Chapter Text
It was supposed to be a typical day for Gloria Martinez. Work as an EMT to access the chrome of some unfortunate bloke that happened to die near a patient, go home to her darling little David to rest, then repeat the next day. It wasn't the best life by far, but it was still better than most people in Night City. They had a solid roof above their heads, enough to not always feel hungry, access to warm showers and heating… It wasn't much, but it was all she could give him. That, and an education at Arasaka Academy so that he could one day climb above these damned streets and be a suit.
Knowing her baby boy would surely be a corpo one day filled her with relief, as with his brains and willingness to work hard, he would be sure to climb up the ladder and become someone with enough money to live freer than others. She wanted nothing but the best for him; that was the whole reason she had started her gig as a black-market chrome seller, her salary as an EMT was nowhere near enough to put David in such a prestigious school. Or to buy him all the stuff he needed.
It was supposed to be just another day in her daily life. And it was before she received an automated call from the very trauma company she worked for. IT weirded her out, considering she was not on duty anymore and that she never received direct calls like these except when she was late on the payment for David's assurance. The thought made her stop dead in the middle of the busy street, praying to every damned God up there that David was fine.
' Miss Martinez? This is Trauma Team Charlie-Papa 77. Your son had been run over by a truck driven by a cyberpsycho a few minutes ago. As per your contract with us, we escorted him to a nearby hospital and provided first aid but no surgery. The total, counting transportation, fuel costs, service fee, and ammunition expended, had been billed from your account. Please find where your son currently is in the attached link. Thank you for trusting your safety to Trauma Team!" It said, making Gloria's face lose all color.
She didn't know her organic legs could run that fast. She had never been more afraid; her son was most likely in critical condition! She knew damn well that she couldn't afford the real coverage that all the corpos had, where a single broken finger would bring a whole AV-4 with multiple paramedics. No, she had bought all she could, the minimum coverage where they only responded when the client was in mortal danger, applied some basic first aid, and dropped them off at the nearest back-alley hospital they could find. And even with how affordable this service may seem, she had to give up all her days off to her boss and work multiple shifts a day just for the monthly payments.
It didn't take long to reach the shanty hospital her poor boy was dropped at, the damn thing being in no better shape than any other building around it. It was unsanitary and ran down, but she would be ready to kiss their feet if they could save her baby boy. She didn't care what happened to her; if David could be saved and live a good life, she would gladly do anything. No sacrifice was too great for the only family she had left. After a quick word with the reception, the redhead slowly made her way to the ICU, where they were saving her son.
It took hours for the surgery to finish. Hours during which she feared the worst, barely having enough courage to look at the flimsy metal doors between her and her only child. But she was there when they opened and instantly jumped the poor surgeon that hadn't even taken his bloodied blouse off. "Ah, you must be the mother, right?" He asked, removing his gloves and casting a questioning look at the woman. His chromed eyes were unblinking and red, looking like camera lenses like most other people in this profession.
"Yes, please tell me he's alright! I can't bear to lose him! He's my only child! Please!" She asked, her cheeks red and her eyes leaking tears like never before.
"Calm down Ma'am. Your son made it." He said, the woman crumbling down as the stress evaporated from her body. "But I don't have good news. He suffered many grave injuries from the impact, and we fear that we don't have enough chrome to patch him back up." He continued, transferring her a file that listed all of David Martinez's injuries. "We had to amputate the arms, he had the good reflex to sacrifice them to protect himself. The legs were hit too, without some new ones he will never walk again."
"O-Oh my God… My poor boy… He was so sweet, he didn't deserve any of that!"
"No one ever does, Lady. Especially this young. I'm honestly unsure how he even made it past surgery, with all the blood he lost as well as the organ failures, it's a miracle he made it this far. But as I said, he's close to flatlining and we don't have even close to what's needed. Either you find a way to move it to a corpo hospital like Arasaka, or he'll zero in a few days. We'll send you the bill soon, you'll have a month to pay up. Have a good night." HE finished, leaving Gloria alone as the nurse rolled the bed David was lying on to a nearby room.
One of the perks of these ran down clinics was that there was always space, as Night City never let go of wounded people easily. People died frequently, so hospital beds for the rare few that survived were always plentiful. Unfortunately, that didn't make the situation any easier for Gloria, who was forced to watch David's chest rise and fall slowly as the mask on his mouth fed him enough clean air to avoid adding more damage. She felt horrible because she knew she couldn't do anything to help him.
