Back again!
150 stones is crazy! Here's another!
Enjoy the chapter!
-+=[BoG]=+-
The door opened to reveal Lucy lying on the windowsill smoking a cigarette.
"Hey," Lucy said simply.
"Hey." Marcus didn't know how to engage considering she just called him over just to hang out. He had an idea of what she wanted, but it's a bit awkward considering they didn't really talk much on the metro.
She patted the seat below her beckoning him over.
He sat down and she reached for a pack.
"Need one?" She asked with the same blank expression on her face.
Marcus grinned and shook his head.
"Got my own this time." He reached into his jacket pocket and summoned his smokes and lighter from his inventory.
Taking one out of his pack and lit it up.
Her eyebrow raised at the lighter.
"Samurai? That's pretty old-school, you a fan?" She asked with a deeper meaning underneath.
"It's pretty good yeah." Marcus liked a few songs from it. Never Fade Away being his personal favorite. "You?" He took a drag.
"Yeah." She puffed blowing smoke out of her mouth.
"So you called me over. You just wanna hang or you got something on your mind?" He broke the awkwardness by being direct.
Lucy looked at him seriously.
"Are you related to Johnny Silverhand?" She asked in a monotone voice but her eyes betrayed her nonchalant expression.
"Yep." Marcus didn't see the need to lie to someone who wouldn't even say anything about it anyway. "Why?"
Lucy got more visibly interested and her eyes were less cold.
"You look like him. Is that on purpose?" She quirked an eyebrow.
'Ask The Examiner, not me.' He thought with amusement.
"I liked having longer hair and a beard. It sorta just happened. Genes are strong, I guess." Marcus shrugged taking a drag.
Lucy hummed at that before doing the same, but she reached behind her as there were two Brosephs. "Want one?"
"Sure," he grabbed it with his significantly larger hand than hers. The sight was a bit comical.
She opened hers with a bottle opener before handing it to him but he waved it off as he just popped off the cap with his thumb.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Okay, tough guy. Seems that the gym membership isn't going to waste."
He laughed.
"Yeah, it's been fun." Marcus took a swig.
"Fun? Most people don't like the idea of sweating for a couple pounds just to gain it back." Lucy commented.
"I'm not most people. Lifting weights and boxing are fun. Plus I'm gaining not losing." He corrected lightheartedly.
She took a drag.
"It's a boxing gym? You any good?" Lucy looked at him in the eyes.
"Nah, just starting out, but I got a good coach." Marcus was under no pretenses that he was a great boxer. Skill-wise, he is ass. His stature and weight are doing the heavy lifting. Even that wouldn't even matter if he went up against those with combat implants like Gorilla Arms and such.
"We all start somewhere. How much do you lift? You're a pretty big guy." Lucy pointed out her observation.
"I bench about 765 pounds(346.99kg)." Marcus shrugged taking another drag.
Lucy had disbelief written all over her face.
"Bullshit." She called him out.
Marcus laughed before getting up and putting the lighter and smokes in his pants pocket.
He took off his jacket revealing his physique as she could practically see every muscle through his shirt. Making sure to also set down his guitar bag too.
Now her eyes were wide with shock. He did not look like this a few days ago.
She roamed his entire body with a slow and methodical approach looking for any sign of implants.
"While I appreciate a beautiful woman staring at my body, it's getting a bit much." He chuckled sitting back down and taking a drink.
She blushed a bit in embarrassment before getting back on topic.
"Don't change the subject. You look much bigger than when I saw you on the metro. Implants or juice?" She didn't judge but she didn't believe it was possible to get that big without either.
"Neither. All natural." Marcus wasn't bothered by the skepticism.
"Take off the shirt and prove it." Lucy knew of a few side effects of juice so it'd be easy to tell.
He looked at her with astonishment before he smiled with a knowing look.
"How bold, Lucy. So this is what you called me over for?" He teased.
Lucy blushed again with embarrassment but she just wanted to know.
"Gonk, don't make it weird." She recovered a bit.
'This is already weird.' Marcus internally rolled his eyes but didn't mind humoring her.
