Due to suffering from some exceedingly unpleasant burnout I will be taking a vacation until the start of August. Apologies for the sudden announcement but it simply is what it is.
Also I find pausing on a cliffhanger far too hilarious not to. Hehehehehe.
The Wannabe
The air in the office of Arasaka Academy's Principal was heavy as said old man methodically typed out on his keyboard, each press of the button just sharp enough to stop the two bruised and battered students from relaxing.
David Martinez did his best not to fidget in his chair and kept his face as impassive as he could, but the asshole giving him smug looks from just a few feet away kept reigniting his anger. Shooting a glance at an only somewhat bruised Katsuo Tanaka he imagined feeding him his own teeth for the fifth time since they arrived.
The mental image was enough to calm him down a bit, though it did not help him with feeling like one big person shaped bruise.
Grimacing, his thoughts inevitably took him to what got him into this mess.
The day had started out like usual, he got up early in the morning, did his homework, said his goodbyes to his mom, and took the NCART and attended classes. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.
He was a bit excited for the test results that would be coming out but outside hanging out with some of his new chooms for a bit it was all supposed to be business as usual.
Of course that all changed when the results did come out, and he found out he was at the top of his class for the semester, and some people really did not take his open satisfaction well.
They all congratulated him politely of course, but the moment he went out to grab lunch he found himself cornered by the class asshole, who had somehow managed to fuck up basic management to the point he'd almost needed to schedule a repeat test like a complete gonk, and his two hangers on.
One thing led to another, and as much as David tried, he couldn't ignore the tiny fucker shit talking his mom and punched him in the face.
Under Magos' patient urging, but mostly the borg's inputs', he'd started learning how to fight, and quickly realized he was pretty damn good at it. So the haymaker he smacked Tanaka with should have been the end of it.
Which is when the blue haired asshole pulled a move straight out of a cheap kung fu BD and proceeded to fold him so fast he barely knew what was going on before he was on the ground and getting kicked by all three of them.
'Fucking skill chips.' He spat mentally. It really wasn't all that hard to figure out once he wasn't getting his bones tenderized. Shooting Tanaka another look and seeing him wince nearly made him grin.
But the Principal spoke up before he could "Your respective parents have been informed of your misdemeanor. They should be arriving soon."
Neither he nor Tanaka were dumb enough to talk back and merely bowed their heads.
Too bad the other two had been pretty much ignored in the whole thing, but he wasn't going to escalate like a gonk. That would only drag their families into the mix and he'd already fucked up more than enough.
The minutes ticked by as they waited, and by the time the autodoors opened up David's heart was somewhere up in his throat, the feeling of unease only growing as a man as wide as he was square, with only some resemblance to his asshole classmate, briskly walked inside.
"Ah, Mr. Tanaka." The Principal smiled politely "Thank you for your prompt response."
Tanaka Jr. perked up and went to stand, already pointing fingers at David "Yeah dad, this gutter trash-"
One cold look from his father had him shutting up and sitting back down. Satisfied, Tanaka Sr. finally said something "Make it quick, Principal. I had to postpone an important meeting for this."
By this point David was already starting to feel panic set in. He wasn't a gonk, and he knew who owned the Academy.
Nervously he reached for his neck and tried to prepare a defense-
And nearly deflated when he heard the door shunt open again, with the familiar footsteps of his very pissed off mother echoing with it.
He looked up only to wince as he saw her still wearing her exo implants, and the few tiny smears of blood barely visible on her odd robe-like lab coat.
Wisely, when she shot him a questioning look he kept his mouth shut.
"Ms. Martinez." The Principal said, his tone a lot less polite than when he addressed the 'Saka exec, if missing the sneer David was expecting "Good. You are on time."
"Tell us what happened." Tanaka Sr. ordered without wasting a second.
"Your sons were found full contact fighting each other in the hallways of the Academy." The Principal informed them bluntly "And this isn't their first scuffle either. We've let most of them go for now as we understand young men need to compete in their own way but today's escalation demands intervention."
He turned the screen of his computer over, displaying the whole event from a conveniently placed camera, except the sound recording was, of course, unavailable due to a 'glitch', and they all got to watch as David threw the first punch, and how he was then beaten down in 'self defense'.
Katsuo shot him a smug look from across the office but David kept his face flat as the recording went on until security arrived and pulled the trio back.
