The trip home didn't take long, but when I got to my apartment door, I found it was blocked.
I had to go down to the tower administrator.
"Hey… I've got a problem here…"
"And what might that be?"
A completely unfamiliar guy was sitting behind the counter.
"The apartment was paid for another three days, but it's blocked now."
"That's right… you paid another person."
The administrator bared a nasty grin, to which I nodded in understanding.
"Can I get my things?"
"Huh?"
"My things… otherwise, I'm taking you to court. You see, in a situation like this, according to the law, you should have notified me that the apartment would be blocked. Notified me no later than a week in advance. And believe me, I'll become a prostitute if I have to, but I'll scrape together the money for a lawyer, and he'll just destroy you."
"You think you're so smart, huh?!"
The guy got up from his seat, trying to loom over me, but when the pistol hidden under my jacket appeared, pressed directly against his chin, all his bravado instantly vanished.
"For your cheek, I'm taking another thousand from you, as compensation. Got it?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Give me the thousand in cash…"
The guy immediately complied with my demand.
"Now, let's go to the apartment. I'll get my things. If this megabuilding doesn't need residents who aren't very rich but pay their rent reliably, then I'll move to another one."
With that said, I fell silent. Reaching the apartment, I quickly packed my things, took the urn with Gloria's ashes, and then calmly left both the apartment and the megabuilding. After thinking for a bit, I went to the nearest public connection point and, through the network, found an apartment in Megabuilding H12 in Watson. The apartment was small, and in addition to a sleeping area and a large living room, it had a pantry that could be converted into a small workshop and weapon storage. And that suited me perfectly. The price was great, too…
Only five grand a month…
Considering the compensation from that asshole at H4, that was more than fine, as I wouldn't be left without food. So, I booked the apartment and immediately headed to the nearest metro station, which I planned to take to the megabuilding.
Ten minutes in, and I caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye…
A girl… a blonde… She was walking through the car very slowly and, with some hack, was extracting data shards from ports, hiding them in her pockets. I didn't have any shards in my ports, however, so I just stood there calmly as she passed, cleaning out another corpo.
Did I feel bad for these poor saps?
No. It was their own fault for not protecting their shards and their cash. Personally, I had transferred everything from my personal shard to the account Regina set up for me. That one didn't need any shards. Although opening such an account did cost a certain amount of money.
Well, she must have considered me a promising enough prospect to set up that kind of account, rather than linking it to a shard she would have sent me through a mail terminal.
When I reached my station, I calmly got out of the metro car and walked toward the megabuilding. It was only after I was halfway there that I realized the girl was probably the same blonde that David met in the canon.
Well…
I have to admit she was pretty cute, and if it weren't for the case in my hands and the bag on my shoulders with my few belongings, I might have tried to get to know her.
Reaching the megabuilding, I went to the administrator and arranged to rent the apartment.
A couple of minutes later, I got out of the elevator…
"Fuck you, you asshole! I'm fucking feeding you, and you're still talking shit?!"
The door next to mine was open, and a petite but fully-developed girl was standing in the doorway, yelling a lot of interesting things at someone inside the apartment.
And while I was genuinely curious about what made the girl yell like that, from David's memories, I knew it was better not to get involved in other people's business in Night City. So, I calmly walked up to my apartment, opened the door—my biometrics had already been added to the database—and went inside.
With a quiet hiss, the door closed behind me, cutting me off from the sounds of the megabuilding's common corridor.
"Well…"
I put the case on the floor and took the bag off my shoulders, looking around thoughtfully.
A standard megabuilding apartment…
Nothing new…
The first thing I did was put things in their places. I put the urn with Gloria's ashes on a shelf, and then I took the case into the pantry, which turned out to be clean. It was there that I opened it up and began to arrange everything just the way I needed it. After all, the case was just for convenient transport, not some repair station...
Twenty minutes into the work, and someone started banging on my door with their fist.
Tch…
I got up, closed the door to my future workshop, and went to the main door. I pressed the button to open it.
"Yeah?"
"You our new neighbor?"
The same petite girl looked at me with a mix of interest and defiance.
"David Martinez."
I noticed a flash of recognition in the girl's eyes when I said my last name.
"Rebecca…"
"And?"
"Hey, choom, you got a hundred eddies I can borrow?"
"I don't lend money to strangers…"
"Choom…"
She looked at me pleadingly.
"What happened?"
"My brother, that piece of shit, spent everything on chrome! We don't even have money for food!"
"Wait here…"
Closing the door, I went to the food dispenser and bought four burritos. Then I went back to the door, opened it, and handed them to the girl.
"Here…"
"Huh?"
"I don't lend money, but if you don't have anything to eat, I can give you some food…"
I shrugged and closed the door right in her face.
After that, I went back to the workshop and continued arranging my tools. It was only when everything was in its proper place that I smirked and moved the case into the corner. I would use it as a small storage box for odds and ends. For now…
I took the Unity out of its holster and brought in the bag of parts I'd bought for it from the other room.
"Time to get to work…"
A few hours of meticulous work, and the pistol had increased power, a good suppressor, and the engraving "Gloria Martinez" on the side. Just so I wouldn't forget who I owed my start to. After all, she was the one who gave birth to and raised David. And it was thanks to her hard work paying for her son's education that I had enough knowledge to both modify weapons and work as a solo.
