The first thing I heard was the beep. Not the radio. Not traffic. Not bass from the Mox. A monitor. Beep… beep… beep…
I came up slowly; everything felt so sluggish. My mouth felt so dry. My chest hurt like I had been shot. I tried to swallow. But everything felt wrong. Dry. My hand twitched on instinct, go for my neck port, check my feed, pull up storage, anything, and the movement made the pain in my ribs flare.
I hissed and lifted my hand anyway. That's when it hit me.
No wrist wire. No neck port. No familiar little bump under the skin. Just… my wrist. Skinny. Pale. "What the—"
My voice came out hoarse and small. Not like I'd been using it in Night City. I forced my eyes open wider. Hospital curtain. White. The kind that hangs from a ceiling track. Dim light, not neon. A plastic cup of water on a tray. A cheap chair was pulled close to the bed. And in that chair was my mom.
Her hair was tied up. Jacket half-zipped. Arms folded. Chin tucked down like she'd nodded off and lost the fight with gravity. She looked… older than I remembered. And also exactly the same.
"Mom?" I croaked.
She didn't move. The beeping kept going. I tried to sit up. My body didn't agree. A tight band wrapped around my ribs under the gown, and when I shifted, the pain got worse. I looked down. My stomach dropped.
No. No, no, no.
I turned my head, searching for anything that made sense. A window. A city skyline. Anything that looked like Night City. Instead, I caught a glimpse of a wall-mounted TV in the corner—muted, dark screen reflecting the room. I saw my own face in it.
Not the one I'd gotten used to in Night City. That same skinny girl from the past. I stared at my reflection until my eyes burned.
"What is this…" I whispered. The monitor beeped again.
Beep… beep… Then, mid-beep—
Everything stopped. Not like it got quiet. Like reality hit pause. The sound froze half-made, a flat broken note hanging in the air. The little green line on the monitor locked mid-wave. The curtain stopped swaying. Even the dust motes, tiny little specks I hadn't noticed before, just hung there.
My mom didn't breathe. A pressure crawled across my skin, like the room suddenly had too many eyes. And then someone walked over. Not from the door. Not from the hall. Just… stepped into existence. The first one I recognized before I even really processed it.
The same presence. The same weight. A figure shrouded in shadow, edges blurry like smoke that refused to settle. The God of Vengeance. My stomach tightened. But this time… they weren't alone. A second being stood beside them.
And I almost flinched away because looking at it hurt. It was made of light, clean, bright, and sharp. The shape was humanoid, but it lacked the edges that people did. It was like someone carved a person out of a glow.
The light being turned its head slightly. And even without a mouth, it spoke. "You are awake."
My mouth opened. Nothing came out for a second. Then the words tumbled out anyway. "Where am I?" The light being's presence didn't feel warm. "You are where you were always meant to remain," it said. "This is the proper worldline. The proper origin."
I stared, trying to understand through the fog in my head. "This—" I swallowed, the pain in my chest biting again. "This is Gotham." The God of Vengeance didn't deny it. The light being continued, tone calm. "You were sent away prematurely. Improperly."
I frowned. "Prematurely? I died." There was a pause after I asked. "You were meant to die," the light being said. "You were meant to pass. But you did not fully sever."
My heart started pounding again. I looked at my mom, frozen in that chair. At the monitor. At my bandaged chest. "What are you saying?" I asked, voice shaking. "I remember dying. I remember Red Hood looking into my eyes. I remember—"
The light being's glow sharpened. Not brighter, just… focused. "He didnt let you die," it said. I couldn't breathe right for a second. "Red Hood." The God of Vengeance didn't smile, but the silence that followed felt like agreement.
"He carried you," the light being said. "He delivered you to medical care. He interrupted the clean end that should have occurred." My hands curled against the blanket. Part of me wanted to scream at the ceiling, another part of me wanted to laugh.
"Sending a child to that other world was not permissible." I blinked hard. "Child?" I looked down at my hands again, thin wrists, smaller fingers. I looked at my reflection on the TV screen again.