"As you can clearly see, both sides behaved in a manner completely unacceptable for members of this Academy." The Principal said gravely, shooting a pointed look at his mom "Your son especially, Ms. Martinez, seems to still act on base impulse despite his high scores."
Taking him completely off guard, instead of pleading or apologizing, his mom merely raised an eyebrow "My son must have had a good reason to throw that punch. He is not some thug, Principal."
The old man frowned "Ma'am, I assure you that no matter what was said striking a fellow student is still completely unacceptable. Such behavior could affect his academic future if not corrected."
"Agreed." His mom nodded, making David wince, before demanding "And is cornering and surrounding someone in a group considered acceptable behavior?"
The Principal shot Tanaka Sr. a questioning glance but the Arasaka exec might as well have been carved from stone as far as his reaction went, making his son turn paler and paler by the moment.
"Of course not, Ms. Martinez." The Principal assured after what David could almost swear was a quiet gulp "I merely seek to point out the issues so that they may not be repeated. Young Katsuo will receive equal reprimand for his poor behavior."
"Of course." Gloria Martinez hummed in satisfaction, shooting a look at the other parent present and getting a mere blank stare in return.
"Good." The Principal nodded "While I would prefer to assign at least a week of suspension to make the point stick, I will trust that you are capable of instilling proper behavior in your children on your own." Neither parent made a sound as he addressed him and Katsuo "And you two, do you have anything to say for yourselves?"
David grit his teeth as he spoke up faster than Katsuo could "I apologize for my lack of discipline, Principal. It will not happen again." Every word felt like he was choking down on SCOP but he managed it, somehow.
Katsuo's face twisted as the old fart's look of satisfaction, and knowing his little 'plan' was fucked he just lowered his head and parroted David's words, earning a brief nod of his own.
"Is that it?" Tanaka Sr. demanded.
"That is all, sir."
Before he was even done speaking, Tanaka Sr. grabbed his son by the scruff of his uniform, shot David and Gloria a cold look, and dragged Katsuo out, the blue haired cunt hissing and wincing all the way.
"Thank you for your patience, Principal." David's mom said a moment later and waved for him to follow along, shushing him as he went to speak and making way for the parking lot outside.
Before they could get that far though, David thought he heard something and slowed his steps, pausing at the entrance of one of the side hallways and just in time to see Tanaka Sr. slap a few teeth out of his son's mouth "You are a waste of time and money, Katsuo." The man said with no emotion "You will not make me come here again."
"Yesh fath'r." The dazed teen nodded, tears running down his face.
David saw the older man pause and start turning and quickly made himself scarce, catching up to his frowning mother a moment later.
"What was that?" She asked quietly.
But he just shook his head "Corpo rat bullshit."
Gloria frowned.
"Sorry." He winced, schooling the expression just as they stepped out of the building.
She sighed and shook her head "What am I going to do with you?"
They approached Gloria's car and tensed as they saw a trio of Arasaka security guards staring down a rather unamused, and fully armed Svetlana, the well over half cyberized woman looking like she would just as happily remove their heads as she would shake their hands.
Thankfully, Gloria was used to her quirks by now and merely waved "Hey 'Lana, any trouble?"
The three 'Saka goons nearly dropped on their asses in relief as she stopped staring at them and smiled back at her choom "Just making some friends, Glori." She paused and her eyes narrowed threateningly again "Who did this to you, David?"
He winced under the focused attention but simply waved it off "Don't worry, Ms. Sobronov. It's been dealt with."
"Has it?" She asked, tapping her foot for few seconds before accepting it "Fine. And its Svetlana, kid. How many times must I repeat myself?"
"Sorry." David rubbed the back of his head.
Smiling, Gloria waved for them to get in the car "Come on. There should be some MaxDoc in the trunk, and I'm not letting you stay bruised, even if you might deserve it."
David winced again and did as he was told.
The moment they were all sat inside, and the goons made some distance, Gloria's entire demeanor shifted as the car somehow began driving itself, and she shot David a look "Alright, mijo. What exactly happened?"
Feeling a pair of demanding stares, David did what any proud young man would do, and immediately folded and spilled everything without a single half truth.
Well, at least until he reached a certain point in the conversation.
