Chapter Text
It was fucking cold.
That was all Rebecca could feel as she laid on her back, looking into the night sky. White sprinkles filled her vision, landing in various spots around her. Curiously, she couldn’t hear the cacophony of sound that would’ve erupted from the fight between Smasher and Dav-
“Shit! David-” she yelped while trying to sit up. Rebecca coughed and collapsed on her side, blood now flowing onto the ground beside her. The Edgerunner suddenly realized it was odd how goddamn cold it was. She grasped around, feeling an odd powder substance.
Great gonna fuck- fucking die in some Booster’s crib. Rebecca thought.
Her vision and hearing slowly faded, and she heard shouting and some mechanical noises.
Gonna get- get scavenged too? Fuck this!
A hand reached out to grab her wrist and she tried to attack back, but her body failed her. She gurgled out some insult, but blood flowed instead. A crowd had formed at some point and was shouting, giving her a massive headache.
Before she could react any further, something gently lifted Rebecca up and carried her away. Her vision faded to black.
Rebecca woke up to another throbbing headache. It was notably quieter, save for the humming of some machines. Her eyes widened, mind filling with worry. She tried leaning forward, but was stopped by the searing pain wracking her body.
“Whoa, there!” a deep, soothing voice exclaimed.
Rebecca turned to see an dark-skinned man with glasses old man atop a walking chair. A literal, mechanized, walking chair.
Shit, this guy’s pretty borged out. Preem stuff, by the looks of it. She thought.
She took better stock of her surroundings, in awe at the furnished room. Books lined the shelves, and she noted a clear tube with some devices around it.
He’s loaded with Eddies, too! What kind of ripperdoc is this!?
Rebecca started sweating at the potential bills this recovery would rack up.
“Yes, I see you’re awake, thank the brothers. Bit of a miracle case, but I knew you’d pull through in the end.”
Rebecca tried opening her mouth, but realized most of her body was wrapped in some rigid material, while her face was covered in a mask.
“You’ll note the bindings. I do apologize, but your body was seizing throughout your recovery. I’ll get them off as soon as your vitals stabilize and-”
A light beep emanated from the man’s chair.
“Oh! Speaking of which, you should be able to speak now. Let me get that mask off of you.”
His chair strode forward and he pulled the mask off gently. Rebecca immediately raised an eyebrow and spat at the stranger.
“Who the fuck are you, and where the fuck are my friends? You holdin’ them somewhere? Gonna interrogate me, borg? ” she shouted with venom. The man stumbled back, in shock.
“Miss, no need for the hostilities. You’re just under my roof for the moment. I don’t know who, or where, your friends are, but you’ll be free to go when your body is rested.”
“Hey, bakebrain, I don’t think you understand! I was just in the shits with my crew against this borg named Adam fucking Smasher! I don’t know what kind of hack streetdoc you are, but I need to jet before you take all my organs and shit!” she ranted.
The man continued to look shocked at her ranting. Neither spoke, the only noise being the machines and Rebecca’s deep breathing. A headache formed in her brain again and she wailed in pain.
“Fucking- the hell you do to me, doc?” she struggled to speak.
The man put a hand near her side on the table, a sympathetic look in his eyes.
“I don’t know where you think you are,” his soothing voice replied, “but you’re in Mantle, and your injuries were bad. You’ve been out for about four days. ”
A lightbulb in Rebecca’s brain cracked.
“What.” was all she could muster.
Suddenly, her thoughts flashed to David, her crew, her brother. How fast all of it was gone. That bitch Fixer whats-his-face. Tears began to flow from her eyes onto her covers. Was all of it just… gone? And what did she do to be allowed to survive, while all her friends just got zeroed by some Corpos?
Before she could think long on the justice of her situation, she remembered something else the man had said.
“What the fuck is Mantle?”
Rebecca couldn’t believe it. Someone must’ve taken her far from Night City if she wasn’t even getting recognition. Hell, she was probably far outside of the states if that was the case. She still couldn’t figure out why or even how she got so far away.
“Ah! Here it is!” the man, who had introduced himself as Dr. Polendina, shouted from another room.
He walked back into her room and produced a holographic map of the area on some pad.
Shit. She wasn’t anywhere she knew in Night City, or the States. Was she even on her planet? Rebecca shook her head at the ridiculous thought. It didn’t matter at the moment, anyway, she just needed to rest up before even thinking about getting home.
One day at a time.
“So, doc. Thanks for all the info, I guess. But, I do need to know one thing.” she spoke, more confidence in her voice.
Dr. Polendina nodded.
“Why the hell do you keep giving me a weird look? The hell I do to you in the last hour?” she asked, a tinge of anger in her voice.
The doctor sighed and turned off his personal datapad with the map on it. He handed it over slowly. On the screen was a girl with bright orange hair. She was smiling candidly with bring green eyes. Rebecca flipped the datapad over, looked into the reflective screen and screamed.
The entire right portion of her face had been destroyed in her short encounter with Adam Smasher. Metal pieces replaced the spots that were missing, and a new, cybernetic eye blinked back at her. She also spotted what appeared to be a replacement shoulder, and likely arm with it. Rebecca blinked again, noticing that her new eye was bright green.