"You became something else there," the light being replied. "You were taken from here, but the process was corrupted."
"What… what does that mean?" I asked. The light being's glow pulsed once, like a breath. "The correction required a condition," it said. "We could not remove you while your anchor remained active."
"Anchor," I repeated. I hated that I couldn't understand. "You were bound to the other world," it said. "To remove you cleanly, we had to wait for your termination there." My stomach dropped right through the bed.
"You mean I had to die in Night City?"
"Yes."
I stared at it, disbelief turning into anger fast. "So you just—what? You waited? You watched me, wait did you cause me to die?"
The God of Vengeance finally spoke again, voice like a knife drawn slow. "You survived longer than I honestly expected."
I swallowed. My eyes flicked to my mom again, frozen in that chair. She looked so tired. She looked like she'd been sleeping here for days, and that thought made my chest ache in a different way.
"Okay," I said, forcing my voice steady. "Okay. So you waited until I died there, then pulled me back here. That's what you're saying."
"Yes," the light being replied.
The God of Vengeance lifted one hand slightly, not touching anything, but the air felt heavier. "You died there," it said. "Not permanently. There is a copy of your mind still over there. But it will mostly like just join the Mox and remain with them. Its all thanks to that gas we were able to return your soul."
My mouth went dry. "The fear gas…"
The light being nodded once. "A disruption occurred. Your soul's cohesion weakened. That moment allowed the correction to take place."
My hands started shaking. "Your gifts will remain but I suggest you dont use them unless you need to. For now rest." The light being said as I fell asleep again.
Later that night, I pretend to still be asleep. I laid there with my eyes closed, breathing slow. The monitor kept its steady beepthat was slowly getting on my nerves.
My mom sat in the chair beside the bed for hours. She didn't talk much. She didn't need to. Every so often she'd shift, rub her eyes, stare at me like she was trying to memorize my face in case it vanished again. When nurses came in, she'd straighten up, smile politely, answer their questions in short English. When they left, she'd go quiet again. Though I did learn that my little brother was alive and had woken up. For safety reason she had sent him to my aunt in Texas.
It was weird, being watched like that. Not in a threatening way. In a she thinks she almost lost me way. Which i guess in a way was true. At some point, she stood and stretched, joints popping softly. She leaned over me, brushed my hair back with careful fingers like I was still ten years old, then pressed a kiss to my forehead.
"Goodnight," she whispered. Japanese accent thick on the word. Her hand lingered for a second, like she didn't want to pull away.
Then she left. I listened to her footsteps fade down the hall, and the door clicked shut behind her.
A little later, the overhead lights dimmed. One by one, the hallway noises thinned out. The room went darker, lit only by the weak glow of the monitor and the city lights bleeding through the blinds.
So I waited. Minutes stretched. My ribs still ached when I breathed too deep. The bandage across my chest pulled if I shifted even a little. The monitor kept beeping.
Beep… beep…
The door hadn't opened. I would've heard it. Nurses didn't move. But someone was here in the room with me.....
I held still anyway. Let my eyelids stay shut, only opening one a bit to try to make out who was there. Let my breathing stay slow. A shadow moved near the foot of my bed.
A low voice spoke. "I know you're awake."
I opened my eyes to see who it was. Red Hood stood in the dim light that was coming into the room.
Helmet on. Leather jacket darker in this lighting, edges catching faint glow from the monitor. He held up one finger, a quiet "don't" to any sudden movement.
"Relax," he said, voice low. "Nurses are half-asleep. Cameras wont be working in her for a while."
I stared at him. He just stepped closer, smooth and controlled, and slid something onto the bed near my hip. A backpack. Black. Simple. Heavy enough that the mattress dipped a bit.
He kept his hands on it for a second, like he wanted to make sure I felt the weight. Then he pushed it toward me.
"Take it."
I blinked at the bag, then back up at him. "What is this."
"Open it."
My fingers moved carefully, not because I was scared of the bag, but because my chest hurt and I didn't want to pull something. I unzipped it.