"Fine, enjoy." Marcus pressed her again before taking off his shirt. He made sure to do it slowly to make her suffer.
Her face burned hot when she realized what he was doing. It also didn't help when she could see how muscular and fit he was.
'Oh god, does he have any body fat on him? I can see the lines in his muscles.' She thought to herself as her face was a bit red.
She looked over his body carefully which didn't help her situation and saw nothing. There was no bad acne or gyno. There was cyberware that could hide it, but she would notice it. Maybe skinweave?
"Hmm, alright. I don't see any injections, but you could've done that on your legs. Take off your pants." Lucy asked.
"Fuck no." Marcus drew the line there. He humored her because he liked the way her face looked when he removed his shirt, but he ain't getting in his underwear just for the sake of her curiosity.
"Why not? I thought you liked me looking at your body." Lucy teased back with a smile taking a drag. She didn't know why she was acting like this but whether it was confirmed that he is related to Johnny who also had something against Arasaka or how he made her feel, she didn't know. It was an unexplainable attraction. Why else would she invite him here otherwise?
Marcus just shook his head in exasperation.
"Unless we're fucking, I'm not taking it off." He took another puff.
Her face grew bright red at that imagery, especially imagining him on top of her with that body. She furiously shook her mind free of those thoughts trying to calm down.
"Alright, alright. I was just joking." Lucy played it off as she took another drink.
He didn't believe that at all.
"Anyway, how do you feel about Arasaka, considering who you're related to." She asked a loaded question.
Marcus knew that this was deeply personal to her. Arasaka did unspeakable things to her in her childhood. Not like she had one to begin with thanks to them.
"He's my grandfather and I have my own plans for them." Marcus shrugged.
Lucy was surprised. She thought that he must've been related to Johnny, but he's his direct descendent. His grandfather? That would explain the uncanny resemblance.
She also leaned into the last part.
"What plans?" Lucy was deeply curious about what he would say.
"Burning them to the ground, my grandfather did what he wanted so I have no desire for any kind of vengeance, but Arasaka being obliterated by the grandson of one of their worst enemies would be ironic." Marcus laughed as if what he said wasn't batshit insane.
Lucy didn't hide the look of disbelief on her face. She had spent her entire life after escaping captivity hiding from them. Now Johnny's descendent, a man who bombed Arasaka and caused them to get pushed out of Night City wants to do a sequel of what his grandfather did.
She thought it was crazy and not possible.
"I didn't think you were that psycho. You know that's impossible to pull off, right?" She wasn't trying to be mean, but she was being realistic. Johnny had a whole team and even people distracting their attention away and he still died. What could the person in front of her do?
Marcus shook his head and looked at her sadly as if she was the one who didn't understand.
"It doesn't matter. Whether it's impossible or not is up to me to decide. I'd walk through the front doors with this if I had to. Actually, I would prefer it that way." Marcus showed her his Malorian as he thought back to Cyberpunk 2077.
He was deeply moved by the Don't Fear the Reaper ending. Marcus only knew how to get it, but didn't watch any spoilers. Johnny's dialogue when you wait and roll up to the front door felt like his testosterone was increasing and overflowing.
There was something special about walking through their front gates and started blasting tearing out a path through sheer violence and presence.
It sounded so fucking fun.
She looked at him as if he were crazy and perhaps he was, but she felt the genuine truth from his words and she couldn't help but feel drawn into that level of confidence considering she had none of her own in doing that.
Lucy smiled. "Is that your dream?"
Marcus grinned taking another drag.
"My dream is to live however I want to show everyone what I'm capable of and have the most fun while doing it." He laughed a bit.
She had wide eyes at the proclamation and it sounded similar to hers in a way. His felt like having the freedom to do what he wants and to have the best time doing it, while she also wants freedom from this prison of a city and from Arasaka.
Lucy felt closer to him in that way.
"What's your dream?" He asked.
She looked outside to see the moon hanging above the sky.
"This city is a prison. Up on the moon without the skyscrapers of megacorps casting us in shadows, it's free. Free from all of it." Her expression was heavy with emotion.
