Bruce woke up at 5:30. On the dot, always. Even if he gets one bad day's worth of sleep he wont let it affect his sleep schedule.
He got up immediately, rolling into a one armed handstand before getting on his feet.
He didn't mind that in order to add this to his routine he had to sleep on cushions that made his feet go just under the window.
The city was shitty already, bad feng shui could literally do nothing worse than just existing here.
He felt a little empty today. He picked up the one phone he kept by his bed.
Marked into it was 喜欢, chinese for like. Originally it was an almost entirely useless brick.
No matter how much he surfed the net he could never find the beautiful literature of his past life, or the meaningful music that he remembered.
Sure, he could recreate some things from memory, but at that point, it was better to just work his hands, or his mind.
Though he hated the learning process of coding, he knew it would be important.
So that's what he did. Netrunning they called it.
Bruce shook his head and went to the contacts. Maine, Pilar, Sasha, Falco, Dorio, and most importantly, Leia.
He opened the text chat with Leia, its history popping up instantly.
[Call me when you get back.]
[I will]
[Good]
[NOUS started a call that lasted 1:12]
[Why the aeon of erudition?]
[For my netrunning avatar,(yeah I didn't know about them until I got in this world either) I wanted something huge. So I have a very large mechanical structure with communication nodes as my avatar.]
[We always loved cosmic horror stuff.]
[yeah.]
[Good night]
[Good night]
Bruce itched, he wanted so badly to text her, to talk to her. Yet he knew not what they could talk about.
Shared history meant they already know everything about the other's "before".
Life in this world could hardly constitute comfortable conversation material.
He sighed, brushing his teeth at the now familiar sink.
'Perks of these stats.'
He scoured the back of his mind, reviewing the numbers that they gave him. All going to the fourth decimal place.
'They work on teeth too.'
He spat out the toothpaste and water in his mouth.
"Right, what was it today?"
As always he spoke to himself, anything to remind himself of the routine he so lovingly made for his stat points.
He remembered what he was going to do.
Two hours stretching, light breaks sparsed throughout, sometimes.
He began with his hamstrings, setting his feet up to his gym bench and reaching past his toes as far as he could.
When his legs finally warmed up he grabbed his feet and pushed his body to bend even more.
Enough effort has been put in over the years to allow him this action.
'I want to call her.'
He stretched his hips, one foot on the bench, one on the floor. A negative for his splits.
He looked around for his phone, the one that had her number.
'Too many bricks in here to tell, which one was it?'
Ankle stretching.
He knew which brick it was, but after fifteen years of hard work, could he really let it cut into his routine?
Knees and quads.
'This is basically torturing myself huh?'
knees, ankles, and hips now.
Still on the ground he twisted himself, a stretch that reached his hips, his back, and his arm.
'The sun rises now doesn't it?
Bruce took his first break, heading to the window and opening its shades before returning to his stretch.
For a moment, as he looked towards the city, he saw rose gold buildings. Fragments of lustrous gemstones mired about the cityscape.
Each gem moving across and between the buildings.
He saw the rainbow beyond the city, the azure gold clouds above that still held the beauty of the sky.
From the city center was an upside down waterfall of images.
The morning sun's light cast away these images, leaving only the scene of humanity reaching for the sky.
Gold faded into pink as the sun went higher, endlessly moving as Bruce continued his stretching.
Like the beauty of the sea the pink spewed across the landscape, the predominately gray buildings washed in shadows and light, bringing to Bruce the illusion of blue, that deep ocean blue with streaks of light cutting into the water.
The endless bustle of the city accentuated this color, the streets filled with vehicles colorfully adding to the depths of the city.
Bruce sighed, he allowed himself this wonder so many times, if only to forget where he was.
Today, he lamented his lack of a camera, this view was one he wished to share.
8:00
The city was disgusting once more, the beauty of the horizon lost to Bruce once again.
Bruce started today with weights, it was weighted squats and bench presses today.
He felt like he could do something else today.
clank!
The repetitions he did sped up, his form still perfect.
hgrrk!