“Your body had some previous that made the healing process easier. Despite the difference in some technologies, what I had on hand was compatible. Where are you from?”
Rebecca continued blinking. A huge chunk of her hair was missing, likely to help with the surgery. She took a mental note to cut the rest to match later, then looked back up.
“Uh, wherever I’m from, you aren’t close to, gonk.” she stated matter-of-factly. The level of trust she had toward this Ripper was still at a flat zero. Polendina raised his arms in surrender.
“I see when I’m in defeat. Please, just rest before we talk anymore. Here are some chewable pills that should help with the pain. Take them when you feel ready, but sooner is better.” He replied with finality.
Wordlessly, Rebecca handed the datapad back. As the doctor walked out of the door and closed the lights, she realized something.
“Yo, doc. Who was that girl on your screen?”
Doctor Polendina paused.
“My daughter.” he said with such warmth Rebecca’s heart felt it.
Four boring days later, Rebecca felt her arms and legs finally move on their own accord. A grin spread across her face in the middle of the night.
“Finally!” she cheered to nobody.
Rebecca wiggled her arms under the covers and lifted the blanket, admiring her now-moving legs. In the darkness, she slowly slid herself off the bed, ignoring the shaking that signaled her body waking up. Eyeing her old clothes, she slipped them on and zipper her jacket, making her way to the front door. A faint sense of guilt passed through her as she heard the doctor snoring.
“Probably feels safe just sleeping like that… must have beefed up security tech.” Rebecca murmured.
She crossed a finger and quietly slipped out of the doors into the cold night air. A windy chill breezed past and the Edgerunner pulled the front of the jacket to her mouth. With a huff, she made her way through the streets.
The familiar hum of lights comforted her, alongside the general state of disrepair.
At least it has the Night City charm.
Trash littered the streets with the classic barrel filled with fire. Paranoid citizens made their way around, and Rebecca noticed a few had a few animalistic features on them.
Some kind of biotech trend?
One difference she immediately noticed was the lack of noise. The rhythmic gunshots, constant police sirens, advertisements. This place felt toned down in comparison. Paranoid looks notwithstanding, Rebecca would honestly call this a better place to live.
About ten minutes into her nondescript walk, some noise got louder. Upon getting closer to the source, the heat levels of the area picked up, and the noise was mostly angered screaming. A crowd was stationed outside of a burning shop. People were flooding out of it, loot in their hands.
She let out a tch and kept walking, not wanting to stand out. However, someone took that moment to bump right into her and knock the both of them down. Her face heated up immediately.
“Hey, gonk, watch where you’re fucking going!” she yelled while grabbing him by the collar.
He dropped the TV from his hands and gave her an aggressive look. The man raised an arm, but Rebecca’s instincts fired off faster by headbutting him directly in the skull.
Her head throbbed with pain, but the action stunned the man for a short while too. The Edgerunner got her bearings first and threw herself at him with a roar, throwing wild punches at his body.
“Just- want- to- fuckin- LEAVE!” Rebecca huffed out as the man feebly defended himself.
As she continued her assault, the riot grew in size. Suddenly, an explosion knocked everyone to the floor and the fire spread out. Screams of anger became fearful as crowds dispersed faster than before.
Even NC coppers are faster than this! Rebecca internally groaned.
The man on top got a lucky strike on her nose and she yelped while he ran away, TV still in hand.
“Shit! Get back here you piece of fuck!”
As she yelled, Rebecca failed to notice two people drop behind her. The crowd went silent as a domineering voice yelled.
“Citizens of Mantle! Please disperse! We will have this situation under control!”
Rebecca turned around to find two tall women standing over her, one looking down while the other was barking instructions to the masses. The one looking at her was a pale-skinned woman with blue hair and gold eyes. She wore a brown coat and scowl on her face as she pointed an oddly shaped weapon at the Edgerunner.
“I think we got one of the culprits, boss.” she said to her colleague, who nodded. Rebecca looked aghast in response.
“What!? Me!? I didn’t have shit to do with this, I’m trying to delta this place and get home!”
The woman with the weapon pushed it closer to Rebecca’s angry visage.
“Normally, people who are innocent don’t stay to pick fights. ”
The stranger was getting testy, and Rebecca felt her face heat up in more anger.
“He ran into me! ” she shouted, defiantly crawling closer to the woman’s weapon.
They stared each other down.
“Hey!” the other woman shouted, an unamused look upon her face. “We can argue about this forever or we can secure the area. May, just put some cuffs on her and we’ll deal with her later.”
Cuffs were placed on Rebecca before she could respond.
“Don’t. Move.” the blue-haired woman ordered as she ran off to turn off the fire. Rebecca huffed and sat on the floor. She watched as the pair efficiently cleared out the area, cuffing more people and getting the fire taken care of. As they spoke to the rest of the bound individuals, she scooted back slowly. Rebecca got about ten feet before feeling something poke her back.
A third woman was standing above her. She looked like one of those animal people Rebecca saw earlier. With a sigh of defeat she leaned back into the woman’s legs.
“Fine, copper, take me in…” she drawled out.
The animal lady shrugged and heaved Rebecca over her shoulder. She chose to ignore the snarky remark of the blue-haired chick and let them take her away.