He needed new arms, legs, lungs, digestive system, eyes, heart… He needed chrome and some serious one at that. He needed things she couldn't afford, some serious corpo shit that cost more than she ever did in her miserable life as an overworked single mother. But if it was only money, there was also the fact that he needed so much that it was clear he'd go cyberpsycho soon if they installed it all at once. He had never received cyberware before; apart from what was absolutely mandatory to live, he was utterly flesh and bones.
"I'm sorry, David, I wish I could do something to help you…" She whispered to her unconscious son, running her head through his hair like she always used to do when he was close enough. She could tell he found the gesture a bit too childish, but he never ran away when she did little things like that. She was tired, and her eyes were sore, but she couldn't allow herself to sleep yet. What if David woke up right now? The poor boy was blind and crippled; he would need her!
"You can do something, Miss Martinez. You can save David." A male voice began, sophisticated and polite to a T. This didn't make Gloria any less wary, as the redhead immediately drew her Constitutional Arms Unity and aimed it straight at the suit behind her. The guy was definitely a corpo; no one else could own a suit this fancy with golden accents and gold-plated cyberware. But the man made the intelligent decision of raising his hands above his head, showing he wasn't here to fight. “Relax Miss Rodrigez. I am not here to harm you."
"Who the fuck are you? Speed before you become a patient here!" Gloria snarled, moving between this man and David's bed.
"Calm down, I'll explain everything to you. I am a member of Sarid Industries, and my boss has taken great interest in your boy and wishes to save him from this hospital."
"Why the fuck does a corpo want anything to do with my son? He's dying for fuck sake! Take your fucking jokes with you and get the fuck out before I flatline your ass!"
"We are interested in David because of his biology." The man continued, seemingly unbothered by the fact he had an iron aimed straight at his face. "My client has been developing a new breed of cyberware, but struggles to find someone that could be equipped and survive. We believe that your son has what it takes to run these state-of-the-art augmentations, at least based on the data the trauma team gave us when they brought your son here."
Gloria wanted to be pissed at the man for saying that, but she wasn't a kid anymore. She knew corpos sold their data for anyone willing to give enough eddies; privacy was a concept more than an obligation in Night City. Still, what worried her was how FAST this… Sarif Industries goon made it. It hadn't even been half a day since David got hit, and they had already singled him out from the hundreds of people that the trauma team handles every hour and sent a suit to talk to her. That was a bit too convenient.
"Why would I allow you to tinker with my son? Would those augs really save him from… From death?"
"Ma'am, they would do so much more than save him. He'd be tougher, better, faster, stronger… We're offering something premium that would put even Arasaka's ninjas to shame here." He insisted, just like any salesman would, as he sat in one of the available chairs nearby. "Of course, we'd have to manufacture some new organs for him, but it shouldn't take more than a few days. While doing so, we'll move David to a more… reputable hospital to ensure nothing happens to him while we're getting ready. All from our pocket, of course."
"And what do you expect in exchange of all that?" She asked, finally lowering her gun and putting it in the pocket of her High-Vis yellow jacket. "I'm not blind enough to see it's all going to cost your company a whole lot to save David. You can't expect me to simply accept that you're doing this from the kindness of your own heart, things like that don't exist here. So what's the catch?"
"A very clever woman… That's good, I can expect David to be more than simply book smart. If you allow us to install everything on David, he will become a company asset for the remainder of his life. He will be monitored by us 24/7 and we will keep a right to… Require he does certain things or follow the path we choose from him. But do not worry, unless he tries to do something that goes directly against our goals, we shouldn't have to make too many requests of him. Also, in the event of his death, WE will decide what to do with his body. Does that all seem acceptable for you?"
It was a devil's deal if she ever saw one. The kind you read about in holy books where some supernatural evil force offers everything the character ever wanted in exchange for their soul. Yes, they would give her David back, but would he still be the same? Would he become an attack dog like so many that got chromed by big corpos? Would he become a… Thing? A living, breathing ad for their cyberware and technology?
"Just save him. I can't bear the thought of losing him." She choked between sobs, the smile of the man in the suit growing bigger as he waved his hand at the corridor; a small army of medics burst inside to prepare her son for transport. She did her best not to look at the gruesome sight of her David's mangled boy as they removed the sheets to put him in the same kind of medivac stretched corpos got when they needed saving. "We will take it from here Miss Martinez. We'll transfer the address of the new hospital shortly as well as a small bonus for being so willing to cooperate with us."
