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An innate feeling of being watched pulsed inside David’s head for a good few minutes before he got the first sign that he wasn’t alone inside the garage. The first sign of his stalker came via him spotting a small shadow dart between two cars on the far left corner of the concrete-framed hall.
Pretending to be oblivious to what was going on, the fixer proceeded to transfer the contents of his rucksack into one of the side trunks of his modified Brennon Apollo. A group of Aldecaldos were said to be returning to Night City, so he had prepared some welcome gifts for them.
Out of the corner of his eye, David watched as the shadow crept closer and closer to him. His sensitive ears picked up a barely perceptible snickering.
David continued to fumble inside his bag, this time mostly for show - he didn’t want whoever was closing in on him to realize that he was onto them.
Quiet footsteps came closer and closer until the mystery stranger was mere feet away and…
”Papa!” the would-be ambusher yelled as she jumped from behind the nearest car and clung onto the man.
”I gotcha this time, papa!” The little red-haired girl grinned as she tightened her grip on David’s leg.
”You did, you really did, Nat.” David laughed as he ruffled his daughter’s already unruly hair. “Well done.”
It was only after the ambush was executed that little Natalia’s accomplice showed herself as well. Unlike the little rascal, David actually did not spot her.
“Papa’s gonna be in big trouble if he keeps letting his guard down like that,” Lucy teased with a sly smirk.
David couldn’t help but notice that from the angle he was looking at her, his wife’s hair looked just like she used to wear it when they first met. These days Lucy wore her much longer hairdo in a practical bob or ponytail, but the elongated strand on one side remained untouched.
Netrunner-turned-CEO closed the gap swiftly and soon the whole family stood together in a casual embrace.
“We just wanted to come down and wish you luck.”
“I’m glad you did,” David beamed at his wife and daughter.
“Got everything you need sorted?” Lucy glanced at the desert-proof bike. “You know who’s comin’?”
“Dakota said Saul’s in the lead, but that’s about it. I assume that means no one else we know well’s with them, otherwise she would’ve said somethin’.” David sighed.
He was hoping to see more familiar faces, but these days he had to make a trip out to Arizona for that. With the business at Afterlife going as crazy as it was and yet another corpo proxy war looming above the city, he really didn’t have much opportunity to take a single day off, let alone go on a lengthy vacation.
”S’alright.” Lucy stroked his upper back. “We’ll go see them as soon as things settle down a little.”
”What things need to settle down?” Little Nat asked inquisitively. “Did someone do something naughty?”
“They’re certainly thinking about doing somethin’ naughty.” David chuckled at a surprisingly apt description of the big issue. “We’re just tryin’ to make sure they think twice and don’t do it.”
”You should put whoever these silly people are in time out until they get smarter,” Natalia declared with a stern pout. “Being naughty’s bad.”
”Looks like we’ve got ourselves a future politician right here.” David picked his daughter up so that her face was level with both his and Lucy’s. He used the free hand to give her a small boop on the nose. “Or do you wanna be a big boss lady like your mama, hm?”
”Actually!” Natalia puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms. “I wanna fight like auntie Becca!”
She made two fingerguns and began blasting in all directions. “Pew! Pew! Pew”
”All bad guys go down! Bam! Bam! Bam! Every single one!”
Lucy covered her face with one palm. “That’s it. No more street stories from Becca.”
She stared David, who was much more amused than outraged, down with a steely glare. He had to quickly put on a stern face as well and nod in agreement with his partner. “Becca’s life is very dangerous, Nat. So let’s keep all of that to stories and movies, kay?”
”Fiiine!” Natalia didn’t look much too pleased with such a proposition, but her ire never lasted long.
“Alright.” David put the girl back down with utmost care before straightening up and closing the saddlebag’s lid. “It’s time I delta.”
He knelt down once again to place a warm kiss on top of Natalia’s head before turning to give his wife a peck on the lips as well.
“Be careful, please,” Lucy said as she placed a hand on David’s cheek before stepping to the side and taking Nat’s hand.
“I always am.” With a smile, David rolled the bike out of its parking spot and aimed it towards the garage door.
