Chapter Text
<<How was your flight?>>
Lucyna tossed her hair as she set foot outside Konpeki Plaza, breathing in the air. It was polluted, bitter with an oddly sickly-sweet chemical aftertaste.
It was dirty, unfiltered.
In a way? Pure.
<<The flight was fine, you didn’t have to get me a first class seat, though.>> she replied, waving away a chauffeur and walking to the exit.
<<Of course I did, you’re my daughter after all.>>
Lucyna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Her father would find out, somehow.
<<You dote too much on me.>> It wasn’t a playful or light-hearted jab. As with many things in their relationship, it was a blunt observation of fact.
<<Nonsense, you are my daughter. This is merely a father’s duty.>>
This time, Lucyna couldn’t resist the urge. She scoffed.
<<But we aren’t even related by b->>
<<Lucyna. Enough.>>
Her previous mood was now subsumed by a mix of guilt and shame. This immutable fact would always be a sore spot. For her and for her father.
For the briefest of moments, Lucyna wasn’t outside Konpeki Plaza, but deep underground. Far, far away.
Cold, clinical lights blinded her vision. Always just too bright to feel soothing, yet somehow not bright enough to burn away the cold, clammy feeling that followed her.
“L.K.A.N 2056, prepare for an extended session.”
Letters and numbers not names. Of course.
“W-where’s Julie?”
“J.N.A.N 2055 has been terminated. Today’s extended sessions will account for the loss of processing power.”
Terminated, like a machine, or a particularly irritating computer program. People died. Things were terminated.
“Did you hear me? L.K.A.N 2056, prepare for an-”
Dozens of thundering footsteps. Not the timid slap of bare feet on metal like her and her… friends. Not even the sterile clicks of the doctors and technicians’ shoes.
These were the sounds of boots, like the guards she sometimes heard, but never saw.
“What is the meaning of this?! Who are these children?!”
“Sir, this is restricted operation!”
<<-na? Lucyna?>>
Her fathers voice brought her back to reality, Lucyna sucked in more acrid air as she willed her hands to stop trembling.
<<Lucyna, are you there?>>
<<Y-yeah.>> she replied, crouching down and hugging her knees, doing her best to moderate her breathing. <<Sorry, I was just back… well, you know…>>
Her father’s silent worry was almost audible, the silence thick with all the things they were too stoic, too detached to say.
That was, until he took the plunge and said them anyways.
<<Do you want me to be there?>> he asked, voice soft. <<I can be on the first flight from Tokyo tomorrow morning.>>
<<No! No. You have work to do, right?>> Lucyna stood, dusting herself off. <<Don’t change your plans just because of me.>>
<<You are my daughter, if you need me, I will->>
<<I know, I know. This’ll be good for me, a chance to spread my wings. You know?>> Lucyna said, more confident now that her father had dropped a barrier, allowing her to take a step closer towards understanding him better. <<Maybe I can make some friends, finally.>>
<<Lucyna…>> her father’s mood became more hesitant, regretful. <<I do truly regret you were not given the childhood you deserve.>>
<<I know.>> Lucyna said with a smile. <<If grandfather knew about me, I’d be in danger. I get it.>>
<<Do not call that man your grandfather.>> her father said sternly, but not harshly. <<He was barely a father to me.>>
Lucyna couldn’t help but to giggle at that.
<<I know, I know. I’ll find something low key to do, keep busy.>>
<<Very well.>> her father sighed pensively. <<You’re already so grown up.>>
Lucyna rolled her eyes again.
<<Dad…>>
<<Remember, don’t stay out too long. You have Platinum Trauma Team insurance, however that only helps you after you get into trouble.>>
<<Dad…>>
<<I know you are a fast runner, and a more than capable netrunner.>> her father pressed on. <<But Night City is a dangerous city.>>
<<Dad!>>
<<What else, what else… Oh, yes! Make sure you find proper places to eat, I don’t want to hear you’ve been subsisting on cheap synthetic garbage, and make sure to not leave your drinks unattended in public.>> her father continued fretting, seeming almost normal. <<And make sure you use protection if->>
<<DAD!!>> Lucyna shrieked, mortified. <<I’m not looking to get laid!!>>
<<Still, you’re about that age and it’s natural for you to have those urges. I was a youth once, too. I just wish for you to find a proper partner, someone that can make you happy, not just in the bedroom. I wish someone had told me that before I met that Swedish woman in Stockholm with three->>
<<OH MY GOD, DAD. I’M HANGING UP NOW!>>
<<Very well. I’ve taken up too much of your time as it is. I love you, Lucyna.>>
Lucyna sighed, a soft smile on her face despite her father’s antics.
<<I love you too, dad.>>
As the call ended, Lucyna took a deep breath burying her face in her palms as she flushed with embarrassment.
Her father had always been overprotective. It would have been an oddity for him not to be, given the circumstances of her adoption.