A small price to pay for exertion, though he could feel in the back of his mind that he gained something in const.
He added a mental note, heavier training means more stat bonuses.
Bruce finished his squats, a light sweat on his brow.
He brought the bar over to the gym bench and laid down.
"One!"
Today, speed was king.
"Two!"
There was finally something to enjoy, someone to meet.
"Three!"
Someone important enough that he could ignore studying today.
"FOUR!"
Only seventy four to go.
Bruce did his bench presses with minimal rest, his mindfulness kept his form perfect and his muscles made sure to burn in appreciation, even if the weight was "easy" to them.
Gently, he lowered the weight on his last repetition. The bar sat upon its rightful place, a steel bench of honorable and disciplined worlds.
He took the weights off and returned them to their place of resting.
"Until next time." he muttered.
Now, a two hour session for calisthenics.
Half of it for core work.
Today, he didn't even lament about his lack of weighted clothes. He had checked the time on his last bench press.
He would finish this routine by 10:22. Then, he had work to get to.
10:23
The cold water of the shower quickly steamed when it reached his skin. Nearly five hours of continuous exercise will certainly warm someone up.
Bruce observed the steam, perhaps not to this degree.
He rubbed his loofah over his body, his frustrating body.
No matter how much he bulked, no matter how many calories he ate, it didn't grow larger.
It didn't even increase the fat storage by much.
Sure, he could certainly be compared to Adonis, if Adonis was Asian and ripped to shreds.
But he wanted those wider shoulders damnit!
For now, he had to deal with tall Asian sleeper build.
Unless he flexes his arm muscles they won't be disgustingly stringy and veiny.
He observed his tensed forearm. A full flex was required for that wretched level.
'Thank goodness.'
It was normal, within the standards of performative musculature.
The soap in this world was mixed with many artificial smells, the same as the past. His preference was always citrus based.
He was out of the shower and dressed by 10:25. Today he had a gig to get to.
He opened his stash room, checking on the computers and circuit boards inside.
There was a singular monitor that all of these things were hooked up to.
Checking the files on the monitor was a natural thing.
Bruce scrolled through his digital projects, his quickhacks and his ongoing programs.
His most used? JustAPenny.EXE.
With everything in place he grabbed his cyberdeck, now with extra ram additions that he'd attach to his upper arm.
'Thank goodness for stretchy circuitboards.'
Stepping out of the stash he walked to his wardrobe and grabbed his trusty Nue along with four extra magazines.
An armpit holster on his right side held the Nue quite nicely.
He opened the door and speedwalked to the garage lift, his jacket floating a bit in his wake.
Today's fit, black filter mask, now in carbon fiber and with easy clean filters.
His hairstyle a classic two block hairstyle.
The classic black fingerless gloves, generic, fitted right to his skin.
Another stretchy button down shirt, this time cream colored.
A custom tailored bomber jacket, courtesy of Leia. It was faintly red colored but mostly a deep gray. It had many interior pockets.
A red tie, bordering on black.
Slim joggers, low contrast brown with even lower brightness.
Kung fu slippers that could be mistaken for regular dress shoes.
White socks.
And Leia's favorites, his eyes with the same tapered double eyelids as his last life.
In her words, "It's what a fox demon would use if they were real."
*beep beep
His cheap mahir supron came to life. He was yet to replace it with a deleon.
He took out one of his many bricks, this one being 喜欢.
He placed a call and connected it to the car as he began to drive.
As soon as it connected a joyful and excited voice came out of the car's speakers.
"Bruce!!"
He smiled, the wait was painful but now he has seen the rain.
"Leia, it's good to hear you, better to see you."
A giggle came over the speakers.
"Traffic is wonderful today, you'll be with us in ten!"
He checked the time, 10:30.
"And yet I'm tempted to take someone's bike to make it in three."
His eyes narrowed at a passing arch.
Another giggle.
"Oh I can't wait either! If it were up to me, I'd have done the same just so that I could share the ride here with you."
