Chapter Text
“Aaaah! ”
Nyx!
< I am advising to end this braindance. >
“No, keep me in.”
She was on fire. Burning, but her flesh wouldn’t melt. Whoever scrolled this braindance, they had some insane chrome. Skinweave that the fire couldn’t burn, but there was nothing to stop the heat, to stop the pain.
She was in some sort of Arasaka warehouse building, surrounded by large metal crates. It smelled like gasoline, fumes burning her nostrils. Over the crackling fire, she couldn’t pick anything up on the audio layer. She scrolled backwards, right before the explosion.
There was a girl there, on the second floor of the warehouse. Short pastel-colored hair, pale skin. She was dressed in all black. But then the warehouse exploded, and she was gone. That was Nix’s job for her. Find the girl.
The immortal cannot burn in hellfire.
“The fuck?”
The explosion replayed, surrounding her with smoke and heat. Then, the braindance cut short. She was pulled out and, in a great blink of light, found herself back in Nix’s little office in Afterlife. She hunched over, heaving for breath. Nix stood in front of her, braindance wreath in hand. He had his face scrunched into a mean look.
“You pulled me out?” Nyx asked, still pulling heavy breaths.
“Vitals weren’t looking good.”
“You okay?” River asked. He was leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, posture all nonchalant. But his face said otherwise. Nyx nodded.
Nix leaned in, grabbed her wrist, checked her pulse. “I thought you worked alone,” he whispered.
“Me too,” she whispered back. “The girl,” she said louder. “I saw her.”
“You recognize her?”
Nyx shook her head. “I’ve never met her, but I’ve heard of her. Lucy, she’s a netrunner.”
“For who?”
Nyx shrugged. “Arasaka, once upon a time, I think. And you remember Maine?”
“Mean motherfucker.”
“Ran with his crew, for a while.”
“And now?”
“Fuck if I know,” she said, sighing. “But I can find out for you. What’d she do?”
Nix rubbed his chin, peered down at her. “Stole something from me. And I want it back.”
“You wanna tell me what it is?”
Nix hesitated. “An encrypted datashard.”
“Who’s to say she hasn’t decrypted it yet? Word has it that she’s skilled.”
Nix shook his head. “It’s got a powerful virus protecting it. There’s another shard--kind of like a key--that would allow her to decrypt.”
“And let me guess, you have that one.”
Nix stayed silent for a moment. “Find the girl, find the datashard.”
“You got it, boss.”
____
“Thanks, Marv,” she said, and the call blipped away.
“Got your info?”
Nyx nodded, feeling her heart drop. They were in River’s car, parked somewhere downtown. It was getting late now, and Nyx’s mind was reeling over everything that had happened. Padre’s job, recognizing Jason, Kattiana, this Maelstrom business, and now Nix’s job for her. She remembered the braindance, the chrome of the person who scrolled it. She got a first-class peek into their mind, and they were obsessing about immortality.
The immortal cannot burn in hellfire.
Just like the girl. She had this sick, twisted feeling that everything was connected. That nothing was a coincidence. There was something happening on the streets of Night City. And Nyx had found herself in the center of it all.
“You’re not gonna believe it,” she said.
“What?”
“Lucy works for a Voodoo Boys crew right now.”
River let out a low whistle. “What are the chances she works with our friend?”
Nyx shrugged.
River continued, “I don’t like how this looks. At all.”
“Me neither. Where are we meeting your contact?”
“Somewhere along the Arasaka Waterfront, abandoned building.”
Nyx shot him a look. “A little far from Pacifica, no?”
“Who wants to meet in an active warzone?”
“I go there all the time.”
“Well,” River trailed off. “You’re... you.”
Nyx stared at him.
“What?” River asked.
“What does that-” she cut herself off. “You know what, nevermind.”
River smiled, laughed in a way that made her stomach warm. “You know exactly what I mean. You’re a little firecracker.”
Nyx turned away. She could feel the heat rising in her face. Firecracker . The fuck did that mean?
"Nyx?" River asked.
“Just drive,” she muttered.
River laughed again, and then he drove.