Act 1 Chapter 1

Rebecca liked to believe she was just a simple girl. All she wanted in life was some good iron and an input to call hers. What can she say? Nothing gets her blood running hotter than violence and a good lay. That was how she liked it and it's what she's good at. She'll probably die guns blazing with her man but now… she wasn't so sure as things got a whole lot more complicated.

She stared down at the bowl of kibbles in front of her, prodding it with her spoon as she kept thinking about the day before. The brown mass of rehydrated food stuff slowly swirling inside a bowl as she kept on thinking about the night before. She normally would be chowing down right now but was too preoccupied to eat right now. Even Pilar, the slob that he usually is, was taking it slow today.

"You haven't touched your food" Pilar pointed out as he chewed on his food. She sighed as she gently pushed her bowl away.

"Not hungry." Rebecca replied as she slumped down on the table and stared off into the distance.

"Want me to buy you something good?" Pillar asked as he shoveled another spoonful of kibble into his mouth. At least he still had his appetite, she thought to herself as she turned and stared back at her brother.

With a wry grin spreading across her face, she then teased her brother "You? Buying me something good? I should be the one asking you that."

"Still thinking about last night?" Pilar asked once more. He was getting annoyed with all the questions he was making but she can't really deny it.

"Is it really that obvious?" Rebecca turned face down before letting out a groan of frustration. She couldn't help but think about those stupid puppy eyes. How could she have missed something so obvious. Was it because he gave her such a great time?

"God damn he got you good. Usually, you would be shouting at me or somethin." Pilar replied as she heard him shovel food down his mouth.

"Why me though?" She asked him. Yes she was pretty but he probably had a ton of girls after him. She couldn't wrap her head around this idea that she was someone special. She couldn't help but feel her cheeks heat up at the thought.

Pilar quirked an eyebrow at her before shouting in response, "Why not you? Someone calling my sister ugly cause I'll rip them to shreds!"

She turned her head towards his brother with a stupefied look on her face "Who are you and what did you do to my brother" she asked.

Pilar merely rolled his eyes as he pressed forward without pause. "Ok. Let me ask you this then. Did he look at any girl when you were around him?" he asked.

She frowned but entertained his question anyway, "No… it's actually quite funny that he kept following me around like a lost puppy." He remembered he had this goofy smile with him and he looked so goddamn happy when they hit the gun shop and fired at the range.

"Did he say anything about your clothes?" He asked again.

"No, not even once." She remembered as her frown got even deeper as she recalled that time when she bumped into a Corpo, "Not even when we went to this high class restaurant. He just barreled right in and gave this look to the waiters. I remembered bumping into this Arasaka Corp and fucker called me a whore and everything. Kept shouting about my clothes but Hiro just stood up and gave him a dressing down."

"Did he ask you about what you like? Maybe he was fishing for a gift to give you" Pillar then asked as he stroked his chin. Suddenly, the gun in her pocket felt so warm now. Reaching down, she pulled out the toy-like gun and looked at it in both horror and elation.

"Fuck…" She breathed out as Pilar nodded "Does he have a crush on me!?" she shouted as she laid down the gun and stood straight up from her seat.

Scraping the last bit of sauce from the meal, Pilar finished it with a loud burping as he answered her question, "See? He likes you so stop being gonk about it. Stop thinking too much about it. Just do things. Go with the flow and live the moment. He could be playing with you or he could be not. Either way, I'll shoot him even if it means dying, if he ever breaks your heart then so be it."

"Stop making so much fucking sense!" Rebecca shouted as she leaned close and hammered her fist down on his crappy mohawk. Still, she couldn't help but feel just a bit more relaxed now. Going with the flow sounded like a good idea for her.

"Ow-! God damn it Becca, Not the hair! Chill!" Pilar shouted as he shielded his head and leaned away. Before she could jump at him and strangle him, both receive a message from Maine along with the sound of knocking from the door.