"Hmm… is that the same green-haired girl from the canon?"
This thought came to me when I put the pistol into the holster, which I hung on a hook I had prepared in advance. Then I took out the knives—I had three of them now after buying from Robert, and they weren't the worst. I thoughtfully sharpened them. It wasn't strictly necessary, but it's better to check the sharpness yourself and hone it to your liking than to suffer later.
After finishing with the knives, I put them in their places and then calmly left my workshop.
Looking at the clock, I realized I had been working for too long and only had four hours left to sleep. I decided not to pretend to be some unshakeable hero. I quickly undressed, took a shower, and fell asleep…
Morning came with the annoying blare of an alarm. However, unlike David, I was pretty organized and could get up even if I really didn't want to. David, in this situation, would have probably just turned off the alarm and chosen to sleep in.
Although…
I have to admit that he tried not to let situations like that happen and went to bed early enough to be more or less rested by the time he had to wake up for the academy.
After showering, I went into my workshop and checked the condition of my weapons. I might have missed something yesterday…
But no, the weapon was in very good condition, so I called Regina with a clear conscience.
"Hello, Regina. It's David."
"I can tell already…"
The girl let out a slight snort.
"…So, you're an early bird, are you?"
"I just have a great need for money."
"Something happen? You made a decent chunk of change yesterday…"
"Well… the manager changed in my old megabuilding, and since the apartment was registered to my late mom, he decided it was a good chance to shake me down for extra rent. I refused and, after grabbing my things, moved to a new place, which I had to pay for. In short, I'm almost broke."
"Hmm…"
"Look, I wanted to give you another job, but since you're so desperate for money… tell me, would you have a problem working for one of the gangs?"
I winced slightly.
"Honestly? I'd rather not work for gangs… Although… the Mox are pretty decent, and they try not to cause trouble on the streets. They also don't drag outsiders into their affairs…"
"What about the Animals?"
I closed my eyes.
"Definitely not."
No, personally I didn't care, but it would be very strange for the guy to easily agree to work for the gang whose members caused his mother's death. And the gang itself is too wild; they might attack, and my physical condition, while good, wouldn't make me feel confident in their company.
"If there's a contract to take one of them out, I'll probably agree, but I won't work for them."
"Are you sure?"
"Regina, why the tests? You've probably already gathered intel and know that the accident that killed my mom was caused by the Animals. I will one hundred percent not work for them, but against them…"
"I understand."
Regina's image nodded.
She was silent for a moment.
"Well, then I have a task related to the Mox… they have a girl named Judy, and she needs help fixing some equipment for editing braindances. You know your way around that stuff?"
I thoughtfully scratched my cheek.
"Well… it's not all that complicated. Computers, even powerful ones. But I wouldn't be able to handle specialized gear like braindance goggles."
"Let me clarify the nature of the job…"
Regina's image froze for a couple of minutes, after which she smirked and nodded to me.
"Well, they told me that if worst comes to worst, they'll send you to fix toilets."
"They can make me clean out the sewers for all I care, as long as they pay well."
"Hmm… No reaction at all?"
"Should there be? I came to you to work, not to argue… I'm a rookie, and I'm not going to see any fat contracts anyway. You have to understand me and my style of work first. So you'll send me on all kinds of jobs. Naturally, I understand you wouldn't send me to clean up waste, and everything else…"
I shrugged.
"Alright. So you go to Lizzie's Bar and tell them you're there to see Judy from Regina."
"Got it. I'm on my way."
"Excellent… don't let me down, Ghost."
The connection was cut, and I got up from the table and stretched. My back gave off a not-so-pleasant ache. I really needed to visit a decent ripper, to check what that quack had done to me. Of course, I had used the Sandevistan several times yesterday and didn't feel anything suspicious, but the fact that I wasn't given any medicine…
Ah…
With a sigh, I went out and glanced at my T-shirt, which still hadn't washed clean. My back was covered in blood. And I didn't like that either.
Of course, it's possible that this is normal after an operation, but David was never told anything like that, which means…
It means the Doc was a real quack who didn't give a shit about his clients.
Uff…
I crumpled the T-shirt and threw it in the trash can, then looked at myself in the mirror. Turning my back to the mirror, I twisted my head slightly and saw that my back wasn't bleeding now. Nodding in satisfaction, I put on another T-shirt, then took an old jacket out of the closet and put it on.
I carefully folded Gloria's jacket into a bag, deciding to take it to the dry cleaner.
Why?
I guess David's memory is speaking through me; he wasn't ready to part with that jacket so easily. Of course, under the jacket, I secured the pistol in the holster and the knives, and only after that did I leave the apartment, simply locking the door. Now, no netrunner could hack the lock. And since there are few techs among thieves, I was pretty calm.
After dropping the jacket off at the dry cleaner, I noticed the blonde I saw in the metro yesterday slowly descending from the floor above. But I didn't let on. Instead, I went down in the elevator, got into one of the taxis waiting for clients in the special parking lot, and set off to complete Regina's job.