"And if I didn't say yes? What would you have done?" Gloria asked. She and the suit exited the room to lead the medical team to do their work. She was an EMT, but she knew when she was outclassed when she saw it. The suit took some time to think about a proper answer, which took him until they exited the hospital to find.
"Your cooperation was acceptable but by no means necessary. Had you been seriously against us helping David, we might have had to resort to less… Ethical means of getting what we want. But I am glad you chose the good option, both for David's sake but also because I have a distaste for violence. So do not worry about a thing; we're going to give you David back in one piece. Please rest; you'll be informed tomorrow about your son's status." He said, shooing her away as he and his team escorted her dear boy away.
She did her best to hold her tears. She knew she had to stay strong for David, that it would all be alright, and that they would soon be together again. But when she saw the AV-4 take off, Gloria burst into tears and crumbled to the ground like a doll whose strings were cut. She had sold her son off in a moment of weakness to a shitty corpo that whispered sweet promises, knowing damn well that she might never see him again.
" Madre de Dios, I'm a failure of a mother." She whispered in shame, clutching her jacket closer for warmth as she walked back home; her head dropped in shame. She received the news about David the next day, just as promised, and was relieved to learn that his condition was stable and that they would soon begin to fit him with all the cyberware he needed. However, that didn't mean Gloria forgot to send a prayer his way, hoping nothing wrong would befall poor David.
It took almost three months for Gloria to receive the message she had been expecting for so long.
"Miss Martinez? We are done with the installation of your son's augmentations. You can come to pick him up at the address linked here. Thank you for trusting Sarif Industries." It simply said, making the redhead mother shout in glee as she jumped in her car and sped off to the other side of town, all hyper at seeing her son again. She also received another mail from one of her clients, telling her he wired her the cash and that she could deposit the merchandise whenever.
She had kept her expenses to a minimum during those three months. She had worked just as hard as she always did, saving some eddies to get David a new uniform should he need one. And with the fine piece she kept from a recently flatlined cyberpsycho, she was sure to pay rent for quite a while! Hell, maybe she and David could enjoy some time in a restaurant tonight? No one of those cheap ones either, but the kind middle-tier corpos ordered from with all the good food and positive supplements.
She quickly reached the corpo hospital they kept David in, noticing a familiar tuff of dark brown hairs waiting for her in the parking. She promptly parked as close as she could, almost ripping her door open to rush toward him and hug him tight. " Mijo! I'm so glad to see you again! I'm so sorry, David!" She cried into his shoulder, hugging him so tight she might have broken a few organic bones. But it didn't bother David, who hugged her back with a chuckle.
"Easy ma', You're gonna choke me!" David laughed, a sound Gloria had missed far too much during their time apart. The mother and son stayed like this for a while, not bothered by the sound of traffic and other nuisances that one heard all the time in the city that never slept. She was almost sure she had lost him, finding him alive and well outclassed any doubt she might have had against Sarif Industries. "Sorry Ma', this chrome must have cost an arm and a leg. Heh." David apologized, looking straight at his mom with his new eyes.
Gloria had almost forgotten that her son had received a dangerous amount of cyberware in a short time. With how glad she as that he was alive and well, the metallic arms he had received were easy to miss. "Don't worry, Mijo, you're safe, and it's all that matters. Are you feeling okay? No shaking, no weird feeling in those new arms?" She asked, finally taking a look at his new prosthetics. She had to admit that Sarif Industries had done a preem job with those pieces. Apart from some seamlines and a few exposed bits of chrome at the articulations, David almost looked just like he did before the accident.
"Nope, I was more shocked when the staff of the hospital told me I had been chromed and spent 3 months out of it." He answered as they walked back to the car. "Still, what kind of tech is that? I can feel things the same way I did when I was 'ganic, these are seriously preem!" He exclaimed, closing and opening his fist to get used to his new fingers and articulations. "Seriously, Thank you ma'. Without you insisting I should carry my trauma chip wherever I went, I would be six feet under right now."
"I'm just glad you're safe David." Gloria sighed, ruffling his hair before they drove off in the busy streets of Night City. "The academy says they're ready to take you back in, you'll just need to take an exam tomorrow to make sure your systems are okay and that you're still up to date with what they teach. But knowing you, I'm sure you'll ace it and show these corpo brats what's good." She said with a smile, getting a wince from David.