"Hey Choom, open up." Messaged Maine as they stopped on their tracks. Glaring at her brother, she huffed as she went on to answer the door.

Opening the door, she quickly found out that it wasn't just Maine that dropped by. The gang's all here. The main man himself Maine towered over the motley ensemble with his girlfriend Dorio beside him. Besides the two were, there was also their net runner Kiwi along with Lucy. They were a sight for sore eyes and she felt touched that they all sported a look of concern. Even Kiwi looked uncharacteristically emotive without the usually detached and cold look she often sported.

Looking up at them, she asked her crew "So… I see you've heard about last night?" . It seems everyone and their mother heard what happened least.

"Yeah, we heard plenty enough. Heard Arasaka's mad dog dropped by your house." Maine replied with a shrug. Of course they heard so might so she might as well tell them everything.

Rebecca sighed as she reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose before gesturing for them to come in. "Best you guys get settled in because I promise you this is a long story." She said as she turned around and walked towards the couch.

-x-x-x-

"So let me get this straight. You saved this kid from some random muggers then you took him out on a date and you didn't know who he was till his bodyguard dropped by?" Maine asked as he leaned forward with an amused smile plastered across his face. She suddenly felt that his face was just a tad bit more punchable right now.

"It was not a date ok! I took him out on tour cause the gonk obviously needed someone to show him around!" She defended herself as Kiwi snorted.

"So, the date at a high end restaurant, the shooting range gunplay and the gift giving isn't a date. Some high standards you have there Becca." Kiwi snarked as she took a huff from her cigarette.

"Oh shut up will you!" She shouted as she threw her hands up in frustration.

"And here we thought you pissed off an Arasaka Exec, instead we found out that our little gunslinger charmed one instead." Maine chuckled as she growled at him warningly while her cheeks burned from indignation. She had had enough teasing for the day damn it all!

"Who knew her aggressive go-getter attitude would catch someone's attention for once." Kiwi added as she sent them all snippets of various news articles, All of them showing Hiro. The articles were wide and varied but all told the same thing, Hiro was one of the forces behind Arasaka's rise back to prominence.

"Grandson of Saburo Arasaka and son of Yorinobu to an unknown edgerunner from around here. Graduated and finished his studies at age 12. Became the youngest Arasaka board member at age 14 and earned his PhD in Theoretical Physics at age 16." Kiwi started listing off the accomplishments under Hiro's belt.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"The amount of patents in his name frankly boggles the mind. Physics, Material Science, and Biology to name a few of the fields he specializes in. Kid's a polymath and polyglot and wouldn't you know it, he's a licensed doctor as well. Talk about an overachiever. In short, he's Arasaka's golden goose and you now have him wrapped around your fingers, congratulations." Kiwi finished off before looking at the gun over on top of Rebecca's lap warily. She wasn't sure why everyone kept looking at the gun. It looks cool and all with its black matte finish and the green highlights but like it's not like it.

Everyone stared at Kiwi as they digested what she just said before they turned their attention on her. Maine and Dorio nodded as they gave her both thumbs up while Lucy had this look she couldn't quite decipher. She shrugged it off as Kiwi added "You know… Militech would pay a king's ransom for any information about the kid and having someone, a close confidant or even an input that could tattle to them… I can't even think of how much they're going to be paying"

"Hey! Don't you there even suggest something like that!" She shouted as she aimed her toy gun at Kiwi. Kiwi raised her hand in surrender as Pilar pulled her back.

"Becca, Chill. Kiwi, not cool. This Hiro kid's Becca input." Maine scolded their netrunner as the woman nodded.

"Just saying is all. Besides, with Becca being this kid's output, we could probably get some corporate immunity if we play nice" Kiwi replied.

She huffed as she crossed her arms and leaned back against her couch. "He ain't my input… yet" She muttered as she felt her cheeks heat up.

