly. In cyberspace, I'll destroy the brain virus's core. The guards in reality... I have to leave them to you. Can you do it?" " [serious] Obviously. I'm going." " [whispers] David." Kiwi grasped the hem of his blood-soaked jacket. " [crying] If... if I don't come back. If all my memories are erased. Even then — will you remember me?" David took her hand. He had never felt such a cold hand feel so intensely warm. " [serious] Like I could ever forget. The night you saved me. That view where the coffee was terrible and you laughed that the neon was prettier than the moon. I remember it all. I'll make you remember, as many times as it takes." Kiwi smiled a little through her wet eyes. " [whispers] ...Idiot. Then... please." She sat down, leaning against the wall, and closed both eyes. The strength drained from her body, and he knew her consciousness was diving into cyberspace. He swallowed hard. David gripped his revolver and stepped into the vast space of Building A. *Clink. Clink.* Only his own footsteps sounded unnaturally loud. Thin moonlight streamed through the collapsed ceiling, dust motes glittering as they danced on the floor. — Killing intent. David instinctively leaped sideways. *BOOM!* The concrete where he had just been standing was gouged out by a large-caliber rifle. " [sarcastic] Well, well. Her new toy. Did you wash your neck and wait for me?" A distorted, filtered voice echoed throughout the factory. A single, lanky shadow emerged from the darkness. Phantom. A dangerous psychopath netrunner, 67% of his body converted to cyberware. His left eye glowed ominously with a red optical scanner, and the Viper Arm on his right reared its head like a snake. A cracked, porcelain-like smile was plastered across his face. " [cold] Kiwi will soon return to being my masterpiece, completely. The garbage data that is you will be cleanly erased from her brain. And your body — I'll scrap it right here." " [angry] Don't screw with me! Masterpiece?! She's not yours! I'm taking her back from you!" David shouted and activated the Sandevistan. — In that instant, his spine finally gave out with a sickening *crack*. A violent pain shot through his back. His vision dyed crimson. " [laughing] Useless. Your Sandevistan is at its limit. I've analyzed all your usage patterns. This is the end for you!" Phantom raised his arm. The Viper Arm tore through the air, flying straight for David's chest. He couldn't dodge —. *Squelch.* A cold sensation. David watched as the Viper Arm pierced through his own chest. " [excited] Gah... hah...!" Blood overflowed from his mouth. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the floor. " [laughing] Look at you! A fool is a fool to the end! Taste the punishment for defiling my masterpiece!" Phantom laughed uproariously. David's consciousness sank into darkness —. — At that moment. *Thump.* Something pulsed deep in his chest. Not his heart, but something deeper. In the depths of his soul, he heard the sound of a wedge coming loose. David's entire body was enveloped in a brilliant light. Golden light spilled from his wounded chest, repainting the darkness of the factory. " [surprised] Wh-what is this?!" Within the light. Someone was reaching out a hand. "— Stand up, David." A nostalgic voice. " [surprised] Old man...!" Standing there was the phantom of the man once called a legend of Night City, an edgerunner, David's mentor, and his father — who should have been dead. " [gentle] The wedge inside you has ju

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Episode 6

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

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