บท 118: Death in the Family
Ori closes the door behind him and empties the rucksack on his bed, revealing a number of items he hadn't known were in there. Old I.D tags belonging to Max and Six, or to be more accurate Bailey and... Whatever Six's real name was. The merc had scratched out any label that'd carried it, scrubbing his actual identity from existence.
There were a number of shards too, some detailing 'To be destroyed' files from the war that obviously hadn't been. While others were simply a transaction or payment receipts. Notably, Six's pension, which had been denied by the Corpo he'd been working under for... Inadequate documentation of his service...?
Scowling, he flips through the shard, coming across the back and forth between Six and Militech. Apparently, someone had misplaced his information during the war, and while Six had received copies of it, they'd been destroyed during an artillery assault... Of course, Militech disputed this, claiming Six was simply fabricating everything to make money.
This, was probably why Six had been storing classified documents... Most of them were either out of date or not really useful anymore. But a few truly struck Ori, particularly one shard.
Six had been the pilot of one of the AVs that led to the Night City Holocaust. This was caused during the fourth corporate war of course, and while in most other circumstances this information was useless, now though?
Most people knew that Arasaka and Militech were involved in the nuclear explosion, but neither had enough proof to truly incriminate the other. The was of Militech design, but many thought that Arasaka had used it in an attempt to deny the Militech assault team valuable territory.
Militech was the one responsible of course, they attacked, they planted the bomb, and they detonated it. They had covered their tracks and evidence too much for Arasaka to snuff out however...
Until now... While knowledge of Six's position as a pilot wasn't worth much, the files he'd dug up about the nuclear payload certainly were. It was literally Militech getting caught red-handed, not only that, it was evidence they themselves produced.
Honestly though? Ori wasn't entirely sure what he should do with it. Sure, it was utterly fuck Militech, but it'd also make Arasaka the victim. They'd have the public's sympathy, and with it they could probably force whatever they wanted for the next couple of years, maybe even have the Mayor exile Militech from the city entirely.
It was kind of surprising just how old Six and Bailey were, but given there was Cyberware that could slow the ageing process, it probably shouldn't be.
Sighing, he places the important shards to the side and goes through the rest, eventually finding pictures of Six and Max when they were younger, when Six hadn't completely borged himself. They were happy, or as happy as you can be in a filthy-looking bar. Six probably wanted him to show these to Charlie, make sure she didn't forget Max.
There were some with a younger Charlie in them too, the little girl sometimes smiling, sometimes sitting grumpily as Max attempted to spoon-feed her. There were videos too, but Ori couldn't force himself to watch them.
He ignores the moisture gathering in his eyes and places them securely in a cupboard. He knew well how dearly these must of meant, given he'd lost most of the photos, videos, and other memories of his mother and father during the house fire.
With the shards safely away, he takes two large revolvers from the bag. Six's revolvers. He'd thought to bury them with the man, but since he encouraged Ori to use Max's old LMG, which was probably in NCPD hands now, he probably would have wanted him to use these as well.
He'd never actually looked at them up close before, only now was he realising just how much Six had modified them. Black and grey with some dull brass here and there, sections of the metal covered in decorative engravings. (Like this but shorter, broader, and with more engravings. : https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8qyGQ )
They were pretty huge too, which he hadn't noticed before since Six's large hands made them look relatively normal. Indeed, they took .50 calibre bullets too, which explains how easily the hardened bone of his skull had been breached.
Ori grips them tightly, resting his forehead on the sides of the barrels as he trembles. "You should've just stayed home, Six... You know this was gonna happen... You basically recorded your fucking suicide note!" he whispers to himself, wondering if Six was just looking for the door out, or if he was just too stubborn to admit how badly the Cyberpsychosis was hitting him...
He drops the guns on the bed, glaring at them for some seconds before finally ceasing with a sigh.
His head was fucked, the discussion he'd had with the nanites had just opened more questions. There was also Rebecca. He wanted to say things were fine between them, but it was difficult considering she'd blown Six's head off right in front of him, needed or not.
He knew she felt like shit about it too, which was why he wasn't blaming her more, or pushing his anger on her to be accurate. Again, as it had always been, he was solely responsible for the deaths that'd happened. Max, Six, and whoever else ends up biting a bullet for him, before it's his turn. If the nanites would allow his death, that is.
There was also his sister... God, he was such a piece of shit. He couldn't even bring himself to see her, even while she was unconscious. He knew it was stupid, feeling guilty for shit that was out of his hands, but the fact he didn't know if he was responsible for it at all ate at him.
Whether Christy D'Clert was part of it, the Tyger Claws, Maelstrom, Animals, or whoever... Hmph... Maybe it was time to start looking into what Rogue knew about it, if only to settle things.
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บท 119: Reunion
Two days had passed when Cat finally woke up, the groggy girl remembered almost nothing about her rescue, apart from Ori apparently being present. She immediately broke into sobs when she saw Bats, hugging him like a lifeline for a full hour before finally letting him go.