She pulled up her agent, flicking through the screen to find a clothing store.
First thing’s first. A new wardrobe. She mused as she tapped on a store. Jinguji. Need something more… me.
As the device plotted out a path, the directional indicator popping up on her optics, Lucyna began to walk.
The sun began its descent westerly. Casting the weathered streets and buildings in a lazy orange hue.
So these are the megabuildings. Lucyna mused as she took in one of the towering, gargantuan brutalist obelisks. Don’t really hold a candle to the ones in Tokyo, though.
She walked silently, for the most part. As she walked by a radio, set on the side of the road, she bobbed her head to the music.
As she reached the Downtown City Center, Lucyna flinched as she heard gunfire. The people around her screamed and ran, a woman bumped into her and threw her off balance as another panicked man barrelled into them both.
The trio crashed to the ground, Lucyna groaned as the other two scrambled to their feet and fled.
“Hey, Vlodomir. This one looks like she’d fetch a pretty price!”
Lucyna’s eyes shot open as she saw a man dressed in a tracksuit, with a distorted digital mask covering his face. Her optics designated the man as a Scavenger.
“Some expensive lookin’ chrome. Sure she doesn’t have TT?”
The man that was apparently called Vlodomir strolled over, a revolver in hand. He was similarly dressed, his mask had crude eyes drawn on it with red paint.
Lucyna numbly registered the language they were speaking as Russian, looking around for anyone to help her.
“You idiot, what are the jammers for if we aren’t using them on expensive catches like this one!”
“Alright, alright. We got our target, grab this one and load her in as well.”
Lucyna scrolled through her currently loaded quickhacks, desperate for something that could get her out of this situation.
Suddenly, with a blur of yellow, a young man barrelled into the first Scavenger, sending him flying.
Vlodomir pointed his revolver at the man. The young man smirked and ran a hand through his windswept chestnut hair, then he shot towards the Scavenger with inhuman speed.
A Sandevistan. Lucyna registered numbly.
The young man leapt high, smirking as the Scavenger stared at him with open mouthed awe.
“Death from above!” the youth shouted as he brought the heel of his foot down, cracking against the back of Vlodomir’s head.
“You speedy fucker! You were the one that zeroed our boys in Arroyo, aren’t you?”
The first Scavenger growled, pulling out a shotgun.
“That’s right, that was me.” The man smirked. No, he was a boy, he couldn’t be any older than eighteen. “But there’s something you should know.”
“And what’s that?”
“I wasn’t alone.”
The first man went rigid as his cyberware sparked, a car screeched around the corner as a large, bulky woman and a lankier woman wearing a trenchcoat jumped out of the backseat.
“Nice work, David!” the bulky woman flashed a thumbs up as she slammed a fist into the scavenger's face, sending him flying.
“Well done.” The lanky woman spoke flatly as she knelt by Vlodomir, jacking into his neural port.
Lucyna watched this occur, spectating the two woman talk back and forth inaudibly. She blinked as she realized the boy, David, was standing over her, hand outstretched.
“C’mon. It’ll be more comfortable when you’re off the ground.” He smiled warmly.
As she took his hand, she flushed as she was brought to her feet nearly effortlessly.
“T-thank you.” She stammered, drinking in his features as they now stood, faces inches from each other.
Her heart pounded at the touch, the first person even close to her age she had met in nearly a decade. It didn’t help that he was more handsome than he had any right to be. Was she swooning? She was probably swooning.
“Ah, ain’t nothing.” David smiled, his cheeks going a touch pink. “You looked like you needed help.”
Yep, she was definitely swooning.
“Alright, we got what we needed.” The lanky woman stood, adjusting her trenchcoat. “Our gal’s in Vista.”
As the two woman returned to the car, David turned his focus back to Lucyna.
“Well, I think that’s my cue to go.” He said, Lucyna tried desperately to quash the crushing disappointment she felt. “I’m David, David Martinez.”
“L-Lucyna A- I- uh... Kushinada. Lucyna Kushinada.”
“David! C’mon dawg! Let’s go!”
A burly dark-skinned man shouted from the drivers seat of the car.
David flashed another radiant smile, leaving Lucyna breathless once more.
“Alright, I really need to go. Nice to meet you, Lucy!”
As he jumped into the passenger seat of the car, Lucyna watched him leave, heart still pounding.
Lucy… huh… she mused. I kind of like it…
The sound of sirens snapped her out of her daydreaming, she walked swiftly away from the scene of the crime.
After all, if she had almost slipped up and revealed her identity to a random boy off the streets, there was next to no chance she would be able to keep up appearances if the police required her testimony. There was no way Lucyna would give up her anonymity right now, especially since, should word get out, news outlets and screamsheets alike would be very interested to know more about Lucyna Arasaka, the hitherto unknown about daughter of Yorinobu Arasaka.