"You know, all this talk about input and output got me thinking…" Dorio wondered as she looked at her contemplatively, "What if the Emperor finds out?"

"Oh shit you're right. I could still feel my back hurting from that time when I first proposed to you. Your old man almost broke my back!" Maine winced at the memories Dorio accidentally pulled up.

Rebecca couldn't help but gulp in nervousness. The Emperor was infamous for his natioanalistic tendencies and his pride. If he did find out she practically dated his grandson, she'll definitely be under his radar and wasn't that something to be worried about.

"Fuck." Rebecca breathed out as she ran her hand across her hair before she started playing with the toy gun Hiro gave her. It had some heft to it and it did feel good in her hands.

"You think the kid gave you an experimental gun?" Maine jokingly asked. She snorted in amusement at the thought. It wasn't so far fetched but prototypes were one of a kind and expensive. No way she's holding one right now.

She stopped spinning the gun and looked down on it. Inspecting every detail of the faux firearm, she did find It had everything a gun had but it could be some sort of fancy gel gun for all she knew. Aiming at the window and right at one the passing skull like Arasaka Delivery drone, she then replied "This? Nah, probably not. Here let me show you."

She squeezed the trigger and all hell broke loose. She squeaked in surprise from the gun bucking against her hands as it shot an arc of green lightning straight at the window. The electrical arc ate through the window, the delivery drone and a water tower which exploded in a giant cloud of green tinted steam. What's worse was that the shot left some sort of corrosive effect which ate through the stuff that it passed through.

They all stared wide eyed and gaped at the carnage caused by the shot as the shouts of alarm and cries of panic could be heard outside. Rebecca looked down at the very real and very dangerous gun in her hand before slowly setting it down on the table.

"Becca… what the fuck was that!" Lucy shouted as the normally unflappable girl shouted, echoing the thoughts of everyone in the room.

"Hiro's gift…" She replied honestly.

"And you said he's not your input? Yeah, I'm not buying it." Kiwi deadpanned as she approached her apartment's surprise balcony as the green corrosion faded away. She made sure to avoid even touching anything as she peered down to inspect what she assumed was the drone.

"You know… I always thought the view would be nice if I had a balcony there." Pilar whispered before covering his face."Our land lord's going to fuck tan my hide." He lamented. They really can't hide something this big and they might be visited by the NCPD later.

"I'll handle it." She replied as he gently patted his brother on the back. This was her fuck up. Hopefully it would be cheap but she could already feel her wallet getting a bit lighter.

Thankfully or unfortunately, Hiro decided it was the best time to call her. She jumped in surprise as she stared at the number in front of her and she kept staring at it and wondering if it's a good idea to answer it right now.

"I'm going to take a guess and say that's this Hiro kid calling." Maine asked as she nodded a little too fast. She bit her lips as indecision took hold.

"Oh come on Becca! Didn't I just tell you to just do it!" Pillar shouted which steeled her mind.

"Ok fine! I'm going to respond so shut the fuck up! She shouted in turn as she answered the call. Gathering her thoughts, she greeted Hiro happily "Hey Choom! How's it hanging?"

Maine covered his face as his shoulders started shaking while Dorio couldn't help herself as she squealed out in delight. She flipped the two the bird before turning her attention back to the call. "Hey Becca, open the news channel right now."

"Open the news channel now, why?" She asked, confused at Hiro's sudden request.

"Just do it. It's a surprise.~" Hiro said and before she could even reply, Pilar was already on it as he ran towards their TV and turned it on. She along with everyone else huddled around the tiny screen as Pilar turned it to the right channel.

There standing in front of a speech conference was Hiro making a speech for the journalist and the camera. Whatever it was that he was speaking about, they already missed most of it. Still, they were there to hear the end of his speech. "And I would like to conclude the opening ceremony for the Arasaka Mechanicus Lab by greeting a special someone I met while exploring this city. Hi Becca!-"

She quickly turned the channel much to the dismay of the others. "Hey what gives! The kid's definitely going to say something else! How can I prepare my shovel talk now damn it." Pilar shouted as she kept turning the channel. Her heart was racing while her ears burned and she hated it damn it all. She should be the one teasing him, not the other way around!