"Do I really have to go back there ma'?" He whispered, his eyes downcast. "You know how much I stand out there. I'm a street rat to them, they always insult you and I loose my temper far too often. No one hangs out with me and you're forced to kill yourself at work so I can have both insurance and tuition there. Wouldn't it be easier for me to just quit and find a job? Help you bring some eddies in so you can take it easy a bit more often."
"I can't let you do that Mijo." She answered firmly as their car entered the freeway that led to Santo Domingo. "You're right, it would be easier for me. But it would make your life worse in the long run, and I can't live with that. I'm your mother, it's my role to give you all the best cards I can so you can come out on top when you're older. With Arasaka Academy, you'll be able to get in on the good life that the suits live. Maybe you'll even be at the top of the tower one day, living your best life with a wife and kids." She teased, making David flush at the idea.
"Y-Yeah… Kids…” He chuckled, gazing outside the window. While he hated Arasaka Academy, he guessed he could tolerate it for a couple of years until graduation. Katsuo Tanaka would be shit for sure, but grades spoke louder than pride or blood. Even before he was chromed, David outdid the little shit at most of their exam, and with shitty gear! David even hoped that his new borged-out body would give him an edge in putting that crotch goblin with a father complex in his place. "I swear I'll do my best for you ma'." He whispered, making his mother smile.
Suddenly, the cityscape David was gazing at suddenly became a heavy machine gun. David's eyes widened as he saw three gangoons in a pink van drive to them, aiming the bullet hose straight at his head. His first instinct was to force his mother back in her seat as hard as he could when the bullets started to rain through the window straight at a limo on his mother's side of the vehicle. The three roided-up animals let loose a volley of bullets that tore the car's engine, hood, and dashboard, which had little effect on the Corpo's limo they wanted to destroy.
"Shit, Bro, that thing's plated up! Bullet's ain't piercing!" One of the men screamed, their van and the limo going faster than their now busted car could. David sighed in relief when he saw that his mother was just in shock, without any wound from the bullet hell they just went through. At least they had gotten out of there alive; pity for the car. He'd have to help her get a new one, maybe sell more XBDs to his Corpo classmate. But they were alive; that was all that mattered to him.
That's when he heard the distinctive sound of a rocket being fired, the shockwave from the counter mass washing over his skin as time seemed to go slower and slower. The trail of smoke flew through the air, exploding under the limo as the gangoons cheered that no one messed with the animals. The limo rose from the impact, casting its shadow over the short car of one Gloria Martinez. David screamed for dear life and tried to shield his mother the best he could as the limo went down on them, plunging the world into darkness.
When David got his bearing back, he was still inside the wrecked car that had flipped upside down from the crash. There was fire, glass, and metal everywhere he could look, but he could find no trace of his mother next to him in what once was their car. Looking around in a panic, David winced in pain as he felt his eyes burn up with an electrical current as his vision changed, most colors draining and leaving fire around him burning red, and a clear red outline of a woman just a few meters away.
Blinking once toward the silhouette lying on the road, his eyes zoomed in and displayed her more clearly, showing him a small window beside her.
Gloria Martinez
Alive, unconscious. Multiple fractures and concussions. Medium bleeding from numerous open wounds.
Cyberware: none.
David blinked once more at the strange display he could see, then decided to worry about this after he took his mother to the nearest clinic. The safety belt still buckled him in; the damn thing should have worked for his mother, not him! With all the chrome he had gotten after this fucking incident, he wouldn't have suffered that much from being thrown out of the car! Hell, even after all this, he was feeling fine! He tore the pesky safety device with a grunt, feeling just how powerful these new arms of his were.
Now free from the wreck, David rushed to his mother at speeds he didn't know possible. The strange overlay on his vision vanished when he got close to her, the world returning to its chaotic noise and heat. But he didn't care; he had to take her away to safety! He effortlessly picked her up in a bridal carry, making sure not to hurt her with these freakishly strong arms of his. He still needed to find a nearby clinic that wouldn't save her while pretending they were helping her. And as if God heard his prayer, a Trauma Team AV descended from the skies and landed right in front of him!
