The scene shifted. David and Rebecca were in the middle of a high-stakes gig.
But unlike their usual stealth-and-dash operations, this was a full-blown street war. They were out in the open, trading lead with a small army of corporate-backed thugs.
Rebecca was a blur of chaotic energy. Despite her small stature, she wielded a massive heavy machine gun with terrifying efficiency.
Bright plumes of fire erupted from the barrel, tearing through the cover of their enemies and shredding anyone slow enough to get caught in the spray.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Rebecca's laugh was high and manic. "WE'VE GOT GROUND MEAT OVER HERE!"
Under the combined pressure of David's speed and Rebecca's overwhelming firepower, the thugs were dropping like flies. One desperate survivor tried to toss a grenade, but David, his reflexes sharpened to a lethal edge, shot it out of the air before it could leave the man's hand.
But then, the world blurred.
But seeing David (his eyes wild, his armor stained with blood) the man froze.
David stared at him.
For a split second, the thug's face shifted. He saw the woman from Arasaka Tower. He saw the innocent mother he'd killed.
His hand, the one holding the gun, began to shake.
The thug, sensing the hesitation, regained his composure. He leveled his rifle at David's chest, his finger tightening on the trigger...
CRACK.
A single round tore through the man's skull.
It was Rebecca.
She'd swapped to a high-caliber pistol and was already moving toward David, firing round after round into the downed thug. The kinetic force was so high that the body was literally flipping through the air with every hit.
Against the backdrop of the neon city, it was a scene of absurdist violence.
"What the hell were you doing?!" Rebecca screamed, though her voice was thick with worry. Her anger was a shield for the fear she felt for him.
"Ah... sorry," David muttered, his voice hollow.
The gig ended. They'd won, but the victory felt heavy.
Falco dropped David off at his apartment. Rebecca and Kiwi both hopped out of the van at the same time.
"David!"
Rebecca caught up to him before he could reach the elevator.
"Not going for a drink?" David asked.
Rebecca smirked. "Drinking with the 'Old Folks' is boring."
'Old Folks?'
Kenji, reading from his desk, chuckled. Falco, with his bushy mustache and tired eyes, certainly fit the 'Uncle' archetype.
But Kiwi? She looked young, or at least ageless behind that mask. Calling her an 'Old Lady' was a peak Rebecca move. Then again, to a girl as young as Rebecca, everyone else probably felt like a senior citizen.
"I can't guarantee I'll be much better company," David said with a weary smile.
"Don't sell yourself short... hey, want to take a walk?"
"Sure. Why not."
They strolled down the vibrant, neon-lit corridors of Night City. Suddenly, Rebecca stopped.
"Are you okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"What happened back there?"
The memory of David freezing up in front of the thug flashed on the page.
"Nothing happened."
"Don't give me that bullshit."
"I'm fine, Rebecca..." David tried to brush it off.
"This isn't the first time. You think I haven't noticed?"
"It's just... how it is."
"Don't underestimate girls, David."
"Where are the girls?" David joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'll kill you," Rebecca replied with a grin, and for a moment, they both laughed.
But then, the air shifted. Rebecca looked at him, her manic energy replaced by something soft and incredibly vulnerable.
"I only look at you. You know that, right?"
"David. What's going on?"
Kenji sighed. 'Damn... why does David have to have Lucy?'
From the moment Rebecca had debuted, readers had loved her. She was the "Best Girl" candidate: fierce, loyal, and unapologetically herself.
This was the first time she'd laid it all on the line. But David's heart was already occupied.
"It's nothing," David said quietly.
"You're still lying to me?"
"It has nothing to do with you, Rebecca."
"It better have something to do with me! I'm the one putting my life in your hands!"
David flinched. She was right. He was the leader. His failure meant her death.
"I... I'm sorry..."
Rebecca stepped closer. "Listen, David."
"Yeah?"
"Stop with the new chrome. For a while."
flexing her two massive, oversized cybernetic arms (one blue, one red), she looked ridiculous and heroic all at once.
"I'll cover you!" she declared with a wink.
Kenji felt his pulse quicken. Having a girl like that tell you she'd protect you... that wasn't just heartwarming. That was a direct hit to the soul.
"You? Protect me?" David asked, thinking she was still joking.
But Rebecca's expression on the page was dead serious. It was a look of pure, unadulterated devotion.
"I mean it."
She talked about the cyberpsycho who had killed her brother, Pilar. She didn't want David to end up like that. She didn't want him to become just another ghost story in the city.
Readers everywhere were falling for her. In the weekly polls, her popularity was skyrocketing, briefly eclipsing even Lucy's. "Team Rebecca" was officially a force to be reckoned with.
"...Okay," David finally said, though the hesitation in his eyes was clear.
Meanwhile, Lucy was back in the net, diving deep into Arasaka's servers. She saw the breadcrumbs. Arasaka was sending out more runners. They were hunting for something.
David, riding the elevator up to his room, stared blankly at the metal doors. The memory of the Arasaka lab flashed in his mind.
This time, the manga showed his perspective.
When he'd killed Manager Evans, the man's head hadn't just exploded. In David's hallucinating vision, a gun barrel had emerged from the bloody stump.
It was a phantom. A figment of his crumbling mind.
Kiwi's voice crackled in his ear, but the audio was distorted by digital static and jagged lines of code.
He was falling.
Walking the same long road as Maine.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]