Chapter Text
“So what are you doing nowada- WOAH!”
Becca couldn’t contain her laughter as Abby practically leapt from her seat as David appeared in front of them, holding two bottles of beer and a can of NiCola. “Oh, hey, what are you doing her- wait, you mentioned that you knew Becca, didn’t you?”
To her credit, Abby was quick to school herself, leaning back onto her chair. “Jesus, dude, I saw you were quick but fucking hell, you’re quick . What kinda mods are you running there?”
David ignored her, passing her one of the beer bottles, before plopping down next to Becca, his eyes on the two 6th Street guys who were about to duel. “Just the Sandy for the moment. Been looking into some possible upgrades though.”
Abby sighed, her head rolling back slightly as she chugged the beer. “Rhetorical Question, kiddo. If you had anything else on you at the same level as that Sandevistan, I reckon I'd be able to spot you through walls.”
David couldn’t help but snort at that, wincing slightly at the sudden CRACK of two revolvers firing at the same time. Becca glanced at the two of them, a questioning look in her eyes. “You two got to know each other already?”
David looked at Abigail for a moment, before nodding. “Yea, she’s got those super-eyes and spotted the Sandy, I guess she was curious.”
Becca just nodded at that, taking a slurp of her beer, and letting out a belch that he swore vibrated the metal bench they were sitting on. “Well, that's great! Love it when my chooms are chooms. She didn’t prattle on about the corpo wars did she?”
Abby grunted. “Damn, you talk to a girl about the super cool trauma you got from being shot at for 45 minutes, and she starts telling people that you ‘prattle’. That's just rude, Becca.”
Becca and Abby both let out a laugh at that, Becca slapping her leg, and David just shook his head. Glancing down at the ‘arena’, he spotted another pair of 6th Street Members squaring up to each other, meaning he was at least mentally ready this time when both of the guns fired.
Abby paused her laughing for a moment and looked down at the two as well, before swearing, putting her can of beer down. “Shit, I’m up next. Wish me luck chooms.”
David just gave her a wave as she disappeared into the crowd, but Becca jumped to her feet on top of the benches and yelled so loudly his Sandevistan activated on instinct for a moment. “KICK THEIR FUCKING ASS, ABBY!”
Even at that volume, however, her voice was lost in the sea of the crowds cheering as the next pair of contestants walked out, Abby looking confident. Becca seemed satisfied, however, nodding to herself and plopping back down onto her butt.
“So, what did Abby actually talk to you about?”
David glanced over at Becca, who was sporting a smug grin on her face. He took another sip of his Ni-Cola, before placing it down beside him on the bench and raising an eyebrow at her. “How’d you know?”
Becca blew a raspberry as she leaned back on the bench, her hands coming to rest behind her head. “You know a gal long enough and you just get a sense for this stuff. Abby’s a crafty one always has been, so I doubt she called you over just to talk about your Sandy. Did she ask you to do anything?”
David couldn’t help the impressed look on his face as he nodded. “Yea, she did. Asked me to throw the final round. Seemed pretty confident that she would be my opponent for it, and she wanted the rifle in the prize pool. Apparently, it was her brothers.”
Becca sighed at that, her forehead scrunching as she frowned. “Hmm, I do remember her talking about a brother once or twice. So that checks out at least.”
David cocked his head to the side at that. “What, you think she lied to me?”
Becca gave him a side-eye at that, before shrugging. “You gotta be careful of it, y’know? When you’re running the edge, sometimes even close chooms will swap bullets for the shit they find important.”
She slid down the bench a little more at that, her hands coming to rest in her lap as she turned her head to face him. “Abby’s usually a pretty good gal, though. That being said, I really don’t want you to throw the last round. Mama needs her eddies back and more, y’know?”
David nodded, rubbing a hand over his forehead and through his hair. “Yeah, I get ya. She offered to pay me for the loss, but I don't know if it will be equal to whatever we’ll get for me winning the competition.”
CRACK!