Finally, she settled on a nice boring channel. The ones with the useless 24 hour talk shows and away from Hiro's little stunt. "Today at Night City's Morning Brew, Who is Becca? More after these messages from our corporate sponsors!"

She couldn't help but groan as she sunk into her knees and covered her face. She didn't need anyone telling her that she was blushing like some Corpo school girl on her first night out in Lizzie's bar. She hated Hiro for turning things around. She tucked herself into a tiny ball and hoped everyone went away.

"Got to say nice catch." Kiwi said appreciatively as she felt the old hag gently stroking her hair. It wasn't fair that Hiro could mess her up like this.

"Why the hell did you guys drop by anyways?" She whined as she looked up at them.

Maine shrugged as he said "Heard you were in trouble and well, Gloria's getting out of the biz so I wanted to throw a farewell party for her and I can't have that party without everyone there."

"Wait, she's actually quitting the gig?" Rebecca asked, genuinely surprised that Gloria of all people finally got lucky enough to quit. The gal kept them supplied with some good chrome and it's a shame that she wouldn't do it anymore but at least someone's having a good time.

-x-x-x-

David Martinez was just your average kid from the mean streets of Santo Domingo. Everyone knows him in their apartment block as the corpo school kid, the lucky kid that's living the dream but he kinda resented it a bit. Still, he kept going to him and made sure that he was up to par with the other kids. They can't sling that much shit if the only thing they can sling is where he came from and his status in life. It gets stale fast after all.

He knew they were dirt poor and he had this feeling that no matter how hard he tried, the stains these kids perceived on him would never go away but today was weird… really weird. As he walked past the gate of his school, he felt something was already off. People were looking at him differently. While they used to look at him like he was some sort of shit stuck beneath their shoes, now… it was as if they regarded him like a cut of meat to eat and devour.

"Hey Martinez! Looking good!" Called one of them out.

"Yo David my man. We need another man on the team and I heard from someone that you're just the man we need." Offered the usually aloft Soccer team lead.

"Hey, wanna hang out later? The girls and I know a good place in the Kubuki district. You should totally come with us.~" called another, this time a couple of cute girls who were giving him looks which was freaking him out.

"Yeah… I'm kinda busy right now but maybe later!" He replied as he bravely ran away from them. What the hell was happening right now? Did he finally lose it and go psycho? Was he using some tainted BD right now?

Before he could even think about that any further, his train of thought was delayed as he bumped into the one person he hated meeting in his day to day school.

"Hey! Watch-..." Shouted Tanaka before he slowly trailed off. For a second, he thought he saw some fear in Tanaka's eyes but that can't be right can it? "Sorry about that." Tanaka quickly muttered as he walked away, practically darting off to wherever he was going.

"What in the world is going on?" As if on cue to answer him, his mother came calling. He quickly answered it without hesitation.

"Hey mom. Anything happened at work?" He asked a bit bewildered at the time she was calling. She's supposed to be at work right now? He knew she probably just arrived at work and the asses there hated people calling while on the clock.

"Hey kiddo, just want to tell you that I got a promotion… Yay?" His mother replied with an equally confused tone as he was. It seems that it wasn't him that was experiencing strange shit.

"... so you too mom?" He hazard a guess to which his mother replied.

"Wait, that fast? Anyways, I just wanted to tell you to come home early. Going to be borrowing your uncle's old butane burner. I'm going to cook something my abuela once cooked for me. Stay safe ok? Love you!" With that, the call ended leaving even him more confused.

"Did I die?" He asked as he walked off in a daze. If he died, he shrugged, might as well make the most out of the strange scenario he found himself in.