Chapter 61: I'm Rhys. You Should Know That Name.
Afternoon. On the high-speed overpass connecting the City Center to Santo Domingo, a small sedan cruised in the middle lane.
In the passenger seat, David, still in his black academy uniform, was slumped against the window, his expression one of pure, lifeless resignation.
In the driver's seat, Gloria, in her yellow EMT jacket, stared silently at the road. "I told you to get the official update, didn't I?" she finally said, her voice tight.
"I shouldn't have gone to that dealer," David immediately replied, his voice flat.
"To save a few eddies, and now we have to pay dozens of times more."
"I know I screwed up."
"If you knew it was wrong, you shouldn't have done it in the first place!"
David looked out the window. "But you said we were broke."
"That's because my paycheck hadn't cleared! We don't have that much in savings!"
Listening to his mother's lecture, David's leg began to bounce impatiently.
"Stop shaking your leg!" Gloria snapped.
"Agh..." David sighed and forced his leg still. The car filled with a tense silence.
"I've been thinking," David said finally, his voice quiet.
"About what?"
"Maybe I should just drop out and get a job."
"We can't afford the repair fees, can we? And you have no idea how much I don't fit in at that school," David continued, his voice still flat, devoid of emotion. "They don't see poor people. Even if I wear the same uniform, even if my grades are better... I'll never be one of them."
"And I don't want to be."
"Then what was it all for? What was I working so hard for? I'm only doing this for you!"
David turned to look at his mother, and the deadness in his eyes instantly vanished, replaced by panic. "Mom?"
Gloria was crying, tears streaming down her face, her lip caught between her teeth. "Everyone said you were so smart, so talented... so I... I worked myself to death to give you a chance. If you just give up, what was it all for?"
"I'm sorry, okay? It's my fault. Just... please don't cry."
Hearing that, Gloria pulled herself together. "I know it's hard for you. It was hard for me, too. That's why you have to prove them wrong."
"I want you to be someone," she said, lifting her left hand. Outside the window, an armored corporate car sped past. She raised her hand higher, pointing an index finger at the sky. "I want you to make it to the top of Arasaka Tower. You have the talent to do it."
"..."
The top... of Arasaka Tower?
For some reason, David's mind flashed to what Rhys had told him.
(There's more than one way to reach the summit. And the way you're trying... it's the most useless one.)
He turned to look back out the window. He couldn't say that to his mom...
As he looked, he froze. A heavy machine gun was pointed directly at them. "Mom!"
In the next instant, bullets shattered the car's armored glass. David instinctively dropped, pulling Gloria down with him. Through the spray of shrapnel, he heard yelling.
"Waste 'em!"
"Get 'em! Fucking corpo car is tough!"
Two vehicles sped past, and a huge, muscular man roared with laughter, shouldering a rocket launcher. He aimed, fired, and the corporate car in front of them exploded, flipping into the air.
"That's how the Animals do it!"
The blast sent a wheel flying, but the damn corpo car, though airborne, was still mostly intact. Gloria was frozen, staring in mute horror. David saw the wrecked vehicle spinning through the air, coming right for them. He screamed, "Mom! MOM!"
BOOM!
...
"...Mom?"
Red. Everything was red. The red of the warning lights, the red of the flames. David saw his mother slumped against the driver's side door, her back to him. Trapped in the wreckage, he called out to her. He saw her body twitch, just once.
Then, an AV descended, its searchlights cutting through the smoke. Trauma Team.
David felt a wave of relief, but the words he heard next plunged him into ice.
"Target is not a subscriber. Disregard. Medical will handle them. Our primary is in the corporate vehicle." The Trauma Team medics scanned David and Gloria, then turned and walked away.
"Wait! Wait!" David yelled, panicked. They didn't even look back.
And then, he remembered Rhys.
[If you ever need help with anything, you can call me.]
"Right, Rhys! Aniki Rhys!"
David fumbled for his agent. Just as the Trauma Team left, another van arrived—a beat-up medical truck, staffed by people in the same yellow EMT jackets as his mom. They dragged David from the car, then loaded Gloria onto a battered stretcher.
"David?" The call connected. Rhys's voice.
David clung to it like a lifeline. "Help me! Please, help me!"
Back in Vick's clinic, Rhys took a deep breath. "David, calm down. Tell me what happened."
David was anything but calm, but he managed to sob out the situation. When he finished, Rhys ran a hand through his hair, slumping down. He's too far away... Watson to Santo Domingo... even on the highway, it was over an hour. The metro was half an hour, best-case. Not fast enough.
There's only one other way...
"David, listen to me. Patch me through to one of the EMTs with you. You're in the ambulance, right?"
"Yeah..." David nodded.
"Do it now," Rhys commanded.
After a moment, a third person joined the call. "Yeah? Who the fuck is this? We're busy. Spit it out!" A gruff, fleshy face appeared in Rhys's vision.
Rhys looked at him calmly. "Gloria Martinez. Take her to the Santo Domingo regional hospital."
"Regional? Fuck you. You got the eddies for that? Are you insane, or am I? Who the hell are you, anyway?"
"My name is Rhys. You should know that name."
"Rhys? The fuck? Never heard of you. Who do you think you a—" The man stopped mid-rant, his expression freezing, then shifting rapidly to terror. He did know that name.
Rhys... the name that was suddenly all over the street. The new merc every fixer was trying to poach. The one who'd supposedly zeroed the fixer Janus in Heywood. The one who, rumor had it, had single-handedly wiped out an entire Wraith family in the Badlands.
This... this was that psycho.
The EMT started to stammer, sweat beading on his temples.
"Looks like you remember me," Rhys said, his voice flat.
He paused, then continued, "I'll say it one more time. Take the kid and his mother to the Santo Domingo regional hospital."
"If you don't, if something... happens to his mother because you cut corners..." Rhys's eyes narrowed. "You know exactly what I'm saying, don't you? You get it."
Rhys stared at the man, his voice perfectly calm.
"I will find you."
"I promise."