Both of their focus was drawn away from their words as the revolvers going off echoed around them, the cheering crowd redoubling as Abby’s opponent went down like a sack of potatoes, clutching their silver shoulder, which was leaking some blue fluid.
Glancing down at the list of ‘duels’ down on the wall, David hopped to his feet. “It’s my turn the round after next, so I think I’ll go hang out down there for a bit and think about what I’m gonna do.”
Becca thrust her arm out towards his face, giving him a thumbs up only a couple of centimetres away from his nose. “Sounds like a plan, choom. I’m gonna go use your performance to see if I can shake out any more eddies from these drunk bastards.”
David gave her a fist bump, before allowing the world to fade into green, the cheers of the crowd around him getting deeper as everything slowed down. He slipped through the crowd and headed back down to the waiting bay.
It was time to smack the shit out of the rest of the competition while he thought about what to do with Abigail’s request.
Time flew for Becca as the night went on.
David, predictably, slaughtered his opponents in every way but literally. By the time they got up to the final round, which did actually end up being David vs Abigail, only one opponent of his had gotten his revolver out of the holster before he was shot, let alone fired a shot at him.
Which was probably for the best. Becca knew he was mostly ‘ganic, but even with his batshit tolerance for his Sandy, she couldn’t imagine that being shot was any less deadly for him.
But even better news was that she had been able to coax out some more money from the 6th Street goons as the night progressed and David showed off his speed. The Grand Total? 7k eddies, each , if David decided to go all out and win the final round.
She’d let him know that before he went down to the arena, and she was still chuckling slightly at the way his eyes bugged out of his skull at the number. Even though she knew that Gloria, and by extension, David, had been pretty much flat broke, it was another thing to see just how broke they’d been, where 7k eddies were enough to almost trip over while using a Sandevistan.
It was funny, in a morbid kinda way.
“ALRIGHT, FOLKS! HERE WE ARE AT THE FINAL ROUND! WE GOT TWO GENUINE COWBOY’S WITH US TODAY, SHOWING OFF SOME SERIOUS SPEED AND ACCURACY!”
Becca glanced down at the ‘announcer’, who looked absolutely sloshed , as he strutted around the arena in between David and Abby like a peacock, riling the crowd up.
“WE GOT OUR VERY OWN ABIGAIL REDWOOD! AND UP AGAINST HER, WE GOT THIS RANDOM FROM OUTTA NOWHERE… Uh, wait. What's your name again kid? Ah, right, thanks. DAVID MARTINEZ!”
Becca couldn’t help the huff of laughter that escaped her at that, as even she could see the almost disappointed look on David’s face from up in the seats. She shuffled forward a little, her modded eyes activating to zoom in on the fight slightly, and on a whim, she started up the recording feature they had. This could be a cool video to show the gang, or to gas up his rep!
God, she was a fucking good choom. As she was smirking to herself at how awesome she was, the announcer raised his revolver to the sky, glancing back between the two, before yelling into the microphone.
“GO!”
David took in a deep breath as the announcer raised his revolver to the sky.
His rounds had gone quicker than even he had expected them to go, so he hadn’t had as much time throughout the night to think about what he was going to do as he would have liked, but he had ultimately come to a decision.
“GO!”
Even with the announcer firing the starting pistol, neither of them moved an inch, her eyes digging into his own as her hand hovered over her revolver. “You made your choice?”
David just nodded, forcing himself to not glance up at Becca as his own hand rested near the holster on his thigh, his brain holding a metaphorical finger over the metaphorical button for his Sandevistan.
“Yea, I made my choice. I’m sorry about this, but we kinda just met, and I gotta have my choom’s back. Let's do this for real.”
Abby’s cautious confidence left her face, slight wrinkles appearing all over as she frowned at him, her hand drawing subtly closer to her revolver. “Damn shame, kid, damn shame. YO! RICKY! Give us another signal in a sec, ya hear?!”
The announcer, even as drunk as he was, didn’t seem inclined to argue with Abigail and held his revolver up to the sky again. “Not sure why, but they want another starting signal, everyone! Let's do this one more time… ready, and -”
“-GO!”