He saddled the mighty motorcycle before turning to give his family another nod. “Don’t miss me too much.”
”Byee, papa!” Natalia waved.
As soon as the path ahead opened up, Night City’s prime fixer revved the engine and shot into the brilliant daylight.
——
When the garage door closed back down, Lucy pulled up the time and instantly grimaced. “Shoot, we’re late.”
”Quickly.” She swooped Nat up and quickly strutted towards the staircase that led back into the house. “Let’s get you ready for school.”
Once in the kitchen, Lucy plopped Natalia into one of the high chairs by the counter and swiftly piled up an assortment of breakfast foods onto a plate before shoving it into the microwave. While the food was heating up, she poured two glasses of orange juice and slid the smaller one towards Natalia. The timer beeped and soon enough the girl was digging into her breakfast.
Content with that part of the morning routine, Lucy ran upstairs to grab Natalia’s school backpack that they had packed together the night before.
”Ready?” Lucy asked after the kid finished the last piece of fruit and neatly placed the fork on top of her empty plate.
”Ready!” Natalia nodded with a content smile.
“Let’s roll then.”
”Yay!”
Soon enough, they were back at the garage. Lucy helped Nat climb into the front seat of the armored Outlaw Weiler. Once she ensured that the seat belt was fastened properly and the bag was securely sat in the footwell, the ex-edgerunner swiftly strutted to the other side and jumped behind the wheel.
”Listen,” she turned to her daughter, “we’re a bit behind schedule here, so mommy’s gonna drive a little faster than usual. So don’t get scared.”
”Woo!” Natalia clapped in excitement. “I love it when we go fast.”
”Course you do.” Lucy sighed, noting for the 1000th time that David’s reckless genes had definitely been passed on there.
Lucy pinged the security system to go on lockdown as soon as they left the property’s perimeter. With that handled, there was nothing else to do but to push the throttle and hope they wouldn’t end up in a police chase like last month.
As Herrera slid sideways into the main road, Natalia raised her hands up as if she was on a rollercoaster. She fully embraced the side-to-side swaying as Lucy navigated the snaking road that led down into the main city. One benefit of their lateness was the fact that they had missed the morning traffic, so performing her little car stunts was much easier.
Despite making up some time, they were still about fifteen minutes late for the drop off. If it was just her in the car, Lucy would’ve run every other red light, but that kind of reckless behavior was out of the question when she had the little one with her.
”I’m sorry, it’s my fault,” she apologized to one of the staff who came out to meet the late arrivals in the foyer.
“That’s okay, we’ve only just started,” the other woman smiled softly before extending her hand to Natalia. “Alright, Nat. Ready to learn today?”
”Ready, ready!” Luckily, Natalia also gained a good deal of studious enthusiasm from Lucy. She sponged up academic knowledge just as much as she absorbed Becca’s battle stories.
“Byeee mommy!” She waved just before following her teacher through a set of mirrored sliding doors.
”Bye, darling,” Lucy called after her with a wave of her own.
As soon as Natalia was out of sight, Lucy turned on her heels and swiftly rushed to her car. She was also late to a meeting.
Thankfully, now that it was just herself driving, she didn’t need to worry so much about red lights or police chases.
“Morning, Kate,” she greeted her trusted assistant before the other woman even stood up from her desk. “What’ve you got for me?”
”Right.” Kate removed a loose strand of hair from her face and peered into the data pad at Lucy’s packed timetable. “We’ve got a difficult case in Lab Oh-Five that will need your personal attention. That came as a priority ask from Yawen so I cleared the next hour for you. After that, you’ve got a meeting with Biotechnica reps followed by lunch with Miss Lynd.”
”She messaged me several times to reiterate that you can’t push back this lunch any longer and that she will come down here and drag you out herself if she has to.”
”Brilliant.” Lucy sighed. Vesper Lynd was a brilliant inventor and an incredible business partner, but her brutish way of carrying herself sometimes got a bit much.
“Now,” she took the data pad from Kate and started tabbing through the difficult patient’s bio, “let’s see who’ve we got here, why don’t we?”