"What did he call her?" Svetlana asked far too calmly.
"I'd rather not say." David winced 'Just thinking about it makes me want to kick the asshole in the dick.'
"Let it go, Lana." Gloria shook her head "What's done is done. And David-"
He straightened his back, ready for the scolding of his life.
"Good job." Gloria beamed and patted his head.
Record scratch.
"Whut?" He asked intelligently.
Svetlana failed to contain a faint snort at that.
"You shouldn't let those bastardos walk all over you." Gloria kept going proudly "Especially now that they can't pay their way into having your kicked out. But-"
'And there it is.'
"Don't do it again if you can help it." She said before frowning "Do you still have your recording chip?"
He patted his neck, making his neural port eject an advanced looking chip "Got everything from beginning to end."
"Good job." Gloria smiled.
"But why didn't you ask me to use it?" He couldn't help but ask, still feeling a bit confused by the entire thing. He was ready to present it at a moments notice back in the office, but for some reason it just never happened...
"Because the longer you don't have to use it the better." She told him patiently "If you can get out of a situation without it good. Save it for when you really need it."
"Once you reveal it, your 'rivals' will become a lot more careful." Svetlana tossed in her own two eddies.
"Right." David nodded, slowly getting the idea "Got it."
"Oh." Gloria suddenly palmed her face "I set the car to drive us home. Do you want me to drop you off anywhere 'Lana?" She paused and added "Or you could come up for some coffee? We never have guests."
"I could have a cup." The grey haired woman smiles "Too bad Mikey won't give you a day off. We could have had a girl's night out."
"Don't even say that." Gloria shakes her head "He already gives me way too much. I don't know what to do with myself."
"My Mikey is the best." Svetlana nodded proudly.
And it was there David started zoning the conversation out.
Sure he was happy his mom was happy, and that he wasn't about to have his ear ripped off in a righteous scolding, but once those two got going with their embarrassing praise of their children he knew better than to listen.
He shuddered at the deep mental scars he'd already been dealt, and swore to never let himself get caught off guard.
In his absent mental state he barely even noticed the sudden shadows overtaking the sides of their car, and only a piercing shriek from Svetlana for them both to get down woke him up from his daze a moment before everything above the dashboard was turned into fine glass and metal chunks by a pair of drive by shooters doing their best to murder each other.
A shotgun shell hit the engine block and the car suddenly swerved, the safety locks snapping into place to stop an explosion and causing the entire thing to flip over in the process.
Miraculously, David was still conscious when the things stopped flipping, and thanked his lucky stars for the fact his seatbelt didn't snap as he disengaged it and began crawling outside.
He felt the sting of broken glass pressing into his skin but the roar of gunfire and pained noises outside stopped him from focusing on it, until he finally managed to roll out into freedom, and quickly tried to understand what was happening around him.
Only to feel a deep chill set into his bones as he saw the two other cars, one van and another caravan car, had been smashed into the walls of the inter-district bridge, and their occupants had been painted across the asphalt.
Their bodies had been torn to shreds, the ones he could barely make out as Scavs had simply been broken like so much cheap plastic, while the others, the Animal members, seemed to have either been gouged to death or blown up from point blank range.
It was an image straight out of a slaughterhouse.
And he didn't even notice anything happening before it was over.
Sure he was distracted by dear God, what the fuck!?
He wiped the dizziness from his eyes, and looked for any other source of noise, finding it almost immediately.
The last of the attackers still alive, an Animal member judging by his build, uselessly clutched and scratched at the chrome hand easily rising him above ground, cursing his heart out and begging intermittently, before screaming in pain as the other metal limb sunk into his chest, and ripped his still beating heart out before crushing it in its inhuman grip.
Svetlana Sobronov's face twitched in David's direction and he wasn't ashamed to admit he very nearly shat himself then and there.
The grey haired cyborg blinked and tossed the Animal like an empty sack "Where is Glori?" She asked calmly.
Far too calmly.
David immediately rushed around the car and felt his world spin as he saw a deep, expanding splotch of blood becoming larger and larger by the second. And the source of it was obvious.
He choked on air as he opened his mouth and just barely wheezed out "...Mom?"
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ROCK AND STONE!
14 glorious chapters await for those wise enough to seek them upon the forbidden Patreon (at patreon .com/ Rastislav156)
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