The zipper sound was loud in the quiet room.
Inside were stacks, Bands of Cash. More money than I'd ever seen sitting in one place in my entire life. Not in Gotham, maybe in Night City but given that I always kept that as a credit im not sure. It didn't even look real. It looked like movie money until my fingers brushed the edges and felt the paper.
My mouth went dry. "What the fuck," I whispered.
Red Hood's voice stayed flat. "It's clean."
I looked up sharply. "There's no such thing as clean money with a amount like this."
His helmet tilted slightly. "Clean enough," he said. "No trail back to your mother. No cops knocking. No gangs."
My grip tightened on the bag. "Why," I asked, and my voice came out harsher than I meant. "Why are you doing this."
He was quiet for a moment. The monitor beep filled the gap. Then he said, "Because you shouldnt have needed to do what you did. Had this been any other city."
I didn't know what to do with that. I glanced toward the door like my mom might come back any second.
"You brought me here," I said, keeping my voice low. "Its the only way I would have survived."
"I did," he said, simple.
"Why?" I repeated.
He stepped closer, and even with the helmet on I could feel his stare like a weight. "Because what kind of man would i be to let a kid die," he said. "Because I've seen kids turn into weapons and pretend they're fine. I wont let you follow into there steps."
I flinched at his words. He tapped the backpack lightly with two fingers. "Take this," he said. "Take your family out of here. Go be a kid like you're supposed to be."
I swallowed. "You don't know me," I said.
He didn't argue. "I know enough." I stared down at the money again. My mind was already racing with possibilities, options. A different neighborhood a different city. A different school. A plane ticket. My mom could relax for once.
And then, a darker part of me whispered: and a gun, ammo, and supplies. I squeezed the strap until my knuckles ached. "You think theres a way for me to live a normal life...," I said quietly. "Ive killed people.. no animals."
Red Hood's voice didn't change. "No." That answer surprised me. He leaned in slightly, just enough that the red helmet filled more of my view.
"I think it gives you a choice," he said. "That's all. A real one. A fresh start."
My throat tightened again, and I hated it. I hated how close I was to crying in front of him. I blinked hard. "It's complicated."
He accepted that like he'd heard worse.
"I'm leaving," he said.
I jolted slightly. "Wait."
He stopped.
I hesitated, then asked the one thing that kept clawing at me.
"Thank you." My voice went smaller.
Red Hood turned toward the window. Then paused again. "One more thing," he said.
I looked up. His voice dropped, rougher. "Don't waste this chance im giving you. I dont want to have to hunt you down."
My jaw clenched. He stepped back, out the window. "Be smart," he said. "Be gone."
And then he was just… gone.
For a long second, I didn't move. I stared at the backpack full of money and tried to breathe.
Beep…
I closed my eyes and I reached inward. The system was there. A menu sliding into focus. Settings. Storage. The things I'd missed the second I woke up and realized my wrist wire was gone.
I flicked through settings until I found it, something I hadn't been there before.
[CYBERNETIC MANIFESTATION: OFF]
My finger hovered over it. I didn't turn it on right away. I listened for footsteps. For the door. For any sign of my mom returning.
Nothing.
I tapped it.
ON.
It hit fast.
A rush under my skin like ice water poured into my veins. The world sharpened. Colors gained edges. My senses snapped into that familiar Night City clarity.
I lifted my arm slowly. The wrist wire was back. The interface in my vision updated, little icons lining the edge of my sight.
I flexed my fingers, and it felt… right. This meant I wasn't just "fixed." This meant I brought Night City back with me. I brought everything back with me.
I stared at the backpack again. Red Hood had said go be a kid. I forced my hand steady and tapped the toggle again.
OFF.
The rush stopped.
The icons vanished.
My wrist wire was gone again. My body returned to the smaller, softer version in this bed. The room went back to plain human senses. I sat there in the dark, breathing hard, staring at the bag of money.
A choice, like he said.
I didn't know what I was going to do yet.
But I knew one thing for sure, im not staying in this hell hole anymore.....