Chapter 55: Night Moves by a Kitten
The sky was blue, the sun blinding. The street was so clean it felt wrong. A place like this... in Night City, it could only be the City Center, right?
Rhys looked up and saw a cat. A pink cat, with a little patch of black fur on its forehead, almost like bangs. It was impossibly cute, rolling around on the pavement in front of him, showing him its soft pink belly, practically begging for attention.
Rhys was intrigued. He had no idea how a cat could be pink, but he bent down, reaching out to pet it.
The next second, another yowl.
A green cat, bristling with fur, shot out from behind a shipping container. It hissed at the pink cat, its eyes a furious crimson. It was chubby, with comically short legs, and it kept trying to jump at Rhys, swatting at the air.
"Meow~"
Another one. On top of the container, a pure white cat with mismatched eyes licked its paw, looking down on Rhys and the other two cats with an air of human-like disdain.
Three of them? In this shithole of a city, seeing one cat was a miracle. Three at once?
Rhys was confused. The white cat suddenly leaped from the container, aiming straight for his arms. He instinctively moved to catch it.
But the pink cat wasn't having it. It let out a series of frantic, adorable mews, rolling around even more dramatically, rubbing its tiny paws on its face as if washing it, its big eyes blinking at Rhys. It was... it was trying to seduce him.
A cat is trying to seduce me?
Well, shit, it was working.
The chubby, green, short-legged cat let out a furious hiss and launched itself at the white cat, its claws out, but its jump fell laughably short.
What... the hell... was happening?
Rhys was completely baffled. It was almost 2076; maybe animals were just smarter now. NCPD had K9 units with advanced combat AI. Smarter cats weren't a huge stretch. But this? This was too human. Were they fighting over... him?
His amusement quickly turned to exasperation. He now had a cat in each arm—white on the left, green on the right—while the pink one had launched itself directly onto his face, clinging there, its soft belly pressed against his nose and mouth.
He was about to pull them off when all three suddenly hissed and leaped away. They formed a line, no longer fighting each other, all bristling and hissing at the end of the alley.
Rhys looked over, curious, and saw a new cat emerging from the shadows. It was a grimy, powerfully built tabby, its fur matted. Strangely, the markings on its forehead formed a perfect "King" kanji (王). That, combined with its muscular frame and fierce aura, made it look less like a cat and more like a small tiger.
It was filthy, as if it had just rolled out of a dumpster, but with every step it took, the other three cats hissed and yowled louder, trying to warn it away. The pink one looked back at Rhys, its expression pleading, then leaped onto his chest, batting at his face with its paws.
Tickle...
"Hh... stop... cut it out!"
The tickling sensation grew more intense, driving Rhys mad. He tried to swat at his face, but the itching just got worse, spreading...
SLAP!
"..."
Rhys's eyes snapped open. He wasn't on a clean street. He was looking at a round, incredibly cute face, inches from his own. No... not just close. She was lying right on top of him. Her legs were casually draped over his, her body pinning him to the sofa. Her hands were braced on his chest, her face almost touching his.
Rhys instantly realized why his face had been so itchy. Her short hair had been brushing against his skin, tickling his nose.
"What are you doing here...?" A smile of genuine pleasure spread across his face as he looked at her.
Only one person could get into his apartment without permission. Sasha.
"What, am I not allowed?" The netrunner on his chest put on an exaggeratedly cute pout, then giggled, giving his pecs a playful pat and a squeeze. She made no move to get up, instead shifting her weight, straddling his hips.
The soft, firm pressure against his lower body gave Rhys one piece of information: Sasha's modifications weren't as extensive as, say, Songbird's. She definitely wasn't a full-body borg.
"I didn't say you couldn't come. I'm happy to see you. But Sasha, I thought you were in Dogtown?"
"Finished my business, so I came right back," Sasha said. Her business with her sister and brother-in-law... Ugh! Her sister, she'd long accepted, was a lovable idiot. But her brother-in-law? How could he be even dumber than her sister? Was he really cut out to be NCPD? At this rate, he was going to get himself flatlined. Making deals with the gangs in Dogtown, all for some eddies to buy his sister a nicer wedding ring... Seriously, know your limits!
The thought made Sasha want to laugh and cry.
But that wasn't the real reason she'd raced back. The real reason was a picture Dorio had sent her. In it, Maine, Jackie, and the crew were drinking at some outdoor bar. But a new, unfamiliar, and very beautiful face had caught Sasha's attention.
She'd asked Dorio who it was.
Dorio replied, 'Name's Lucy. A friend of Rhys's. He brought her along.'
That set off every alarm in Sasha's head. So, everyone wants a piece of the organic kid, huh?
Well, they can't have him!
Or rather... I get to have him first!
So, she'd jumped on her bike, bolted from Dogtown, and come straight to Rhys's apartment, not telling the rest of the crew. She was calling this... Operation: Night Raid!
"You were dreaming?" she asked, still perched on his hips. "Kept mumbling about cats."
"Yeah... weird dream," Rhys admitted. He didn't try to sit up. This was... comfortable.
Sasha giggled, blinked her big eyes, and then made a little fist, rubbing it against her cheek in a paw-like motion. It was a classic Dangerous Girls pose.
But Rhys's brain made a different connection.
Holy shit... that's the pink cat from the dream.
It all clicked. The cute, playful pink cat was Sasha. The short-tempered, short-legged green cat was Rebecca. The cold, beautiful, aloof white cat... had to be Lucy.
Wait. Then who was the tabby cat?!
The filthy, muscular, tiger-striped cat that had shown up and terrified the other three... who was that? Was it someone he knew?
Rita? No, Rita was a flirt.
Anna? No way. Anna was a siren. If she were a cat, she'd be a sleek, sensual one, not a street brawler.
Susan and Korna? Definitely not. They were like... his moms.
Rhys's expression turned intensely thoughtful, completely forgetting the fact that he was currently being straddled by a cute netrunner.
That tabby cat... the one that looked like a total badass...
Who the hell was she?!