The world went green for David, and he actually forced himself to move quickly, even with his Sandevistan on, because he could see Abigail’s arm moving fast. Not quite real-time, but close enough that he was impressed with the quality of her chrome.
But unfortunately for her, his Sandevistan and him… well, they were just built different.
CRACK
Forcing himself to move quickly while his Sandevistan was on was always a rush, and it gave him the necessary speed to blitz Abigail, the bullet of his revolver exiting almost slowly to his eyes and slamming into her chrome arm, the vibrations forcing the revolver out of her grip.
He let the world fade back to normal as heard Abigail let out a shout, spinning in a circle and landing on her ass as the force of the revolver knocked her off balance. “Fuck!”
He paused for a moment, his revolver still in his hand, glancing around the crowd to see if anyone was going to try and pull something now that the final round was over, but other than a few people up the front who looked like someone had just crushed their favourite car in a compactor, it looked like he was in the clear.
He holstered the revolver they had given him, grinning ear to ear as he held his arms up in the air. The silence of the crowd only lasted an instant after that, before he was hit with a wall of sound as the crowd roared to life.
“AND THERE WE HAVE IT FOLKS! DON’T YOU JUST LOVE A ROGUE ELEMENT?! LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR YOUR WINNER, DAVID MARTINEZ!”
A few minutes later, David found himself in a dingy room, sitting across from a man who was so damn big, he looked like he could shit out AR-23 magazines for fun.
“So, you’re the kid that rolled my contest, huh? Bit scrawny, aren’t ya?”
The man was right, comparatively, David was ‘scrawny’, but while he was riding high on the adrenaline of winning all night long, he couldn’t help but smirk at the man, shrugging. “Maybe a little bulking up to be done here and there, but hey. It didn’t stop me from beating all your guys.”
Becca, who was sitting next to him, kicked his ankle lightly, but even she had a stupid-looking grin on her face.
The frown on the man’s face deepened, but he nodded. “Yea, guess fucking so. I got good ass quality Kiroshi’s and even I strained to see ya move. Pretty impressive to be honest. Ever thought about joining 6th Street?”
David couldn’t help the slight twitch on his face at that, but by the fact that he wasn’t being shot at immediately, the 6th Street leader either didn’t see his reaction or didn’t understand it.
He shook his head, noticing that Becca was looking at him, seemingly interested in his response. “Once or twice back when I was a kid, but not since. Sorry dude, just not about the Patriot’s lifestyle, I guess.”
The leader clicked his tongue, a bit of a sneer forming on his face. “Tch, well, whatever. All you’re here for is so that we keep our end of the deal regarding the tournament. Can’t have word spreading that we’re liars like those Scav fucks.”
He snapped his finger and a door to their left opened, one of the 6th Street goons walked in and dumped a duffel bag on the table. The 6th Street leader waved at the bag as the good exited the room.
“9500 eddies and a top-shelf rifle the boys… collected a couple of months back. Now get the fuck outta here before I change my mind.”
David couldn’t help but smile like a madman as he scooped the bag into his arms. Becca was already up off the couch and heading over to the door, her hands stuffed in her pockets… wait, was she holding pistols?
He raised an eyebrow at her as they exited the room nodding towards her hands, and as they got out of the small building that the 6th Street leader was staying in, he heard a couple of clicks before she took them out of her pockets. “We both know that those fuckers are batshit. Just wanted to be ready in case lead started flying.”
David adjusted the strap of the bag hanging from his shoulder as he laughed, shaking his head. “Damn, never had a choom that’d pull guns on the head honcho of 6th Street for me before. Gotta say, feels pretty nice.”
Becca just snorted, bumping her hip into him. “After tonight, Dimples? We’re as tight as I am. You need evac from a fucking Maelstrom base, and I’m in.”
She paused at that, seemingly considering him for a moment, before she grinned, and he couldn’t help but be reminded of an old character he’d seen in English class, a Cheshire cat. She tapped away at her phone for a second after that, and he could tell that she’d called a cab for herself.
