Wiping the blood off his face, David slowly walked over to the half-conscious Disol.
Slap!
A heavy backhand landed on Disol's face, jerking him back to a semi-awake state.
"Ugh...!" Disol groaned, his eyes rolling as pain snapped him out of his daze.
"She needs her nervous system repaired. Now." David's voice was cold, his eyes sharp as he pointed at Lucy. "If anything happens to her, you won't like what I'll do next."
Disol's vision slowly focused. He looked around, his face draining of color as he took in the scene.
Blood.
Blood was everywhere. It splattered across the dark alley walls and pooled on the ground. The bodies of the three Whirlpool Gang thugs lay scattered, lifeless. The metallic stench of death hung in the air.
His eyes widened in horror as he realized all the blood belonged to them.
Ding—!
A chill ran down his spine. He looked back at David, who stood before him, completely unharmed. Not a scratch on him.
"What... what are you...?" Disol stammered, fear lacing his voice. He didn't understand what had happened, but his instincts screamed danger. The boy in front of him was no ordinary person.
"Fix her. Now," David repeated, his voice ice-cold.
"O-okay... right away..." Disol didn't dare argue.
His cybernetic eyes flickered as streams of data flooded his vision. He began working to repair Lucy's nervous system.
There were many ways for a hacker to attack someone's neural network: temporarily paralyzing their prosthetic body, crashing their central nervous system, or using viruses to overload their senses. The Voodoo Gang, notorious for their cyber-attacks, favored the use of viruses, and Lucy had been hit with one of their worst—Papilloma.
If the virus wasn't eliminated properly, it could leave permanent damage, making it crucial for David to keep Disol alive long enough to save her.
After a minute of rapid coding and data manipulation, Lucy's eyes blinked, her pupils shrinking as she regained consciousness.
"Ugh..." She groaned, rubbing her head.
"Lucy! Are you okay?" David asked, his tone softening.
"Damn... I let my guard down. Got hit with a Papilloma virus," she muttered, massaging her temples. She looked up, her eyes meeting David's. "David, did you... huh?!"
Her words caught in her throat as she finally noticed her surroundings. Her eyes widened at the sight of blood-soaked walls and bodies strewn across the alley.
"David, what the hell happened here?!" she gasped, panic creeping into her voice. "Are you okay? Did the Tiger Claws attack us?"
David smiled faintly, his voice calm. "It's nothing. They tried to ambush us, but they failed. What matters is that you're safe."
While David was speaking to Lucy, Disol saw his chance. He sprang to his feet and bolted towards the end of the alley.
"He... he killed them! That psycho killed them all!" Disol screamed, his voice cracking as he ran for his life.
David's eyes narrowed, his gaze shifting towards the fleeing hacker.
He raised his hand, fingers twitching slightly.
The green katana lying on the ground suddenly lifted into the air, its blade gleaming under the dim streetlight.
"Running won't save you," David muttered, his fingers curling. The magnetic fruit's power surged, coating the katana in a powerful electromagnetic force.
Whoosh!
The sword shot forward like a bullet, slicing through the air at breakneck speed.
Disol had barely made it twenty meters before the blade pierced through his skull, entering from the back and bursting out of his forehead.
Thud!
His body crumpled to the ground, lifeless.
The mercenaries watching from a distance were stunned. Their faces went pale as they stared at Disol's corpse, the katana still lodged in his head.
"Holy... shit..." one of them whispered, his voice trembling.
"That... that kid is a monster!" another choked out, backing away in fear.
"Let's get out of here! If he sees us, we're dead!"
Without another word, the mercenaries scattered, vanishing into the darkness.
Back in the alley, Lucy was still processing what had just happened. Her eyes were wide with shock as she looked at David.
"David... what... what did you just do?" she asked, her voice shaky.
David shrugged casually. "Just a little trick. I can control metal."
Lucy blinked, her mouth hanging open. "Control... metal?"
David smiled. "Yeah. If you're curious, maybe we should go somewhere more comfortable to chat?"
She looked at him, her expression softening. Despite the blood-soaked scene and the corpses lying around them, David's calm demeanor made her feel... safe.
It was strange.
In Night City, safety was an illusion. Betrayal, bloodshed, and death were everyday occurrences. Yet, standing next to David, Lucy felt a sense of security she couldn't explain.
A warmth spread through her chest as she remembered how he'd protected her. Even surrounded by danger, David made her feel at ease.
She looked down, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. "Alright... where do you want to go?"
David thought for a moment before answering, "How about the Afterlife Bar? It's nearby, and it's safe."
He extended his arm to her. "Need a hand?"
Lucy hesitated, then smiled. She reached out and took his hand, letting him help her to her feet.
As they walked out of the alley, Lucy couldn't help but steal glances at David.
She barely knew him. They'd only met a few times, yet she trusted him. More than anyone else she'd ever met in Night City.
David noticed her glancing at him and grinned. "What? Is there something on my face?"
Lucy blushed and looked away quickly. "No! Just... nothing."
David chuckled, his laughter echoing softly through the dark streets.
Behind them, the alley fell silent, the shadows swallowing the bodies they left behind.
A few moments later, a group of scavengers cautiously emerged from their hiding place.
"Boss... should we just leave?" one of them whispered, eyeing the corpses warily.
The leader, Oris, sneered, kicking his underling in the back. "Leave? Hell no. There's valuable tech in those bodies. Start salvaging before NCPD shows up!"
His men nodded and hurriedly began dismantling the prosthetics from the corpses.
Oris stood at the edge of the alley, his eyes narrowing as he watched David and Lucy disappear into the night.
"That kid... what the hell is he?" Oris muttered, a greedy smile creeping onto his lips. "If he's got some advanced tech, I want it."
His eyes gleamed with ambition as he plotted his next move.
Unaware of the danger lurking in the shadows, David and Lucy continued walking side by side, their laughter fading into the night.
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