"A cage within a prison, huh?" Marcus murmured as his gaze seemed to pierce beyond the room.
Lucy looked confused.
"What?" She wanted to understand what he meant.
"Caged in the belief that you cannot fight back inside a city you believe to be a prison." Marcus slightly smiled before taking a drink.
Lucy got a bit defensive.
"I'm not suicidal enough to believe I can take on the megacorps like you. How is this place not a prison? Those that come here never leave." Lucy glared a bit at him.
Marcus laughed which infuriated her before he spoke again.
"It is a cage for the mediocre and failures. I have a feeling that you are not the former." He smiled as he took another drag.
She caught what he meant and was now angry.
"You think I'm a failure?" She was about to kick him out but what he said shocked her.
"You've already given up without trying. How is that not failure? To leave the city, hell, to leave the planet is the ultimate form of surrender." Marcus explained to her.
She shook her head in denial.
"That's not the same. I'm just thinking of survival." Lucy grits her teeth trying not to get more personal about Arasaka.
"Survival, sure. But would you be living? Hiding when a megacorp exec visits the moon for an extravagant vacation? You would be alone trapped in an even smaller prison isolated from the rest of humanity." Marcus wasn't showing any mercy as he tore into her dream.
Lucy felt a heartache at that. She didn't want to be alone. The moon sounded like a good plan, but now she wasn't so sure. Just surviving isn't the life she wants and he made a good point.
"What else am I supposed to do?" She weakly stated in rare vulnerability.
Marcus put a hand on her shoulder.
"You do what you can. Live a life that you can be proud of. I didn't mean to sound insensitive towards your dream, but you have to have a life worth living." Marcus smiled and her heartbeat quickened.
"Thanks, John." She smiled softly.
"It's Marcus. Marcus John Linder." He corrected with a grin and she realized that it matched up to Johnny's real name.
"Oh, didn't want to be on a first-name basis with me?" Lucy tried lightening the mood as she finished her cigarette.
"Just wanted to be a little mysterious." He smiled as he side-eyed her.
She giggled before slapping a hand over her mouth in embarrassment as her face reddened. "I can't believe I just did that." Lucy groaned.
"You look even more beautiful when you laugh, so don't hide it." Marcus complimented as he finished his own cigarette.
Her face was atomic red.
"Gonk! How can you say that so casually?!" She shouted halfheartedly.
Marcus just looked at her.
"You make it easy." He took another sip.
She started muttering incomprehensively as her face burned hotter but she didn't dislike it. It was then that she finally paid attention to the bag.
"What's that?" She was relieved to change the subject.
"Oh, my guitar. Didn't know what we'd be doing. Definitely didn't expect a philosophical debate on megacorps and dreams." He shrugged.
"Now you have to play something." She was glad that she could tease him back as she got a flirty smile on her face.
Marcus looked pensive at that.
"What, you scared?" She teased.
He shook his head.
"Nah, just that the songs I know can be a bit intimate," Marcus admitted.
Her grin grew wider.
"You were going to serenade me? Give it your best shot, loverboy." She was relentless.
He shook his head as she didn't know what she was asking for.
"Alright, then. Is the couch fine?" Marcus asked.
"Sure." Lucy got up and went over while being deeply amused.
He moved over with the bag and unzipped his bag while he was surprised that she sat right next to him.
"What? I want you to look me in the eyes as you play and sing." Lucy smiled relaxing on the sofa.
"Okay." He responded with a smile.
Marcus pulled out the small amp and guitar.
She was surprised by the signature.
"Is that your grandfather's guitar?" Her eyebrows raised.
"I'm not sure, but it's a bit of a family heirloom you could say." He plugged it in and the cool thing was that he could even adjust how it sounded automatically. There was a menu that required him to jack in with his personal link. He can make it sound like a synth-wave or even acoustic which he chose the latter.
"You ready?" Marcus gave her another chance to back out.
"Sing away." She smiled devoting her whole attention to him.
Lucy didn't know what she was asking for.
-+=[BoG]=+-
Another chapter down.
Time to serenade the rainbow netrunner.
Let's fucking go.
Appreciate all the support as always!
Later!