บท 101: Eight Lives

Ori's new truck met with good reception. Rebecca was ecstatic they wouldn't have to drive around in his old piece of shit anymore, Six was happy to not have to constantly bend over in order to fit inside, and Sasha was a huge fan of his new sound system.

The group continued taking jobs, most of them small outside of the couple Susie sent them concerning Tyger Claw movement in Watson. They'd all but expelled them from the territory, not directly but by sending their locations and evidence of crimes to the NCPD, not honourable to most gangers, but who cared what they considered 'honour' anyway.

They'd just been hired to protect a building hosting the servers for an upcoming drone shopping service company, as the owners of it had caught news of a potential sabotage coming from their competitor.

The group had set up an ambush and waited for half the day until some hostile mercs hired to destroy the place approached. With Sasha's control of the area's technology and the crew's overall advantage in weaponry, the fight didn't last long at all.

Unfortunately, while Ori and everyone else hadn't taken any damage, Six abruptly drop to a knee as his body began minutely spasming. Sasha was closest and quickly rushed to him, checking him for damage and frowning heavily when she didn't find any.

"What's up with him?" Ori quickly questions as Six empties the contents of his stomach on the ground.

"No idea!" Sasha states, "Probably something to do with his Cyberware... Six, can you hear me?"

The armoured merc lets out a warbled groan as even his vocal cords seize.

"We gotta get him somewhere safe." Ori says, pausing as he tries to think of somewhere. They were currently in Vista Del Rey, too far from the Med Centre, and not anywhere near any Ripperdoc anyone knew or trusted.

"My apartment's near here, we can take him there. Help me get him in the truck." Sasha offers, struggling to carry Six's weight on her shoulder. Ori helps, and they drop the merc on the backseat of his new truck.

"Rebecca, could you complete the gig? I'll call you later, let you know how he's doing." Ori asks with an almost pleading look.

She waves him off, "Yeah, yeah, just get the big lug up and ready for the next job... And don't stay the night at the cat's place or we're gonna have a big problem." she states, grabbing his collar and pulling him down for a kiss before leaving.

He shakes his head, trying to rid himself of the taste of her tongue as he drops into the driver's seat, "Where's your place at?"

"Skyline East, got a small place over the river. M-maybe you should call someone? Six isn't looking so good..." she adds.

Ori nods, "I'll call Bats, get him down here..."

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The duo drag Six up to the elevator that led to Sasha's apartment, obviously, they weren't going to take the stairs, especially since her place was on the sixth story. After the ding announces their arrival, they all but fall out of the elevator, past some other residents of the place and finally stop at Sasha's door.

She scans her palm and the door opens, revealing an almost completely pink apartment... Pink walls, pink carpet, pink ceiling, pink furniture... Literally everything. He sends a confused glance at her, but she just blushes in response. "Ah, come on, inside."

They lay Six down on one of her large decorative sofas, and she heads to the bathroom to find some medicine that might help. Meanwhile, Ori sits by Six while looking around the place... It was kind of surprising Sasha's place was like this, to be honest... He'd have thought it would be more like Judy's, very basic, filled with tech...

*Meow!*

He looks down at his feet and almost jumps in surprise at the ball of fluff looking up at him. "A cat...?" he wonders aloud, he thought they'd been wiped out from Night City already...

"Hey there, nice place... Cat..." he runs a hand through its fur, drawing a purr from its throat.

"Her name's Milyy." Sasha states as she walks over, a plastic box clutched under an armpit. She drops it next to Six and begins rifling through it, tossing away old bottles of pills while returning unsuitable medicine.

"There a reason you got so much..." he 'casually' inquires.

She shoots him a deadpan look, "Some of these a vitamins, some are mental boosters to help Netrunning, some to get rid of the migraines to much time on the net gives, some immunosuppressants for my Cyberware, look, I've even got stuff for when Milyy's not feeling well."

Ori holds his hands up placatingly, "I wasn't saying anything, just wondered about it..." he shakes his head, "Got anything that could help Six?"

"I don't know what's wrong with him... I think it's probably his Cyberware but I'm not going to risk giving him anything until your friend gets here." she states, taking her cat into her arms and smooshing her cheek against it. "Heellloooo Milyy, I'll feed you later, terpeniye."

"Six..." Ori asks the merc, waving his hand in front of his face, drawing no reaction. He sighs, resting his forehead in his hand. "Just struggle through it, you'll make it..." he quietly utters.

Sasha drops her cat onto Ori's lap and checks Six's pulse once again, finding it to be stable, despite most other of the man's muscles spasming... At least his heart wasn't the same.

"Hey..." Ori starts, attempting to bring his attention away from the possibility of Six dying. "When'd you get the fuzzball? Said you were behind on your rent since you thought you were gonna die, I know you're not the kinda person to leave your pet alone like that..."

"Ah, I bought Milyy after you invited me to the crew. I always wanted one but, as you said, I didn't want to leave it alone... I did have to take out a loan for her though, cats are expensive..."