Then, without even acknowledging the existence of the unconscious Fujino on the table beside her, she asked for Ori. Needless to say, Bats didn't have an answer.
Ori had thrown himself into work the morning after everything, despite having his brain blown out the day prior. Rebecca and Sasha accompanied him of course, especially now that the three of them were the entire team.
Even with Ori acting like an emo douchebag fifty percent of the time, they weren't going to let him die... Or resurrect? Whatever you call his stupid powerful Cyberware that made him unkillable. That's not to say that he wasn't getting better but, it was a slow process.
Bats sat with Cat and went over everything, the massacre at Casinha, Ori becoming a mercenary, and the things they'd been doing since her capture and until her rescue. He wasn't surprised at how shocked expression when he'd told her of Ori's new occupation.
Her brother had never been the 'violent' sort, not compared to other people in Night City at least. And the fact that he'd lasted so long meant he must've been pretty good at it, which was backed up by him apparently rescuing her.
The news of her father's death sent her into another mini-breakdown, but Bats knew it was just something she'd have to get out of her system... He'd gone through it, and so had Ori.
He tried to probe about her experiences, but she shut down that line of discussion instantly, refusing to say anything on the matter. Even her 'relationship' with Fujino was off limits, confusing Bats due to what he'd already heard from Ori and the others.
"Where is Ori! Why isn't he here!? Why won't you tell me!?" she impatiently asks him after hours of watching the front door of the apartment.
"I told you Cat, he's working..." Bats quietly replies, he'd had to quit his own job to look after her, since his boss wasn't all that empathetic on matters concerning family...
"I don't care! Call him! Let me call him if you won't! I want to see him!"
"He's busy! Just wait and he'll be back, so calm down-" he starts, reaching out to rest a hand on her shoulder, which she quickly slaps away.
"Don't tell me to calm down! He's my brother! I want to see him! He should want to see me!" she shouts, her voice becoming hoarse.
Bats awkwardly rubs the back of his head, "Well, see, he does b-"
*Click!*
"Oh thank god." Bats whispers under his breath as Ori steps through the door, clothes ragged and covered in blood.
"ORI!" Cat yells, running over and launching herself at him. He reaches for his revolver in surprise, only to pause when he spots her.
"You're okay, you're really okay! Ori! Dad, he..." she cries into his shirt, becoming a blubbering mess as he stands there, frozen.
He simply couldn't muster up any words for her, his guilt for this being the first time he'd laid eyes on her since the rescue only exacerbated his hesitation. Eventually, he relented and forced himself to reciprocate the hug, attempting to listen to her muffled rambling sobs.
-------------
Another hour passes, and Ori found himself on the couch, still in his bloody clothes as Cat hugged his arm with the strength of a roided-up ape.
"Ori... Are you mad with me...?" she asks, apparently noticing his silence until now.
...
"No, I love you, and what happened wasn't your fault." he says, tone neutral.
"Okay... Can you tell me what you've been doing?" she quietly asks.
"Hasn't Bats told you?" he asks, glancing at the man who'd been chewing his nails watching them.
"I need to hear it from you..."
...
"Alright... I guess."
-----------------
The rest of the day quickly passed, Bats ordering food as Ori gave his own account of things. He left out some parts of course, his murders, the nanites, and anything else that'd worry her. She'd been through enough, she didn't need more shit to stress about.
Unfortunately, Bats also brought up Rebecca, causing his sister's eyes to widen.
"You have a girlfriend? How is she? Is she cute? Nice? What do you like about her?"
"Yes, fine, yes, kinda, a lot." he speeds through his answers while glaring at Bats. The past couple of days had been a bit rocky between him and Rebecca, primarily on his end for obvious reasons. Sasha eventually had to lock them in a room to talk about shit, which they did... He'd ended up accidentally promising to bring her on a date tomorrow too, all under Sasha's scheming he assumed.
Bats just sends a smile at him, "You want to see some pictures? I did take a few while they weren't looking."
"Really!?"
He grins and links with the TV, showing a photo of a groggy-looking Rebecca and Ori as they forced breakfast down their throats... Yeah, neither of them were morning people...
"Em, why is she..." she trails off, "Pale...?"
"She modded herself to look that way." he responds, he knew she'd rather people think it was intentional than a side-effect. Made her feel more in control of it... "Cute, right?"
"Err, yeah. Totally..." she answers without conviction. She chews the inside of her cheek and looks at him, "Ori, could you... Cut my hair?" she asks, tugging at her long, semi-matted black locks.
"You sure? If you washed I think it'd suit you."
She gives a firm nod, "I want it short." she states with certainty, her brows wrinkling minutely into a frown. "I need it short..."
"Alright... I'm not as good as Dad though, we can take you to a shop to get it cu-"
"No!... I want you to do it..."
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