Pocketing her phone, she waved her hand at him. “Lean down for a sec, will ya?”
Cocking his head to the side, he leaned down, only to yelp as she grabbed his head with both of her hands and stuck her lips to his cheek for a moment. “You're damn good fun, Dimples. Don’t be a stranger, alright? Call me if you ever wanna hang.”
With almost supernatural timing, her cab arrived as she finished talking, the back door opening up automatically. David was a little stunned but noticed her glance behind him for a second. “Ah damn, looks like Abby wants to have a word. I’ll leave you to it, choom.”
He waved back at her dumbly, before turning to spot Abigail. She was stomping towards him, and she didn’t look like the happiest chap he’d ever seen.
As she got to him, she reached up to grab his shirt, but with a quick flash of the world turning green, he was just out of her reach as she closed her fist. The upset look on her face immediately darkened, and David just held up his hands at her. “Hey just, wait, alright, let me talk.”
She didn’t seem super receptive, just glaring at him as she moved closer, getting up in his face. “I thought you were gonna help me, asshole. Was gonna pay you good fucking money for it too! What the fuck is your problem?”
David felt his forehead wrinkle and his lips pursed and pushed back against her. “My problem? What's yours? Stop short-circ’ing on me for a sec and just fucking listen, and you’ll be chill!”
The word went green again, and when it returned to normal, he was a couple of steps away from a stunned Abigail, the ‘top-shelf’ rifle from his bag in her arms. She blinked as it took her a second to realise what he had pushed into her arms, but her mouth dropped open slightly when she did.
“Wha-”
David rolled his eyes. “This is why I wanted you to listen. I’ve done Becca’s whole ‘find the right gun for you’ thing and basically all types of shit other than Revolvers feel… off . It’s hard to really explain. Anyway, I don’t really need that rifle, and you’ve got a good reason for wanting it, so… whatever. It’s yours.”
Abigail was sputtering, and it was almost kinda funny watching the previous slick veteran look like a startled rabbit, but her foul mood had soured his own good mood, and he wasn’t feeling up to sticking around much longer.
Her Kiroshi’s went red right before he was about to use his Sandevistan, and she held a hand out towards him. “Wait!”
He paused, raising an eyebrow at her. Her head fell as she let out a sigh. “I’m… shit, dude. Sorry. I’m so fucking used to all these gonks fucking each other over… Glad to know that there's at least a couple of decent folks out there, I guess.”
David just blinked, her sudden shift in mood making him feel a bit awkward now that he was a little miffed at her. She ran her flesh and blood hand over the rifle slowly, and he could almost see her reliving memories while she did.
“Sorry for being a bitch. And really, thank you for this. If you ever end up needing help with 6th Street, please, call me and I’ll bail you out, alright?”
Nodding slowly, David’s hands went to his pockets. “Yeah, I’ll keep it in mind. Catch ya round, Abigail. Best of luck and all that shit.”
He didn’t give her the opportunity to respond as the world turned green again, and he jogged his way out of the 6th Street compound, tipping over the beer of the dude at the front gate who scammed him and Becca while he did, a small smile growing on his face at his own pettiness.
He jogged his way back towards his old apartment, prepping himself to sneak in again. The night air was cold, his cheeks were warm for reasons other than exercise, and his back was heavy with Eddies.
All in all, it was the second-best late-night run he’d been on and a great way to decompress after the competition…
In a funny twist of fate, it was the exact moment that thought passed through his mind that his vision was overtaken by his menu as a beep echoed through his mind.
[Quest Completed: A Duel by Moonlight]
[Optional Objective Completed: Do not kill any opponents]
[1200XP | 3000 $$]
[You are now Level 5]
[ 1 Attribute Point | 1 Perk Point]
A grin appeared on his face as he mentally swiped away the notice, looking up at the sky and taking in a deep breath. A level up with his Sandevistan, and a couple extra thousand eddies in his bank account.
Now that was the way to end a night!