"Fuck I'm so fucking glad you're here!" He said, walking to the team that raised the rifles at him. "Hey, I ain't gonna cause trouble! You need to save my mom; we were in the crash that these gangoons fucks caused!" He continued, his eyes doing that weird second vision thing again that showed him the rescue team's name, age, occupation, and chrome in front of him. The amount of information he could get and process so quickly just by looking at someone was insane! Just what kind of chrome had they borged him with?
The captain slowly lowered his gun, carefully picking up the scanner in front of his pouch to quickly scan the mother and son as they always did when they were deployed. David wasn't worried about a thing; they had saved his ass when that psycho had run him over, they would do the same for his mom, and she'll be back up and running in record time! As much as he hated corpos that profited off the misery of others when it came to his mom's life, he could work with the devil.
"Sorry, she's not a member. She didn't sign up, so we can't help her." The captain responded, not sparing another glance at the shocked David or his mother. The young, augmented male just stared dumbly in front of him for a few seconds before sharply turning the face of the team; his face twisted in an angry snarl. He was about to punch some sense into the leader, but his crew immediately noticed his power stomping and pointed their HMG straight at the chipped kid. "Company policy, punk. You're chipped; she's not. Unless you want us to lose bullets on you, scram."
David gritted his teeth but was forced to relent; he sure as shit couldn't deal with three gonks in armor with guns when he had nothing but some chrome he didn't understand and his mother to protect. So he left the trauma team behind, beginning a mad dash for the nearest clinic. It started as a regular run, albeit a bit more awkward since he had the added weight of his mother in his arms. But as time passed, he felt the same electrical current run down his legs and feet as he gained more speed with each stride, his vision highlighting cars and other dangers on the road as he zoomed across the asphalt faster than any man had any right to.
But even with his fancy legs, he still didn't know that part of town. He had never hanged around places that weren't the academy or his neighborhood, so he was navigating the packed streets of Night City like a headless chicken carrying a wounded EMT. A mutated, boarded-up chicken with legs that could outrun a car, but a chicken nonetheless. He felt absolutely fucking useless as he ran from street to street, trying his absolute best to find anything that resembled a clinic. Even a Ripperdoc would do!
"M-Mijo…" Gloria whispered, his ears picking up her voice despite the usual noise of gunshots, cars, paper-thin walls, and people yelling at each other. David stopped dead in his tracks and glanced down at the woman in his arms, his synth heart twisting at how… vulnerable she looked. He had always known her as a woman of character, one that didn't hesitate to sacrifice herself for him even when he was a little shit that thought he knew better.
"Don't worry mom, I'm here." He said, alternating between looking at her and where he was going as he zoomed in on his blind quest for a doctor. "I'm gonna find someone to patch you up. You'll be okay, I'll keep you safe." He continued, dodging the pedestrians with surprising ease now that he was used to these speeds. His body also seemed to twist and turn almost on its own when he was about to ram someone at full speed, allowing him to look at his surroundings in search of any help.
"It's okay David, don't worry about me." She answered, trying and failing to put on a reassuring smile as blood oozed from her wounds, soaking her clothes and staining his too. "I'll be fine, I just need to sleep this off and I'll be back in the game in no time. Let's just head home for now okay?"
"Fuck that. I'm not blind, and the new eyes don't lie. We're getting you to a doc, no matter what!" He confidently stated with a smile, trying to hide his fear as his OS put the vitals of his mother in the corner of his vision. HUDs were nothing new; they came packaged with the most basic eye bugs and were damn practical when shooting or, for the more recent models, show you the way and a map of the city to avoid getting lost in the mess of back alleys, holes in the wall and other solutions to pile up as many people as possible on top of each other in boxes of cheap concrete.
David sorely wished his fancy chrome could do this, show him where he was going so he could stop wasting time and get his mother to safety! An alarm kept blaring when he looked at her, his eyes showing that she was in urgent need of something to stop the bleeding and a good quantity of blood; he was fighting against the clock and this hardware that did everything except what he needed!
"David, please look at me." She asked, her son stopping almost instantly to look at her half-lidded eyes that started to fill with tears. "We both know how this ends. I just want to say a few things before… I go." She began, tears rolling down her cheeks as the brutal reality hit David like a sledgehammer. Her vitals were dropping fast; she was close to flatlining! "Don't ruin your life because of me. You've got a second chance thanks to the corpos from Sarif; use it as best you can. I'm proud of you Mijo; you're the best thing that ever happened to me. So please swear that you will build yourself and become someone important one day." She begged as David fell to his knees, most bystanders just going on with their day after a glance.