Her voice was beautiful, silky, cheery, and seductive even. Exactly their shared type.
His own was silky as well, smooth and capable of many ranges. Exactly what they wanted from their voices.
"How was your routine today? I know it's not a rest day for us."
He imagined her smiling on the other end.
"Oh I woke up at three to do everything. It was a little rushed but I completed it all just right."
Bruce sighed.
"So I could've called you at six so we could have watched the sunrise together. Fuck."
She gasped.
"Oh my god that would have been the perfect way to start the day! You've got to let me move in, we could do so much together!"
Bruce was a little dejected.
"But then there's not enough space for our training regimens, it's too small of an apartment."
A faint "aaah!" was heard from the speakers.
It was followed by rapid typing noises and mutterings that Bruce couldn't catch.
"I have an idea! Those houses in Santo Domingo. They're not owned by corps! There's some landlord dude as the middleman! We can just hunt that guy down, take a house for ourselves, and only have to deal with utilities and property tax on it for the rest of our lives! Can we do that one? Please? Please please please?"
Bruce was happy to hear that, though he was greatly confused by the houses not being directly owned by the corporations.
"The locale isn't great, the people aren't great but, they've got everything we need don't they?"
Cheering came from the other end.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Bruce shook his head, he really felt lucky today. Lucky enough to forget about the problems in this world for just another moment.
"You know you don't need to ask like that, your reasoning is good enough and besides, this is a project to work on together. Of course I'd listen to you."
A short little pause entered their conversation. ended by Leia's voice.
Her voice was now deeper, a little more strained and a lot more, phew.
"But you liked hearing it didn't you? You're mine, and mine only. That means that if I want you to love me-"
Bruce could practically see the posing that she was doing on the other end.
"You'll love me in full."
He licked his lips, thinking of her licking hers.
Two can play at this game.
He lowered his voice too, bringing out a little more weight to his words.
"Oh? Then what do you propose?"
She sputtered a bit, her guard broken by his voice work.
"A little back and forth?"
He leaned into his voice more.
"Perhaps, a few rounds of-"
He let her imagination play out the rest of his words.
"h-h-hyia! hiieep! Oh yes! Please!"
Bruce smiled, he had won this round after all.
"I'll be there soon, see you then."
He could imagine her nodding along with her words.
"Mmm! Mmm! Soon!"
Bruce tapped the brick he placed on the console, ending the call.
He took one last turn and entered a parking lot, his destination for now.
He stepped out of his car and closed the door, finding Maine's crew in the distance.
Today's job? Delivery with a chance of shootout.
A girl was running over, her short hair flowing behind her, her cap desperately struggling to stay on due to her speed.
She wore a gray shirt, navy blue slim joggers, the same shoes as Bruce and a black bomber jacket.
Adorning her face was a matching filter mask with Bruce, its coloring a deep ocean blue instead of Bruce's black mask.
Not to be outdone, Bruce ran towards the girl as well, his excitement evident in his eyes.
They met closer to Bruce's car, their embrace charged with great kinetic energy, dispersed by a few spins on Bruce's part.
He carried his prize in a princess carry as he reached Maine's crew.
"HAHA Kid! You two sure work fast!"
Maine was just as joyous as ever. His little family made Night City even more of a home for him.
Rebecca was just as happy as ever.
"Bruce! It's good to see you again!"
This earned a quick scrutinizing glare from Leia.
She leaned into Bruce's ear.
"Mine, mine only, no one else."
Bruce only smiled.
He stole a quick nuzzle in their shared neck space.
"Forever."
"heuheuha!"
A small wave and giggle came from Sasha.
"Hey Maine, where's Dorio and Pilar today? They not making it?"
Maine shook his head, "Just us today, check the shard. It's got the rest of the deets for this gig."
Much to Leia's disappointment and the amusement of Rebecca and Sasha Bruce put Leia down.
He took out his "professional" brick and slot the shard in.
The screen shifted to two sections, the top holding the images in the shard and the rest holding the text.
Burce looked up at Maine and the crew.
