Author note : this chapter is mostly about cyberpunk edgerunners first episode. So if you want you can skip it , the next chapter will feature M starting to interfere with the edgerunners plot.
Thx.
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The city buzzed like a neon nerve.
Highrises loomed like towers of steel bones.
Arasaka drones zipped above crumbling megablocks.
Graffiti glowed in the dark.
NUSA military Lt. Col. James Norris was in corpo plaza.
Norris, who is heavily equipped with cyberware, goes cyberpsycho and shoots a cop through the window of his car, before he attacks the other NCPD officers, and activate his Sandevistan. MaxTac eventually hack his system and is able to neutralise Norris.
The screen turn dark . It was but a braindance watched by a teenager, David Martinez.
who just watched Norris' memory of this brutal event in his mother's apartment. He is then contacted by Doc, who admits he got this BD fresh from master editor Jimmy Kurosaki.
A new morning begins,
David was staring at his wet school uniform in the washing machine. In the living room he wakes up his mother, gloria Martinez who is an emergency medical technician. They discuss the money he needed for a necessary update for his wreath braindance equipment.
Gloria wants him to get the legal update from her money, but David being a teenager is frustrated and insists that Doc helped him with that matter and there is nothing to worry about.
Network News 54 interrupts their conversation with the breaking news about Lt. Col. James Norris' death and missing cyberware. David is excited to see his mother on TV, but she seems uneasy about something, interrupts the program and sends him to school.
David leave the apartment and Gloria gives someone with the name Maine a call.
David is wandering the crowded and rundown streets to the song "Who's Ready For Tomorrow". For a glimpse, he seems to see a girl with white hair, but within seconds, she is gone again, and he continues walking heading to school.
He finally arrives at Arasaka Academy, and is immediately scolded by his AI teacher for not wearing his uniform.
Katsuo Tanaka, a privileged bratty student, verbally attacks him and talks badly about David's tech. David brags about "his ways" of getting the expensive wreath update, but the next meditation session goes horribly wrong, and his illegal software provided by doc damages the system.
Gloria is called to the academy.
Gloria and David are in the principal's office. The situation is extremely embarrassing for Gloria.
"David, we've had this talk. You're... not meeting Arasaka standards." the principal said.
"I'm trying, alright? The tech you give me's already two years old—" david tries to defend himself.
"Then maybe this isn't the place for you. Arasaka nurtures excellence. You're not... built for it. And you miss Martinez what is your financial situation like you are always late to pay the tuition fees"the principal says arrogantly.
" I will pay his tuition and I will pay for the system damages please... david has the right to study here as much as everyone else" gloria said.
David didn't respond. He just grabbed his bag and left.
On their way home in their car,
"What is wrong with you mijo, I told you to buy the equipment legally with my money" gloria said angrily .
" You don't understand mom it's not about the equipments, the tuition or anything else , it's about me, I don't belong to this academy I am too poor, too insignificant for it, I don't see any future for me in Araska" david says in an angry tone .
Gloria is heartbroken, since she wants David to succeed in this life, so she works the extra hours for him. Their ride suddenly comes to an end, when an Animals gang vehicle pulls up next to their car and the gang members open fire. Gloria can't prevent the collision with another car. David finds himself buried under crashed car parts with fire all around him. In the distance, he can see his mother lying on the street. The Trauma Team arrives, but both of them are not clients of this service and are denied first aid, much to David's dismay and helplessness.
Later .....
The city never slept.
But tonight, it was twitching.
In a dim alleyway far from the glimmering skyline of Corpo Plaza, David Martinez sat slumped on a rusted bench outside the Night City Center for Psychiatric Health.
His mother, Gloria, had been wheeled in just an hour ago. The trauma of the crash still echoed in his ears—glass exploding, flames licking the street, her body limp in his arms.
David looked up as a harsh fluorescent light above him flickered and buzzed.
A white-coated surgeon stepped outside, a sterile mask hanging around his neck, eyes already tired.
"You'll need to leave," he said flatly, voice clinical. "You're not next of kin on record. We'll call you if there's an update."
David stood. "Wait, please—how is she?"
The surgeon gave a bored sigh. "We'll do what we can. But she was stabilized. That's all I can tell you."
Then, under his breath, "For now."
David's fists clenched. "I'm her son."
"Doesn't change policy," the man said, and turned his back.
David stood there. Alone. Angry. Scared.
Unaware that his world had just changed forever.
Then he walked away with a bowed head, unaware of the monsters waiting inside. Not doctors. Not caretakers. Just scavs in coats.
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Author here ..
Damn writing this was hard
I never watched the anime everyone says it's heartbreaking and I don't need more heartbreak in my life.
So it was very hard writing this I had to research the episodes, characters and even dialogue.
I hope I didn't butcher the characters. Please tell me if you find anything wrong .
And this is the third chapter in first commenter honor. Two to go .
Damn I just realized I need to write 7 more chapters today .... just kill me please.