Death was something usual in Night City. One couldn't go about their day without seeing a few persons getting flatlined, so most just tended to ignore business that wasn't theirs. It was pointless to waste time and effort with other people that might shank you in the back without any prior notice. Trust and compassion were not easy things to find in the hellhole, as those that were too kind often died in the gutter poor or after having been exploited once to many times. However, most people were kind enough to leave them some space, both out of respect but also because David stood out as an over-chromed kid that might go cyberpsycho any moment.
"No, Mom, don't tell me that! You can't leave me; I've never paid back all you did for me! I still need to give you that corpo life where you won't have to work for no one! I can't give up!" He said, his voice betraying his sadness despite his new eyes' inability to release tears. He hugged her close to himself, not caring for all the blood that splashed on his synth skin as he did so. "Please, mom! Just hang on tight! I'll find a way!"
"I love you David. And I always will." She answered, her body getting colder and colder as her strength bled out of her from every wound. Still, she mustered enough strength to raise one hand to her son's face, gently stroking his cheek with her bloodied fingers. "Don't let me be a burden. You're a smart kid, you'll make it all the way to the top one day. So do your best, and be yourself. No matter what happens, you'll always be my son, and I'll always be proud of you." She finished, her hand going limp as her whole body slumped against David's.
He looked at her, the entire world around him turning to nothing but white noise and dim shadows in the corner of his eyes. He could see that she was dead but couldn't… comprehend it. He couldn't admit that his mother died because he had failed to find a clinic despite all his augmentations. He couldn't understand why it was their car that got wrecked by the gangoons, why it was her belt that snapped and not his, why he didn't just ask someone for help…
And there, on the cold, unforgiving street of the city that never slept, a brown-haired boy screamed with all his might as he clutched the lifeless body of his mother close to his. David wasn't sure how long he spent in the middle of a busy street with his recently-flatlined mother in his arms, but her body was noticeably colder when he finally stood up from his silent crying. He felt numb as he slowly wandered around, everyone giving way to the bloodied kid with a dead woman in his eyes. Finally, he had enough cognitive function left to drape her jacket over his face; it felt a little more respectful to have a makeshift veil than nothing.
"Hey kid." Someone said from behind him, making David slowly turn to face a random NCPD member that seemed to have gotten off his car to speak with him. "There's an incinerator this way, about two blocks down. Pretty cheap and the urns are solid, it might be a good way to keep a memento of that person in your arm." He continued, scratching the back of his head as he walked closer to put a reassuring hand on David's shoulder. "I know how it feels. Lost my brother when I was your age, still have his ashes today. I know it won't bring her back, but at least she'll always be with you."
"Thanks." David numbly whispered, turning to face the direction the cop had pointed at before slowly marching down toward the supposed burner. At the very least, it was as close as anything could be in Night City on foot. He felt his soul tear apart as he joined the crying families that mourned their loved ones near the large machine, waiting for his turn to free his mother from his own arms. It was hard, but he found the courage to gently lay her body onto the metal grill, his eyes showing her dead smile in too great detail for the young man.
He had decided to hang onto her jacket for now. She always wore it on duty; EMTs had to be visible so clients could come for help. It had a few scratches from the crash and was soaked in blood, but he was sure he could fix it himself if he set his mind. And It would be a good way to see if his hands could do precise work, so he guessed it was two birds with one stone. It was weird to say, but he felt a strange sense of safety and warmth coming from the fabric slung around his arm.
' I may be going crazy, but I feel like Ma's still with me. Like a piece of her soul lives on inside the jacket.' He thought, unable to hold a low chuckle at how nutty he sounded. He didn't believe in all the spiritual new age stuff, but if there was indeed a heaven and hell, he hoped his mother would be on the good side of the afterlife. The burner finally pinged to signal it was done, a solid run of metal dropping at the bottom of the machine with 'Gloria Martinez' written on the top. It wasn't a proper casket, but it was all he could afford with whatever cash he could access. She was worth so much more than just an urn; it felt like a betrayal to force the woman that raised him and sacrificed herself for him oh so many times into such a... Cold receptacle. It was industrial, just like so many things in Night City. But as much as he tried to deny it, David knew he was lucky that he at least got something to remember her by. With a sad smile, the teen folded her jacket under his arm, took the urn in hand, and headed back home.