"Ten k for going across town with animal drugs?"
He looked through the shard.
"And it's just some dude in North District who needs these things?"
Maine nodded, "Easy enough right?"
Bruce nodded with more to add.
"What the fuck kinda high is that guy looking for? Or this some shard related stuff we'll find if we check the package?"
He looked again at his brick.
"Hell is some corp gonna try to rob us? This is a ten thousand eddie delivery mission."
Maine grinned, "That's the fun of it kid, now are you ready to go?"
Bruce nodded, "Yeah."
…
He didn't expect the animals to be so friendly.
"This is the box, check it."
A pause and a nod from Sasha confirmed the parcel.
Bruce looked suspiciously at the box.
'Ten thousand for one box. ONE BOX, and it's not even the contents, just the delivery.'
He glanced at Leia.
'You usually do jobs like this?'
She shrugged.
'It pops by sometimes.'
With the package acquired the group headed back to their five seater.
Maine had apparently borrowed Falco's car today. Said Falco was busy on a car modification gig.
They gently placed the package in the trunk before Maine started driving.
"We'll go through Westbrook to hit North District. Less traffic, less trouble. One hour tops but then you guys will need to have your iron ready."
He was right, the ride through Westbrook was entirely uneventful.
Bruce and Leia had the pleasant opportunity to smell grass and slightly fresher and less polluted air.
Leia had seated herself on the hump, to make sure she didn't lose any possible attachment time with Bruce.
"Maine, what enemies should we expect in North district?"
This information was not on the shard, and Bruce could hardly bother to learn the gang territories of Night City.
"Huh? Oh, the 'stromers, real metal heads, anything below 45 will do almost nothing to them."
His eyes were a little distant as he focused on the road.
"Aim for their necks, they usually don't get that done until they're done with the rest of their cyberware."
*beep beep
Someone was honking their car's horn. Probably at the stop sign up ahead.
Maine continued.
"Even if they chipped or chromed their neck all the way through they hardly care about its quality compared to everything else they have chipped."
Bruce nodded, turning his head back to the open window. Until they left Westbrook he would partake in the smelling of grass with Leia.
…
As the grass grew sparser Bruce elected to close the window, something Leia agreed to.
"How much does a house over here cost?"
Maine, in his wonderful repository of knowledge, responded.
"Few million per year, hell I doubt the legends aside from Adam smasher could afford to live in such places."
Bruce nodded, he glanced at Leia, a plan forming in his eyes.
She looked back at him, encouragement filling her eyes.
Screw living in those small crappy homes, finding some random nepo baby and his family will be more than enough!
Alas such plans can wait, Bruce was yet to begin rewriting and reprogramming humans.
Their car entered North District, a place that was mostly unimpeded by traffic.
"Maine, ETA on the client's dropoff?"
Maine's eyes glowed for a second.
"Forty five, sit tight though, badges screaming something."
Bruce looked at his holstered gun and his ammunition filled pockets.
"I hope fifty is enough. What's happening with the pigs?"
Maine processed for a moment, caught off guard a bit by such ancient slang.
"Some gathering, blocking the streets, setting checkpoints. A few shootouts."
A groan came out from Rebecca.
She rested her cheek on her hand as she looked out the window, fresh from her nap.
"Of course all of the wannabe borg freaks are doing that. Let me guess the client is a stromer too?"
Her energy seems to be diminished after her nap.
Leia was ecstatic to find a different side to Rebecca, she turned to fawn over Rebecca and squeeze her cheeks.
"Ah! Hey hey! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
She struggled against Leia's strength, her fate sealed to be the marketable team mascot.
"LEGGO! LEGGO I'M GONNA SHOOT YA!"
Maine put his arm in the back seat.
"Cool it choom, we've got a problem."
Ahead of them on the road was a roadblock, twenty five Maelstrom members were holding the intersection, inspecting each car passing through the doors, hood, and trunks.
Bruce whipped his head away from the window.
"What kind of protest is this?"
Maine gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.
"We're about to find out choom."