Cyberpunk: Arasaka Secret Son

Chapter 23: Meanwhile 1



In Santo Domingo, Sub-district Arroyo in apartment 0716 located on the 8th floor of the Megabuilding H4

A mother was sitting on the sofa in her house while she was silently changing her expression, while her son was watching the holographic TV, changing channels with a bored expression on his face for not finding anything to entertain him, until he reached channel 54 and his former expression of boredom was replaced by one of excitement, because of what he was seeing.

While her mother Gloria hadn't noticed this change, she kept going through a jumble of expressions on her face; from anger, then rage, to sadness as she realized that no matter how much she complained she wasn't going to get anything.

Gloria was arguing with her bank, because, although she has been moving all over the city to pay her bills herself, moving from office to office to get it done to save the fees charged by the bank, when making a simple transfer.

Only to find out, when she finished this long and exhausting process, that her bank had charged her another cash settlement fee costing her more than half of what she had managed to save by moving around the city herself.... Gloria was angry she felt robbed and ripped off, she always tried to save as much as possible, avoiding any kind of extra service offered to her, even if it would save her a lot of time, if with that, she could save a little more money, even if she had to make an extra effort. If with that small sacrifice, she could manage to save enough to send her son David to a good academy. Then all that work would have been worth it.

When Gloria was finally able to speak to a person after answering dozens of questions to choose which department to send her call to, and asking multiple times to speak to an operator instead of a tedious administrative AI and having to listen to the bank's repellent hold music, when all that hell finally ended and she was connected to a person..... she was dispatched within minutes.

By the operator who told her that the charges made to gloria's account were not to be refunded and if she had complaints `to find a bank that wouldn't make them'.

"Ahmm" Gloria after finishing her call, sighed instead of kicking the table in front of her as she would like to do, were it not for the fact that she was in front of her son.

Turning her attention on her son who seemed to be watching something on the holographic tv that was enchanting him, made her head full of doubts about the future, she had to get more money from wherever if she wanted to pay for David's academy, if he was finally accepted.

Gloria knew of a way to get more Edis, but to get it she would have to cross the line she swore to herself not to cross in her job as an EMT.

"fuck yea HAHAHAHA

Hearing her son's laughter Gloria smiled, even though she didn't like him talking like that, but to Gloria David was the only one who truly made her happy and gave her comfort with her burdensome life.

POV of Gloria.

"Don't talk like that D, what are you seeing that you are liking so much, if you saw your face, it looks like your eyes are going to pop out son Hahaha" I said as I kept my smile on seeing David so excited about whatever they were showing on Tv.

"HAHAHA mom isn't that the guy that saved us from that junkie that tried to rob us? Said my son as he moved his head from the TV to me and I could see his excited expression like the one he had when he was a kid watching his favorite show, for a second before he turned his eyes back to the TV.

When he said that I also started to look at the TV to be speechless to see a black-haired boy, with his face covered with a mask with lights, but wearing the same clothes as the boy who looked at us as if he knew us and prevented me from being robbed.

On the live broadcast you could see the young man on top of the truck as he crossed the Watson bridge to the corporate center, seeing this I had a bad feeling of what was going to happen, wanting to turn off the tv so David would not see what would happen when those kids who seem to be doing a hooliganism, or a crime, would arrive to the protected area of the city and the security systems would attack those kids, who have not realized how dangerous what they are doing is.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT BOY DOING!!!" I shouted without realizing it, catching David's attention.

Damn it, don't they have a mother to yell at them?, why do I have to be the one who has to feel this worried..... about a kid, who I barely know at all and the other kid/friend of this one who is driving the truck...DAMN IT.

By the time I tried to react to turn off the TV or change the channel it was too late, the kids had arrived in the rich part of town, drawing the attention of everyone on the street and also the automated security system starting to launch drones that were starting to head back to the truck that was turning around to head back to Watson.

`Come on quick, damn it get out of there' I thought nervously in my head as I saw what was going on.

"Mom the drones....." David said with a worried tone in his voice where before there was excitement as he realized how dangerous what these brats were doing was.

"DAVID LOOK AWAY" I said as I feared the tragedy possibly being delayed live from the death of these two silly brats who, although they have gone overboard with their prank, are still practically kids, who are going to end up getting themselves killed...fuck, damn it to hell with this city.

By the time I was cursing, the drones had already arrived near the truck getting ready to open fire on the first target they find, in this case they were aiming at the young kid on top of the truck, the kid we know, the kid who saved us from that junkie, the kid who looked at us with warm eyes while giving his opinion on David's future like. ... if he cared about .... wanting to close my eyes, I looked sadly at what was going to happen only to be left disconcerted, with the young man's behavior that he would have to be terrified of the 12 drones targeting his life.

But contrary to what anyone would expect, the young man was standing with his hands in his pockets like the one waiting for the metro, as if all this did not go with him, only to have a smile on his mask that could be seen from the Av that was recording him, and at the same time taking his hands out of his pockets throwing 3 silver spherical objects that were noticed by the reflection of the neon lights of the street on the silver surface making them shine while he was heading towards the 12 drones that were grouped together.

When they reached the drones...

YIII-EEE-OHHHHNx3

The image was filled with interference almost cutting off the signal.

"Mom, what was that?, what did he throw?, it looked like grenades... OH! now it looks clear."

When the signal returned so did the audio that welcomed us with the explosion of most of the drones.

BOOOOOM X 8

HSSSSSSHHHHSSSSSSS-PAKx4

And Surprising everyone, by how the situation had changed from one that was chewing tragedy or fun of death two teenagers if you're a morbid sick bastard of which there were many.

To one in which you could see how 8 drones lost control over themselves while releasing sparks exploding when they crashed into each other leaving 4 drones that only lost control falling to the ground or crashing into a streetlight advertising sign or wall.

While the boy who had launched what I guess was some EMP grenade, jumped around foolishly happy for what he had done like a little kid, for a few seconds, until he stopped going back to the AV camera, while he raised his arms towards the camera and sent to fuck all who were watching waiting to see the death of the boy, raising his middle fingers from his hands as his mask did another mocking/laughing animation again, as he drove away the truck that had finished making the U-turn heading back to Watson as it began to release smoke from the hood, causing people to stare in silence at the unexpected change of outcome in what most people including myself thought was going to be a live tragedy.

Without anyone reacting to this, the broadcast continued in silence, without anyone even the journalists who were commenting on the brazen actions of the young man, with some amusement when they did so, leaving only the end of the song that continued to sound by the truck that began to leave more white smoke that already came out, almost preventing to see anything to the young man's sidekick who was driving.

To the surprise of all of us who were still silent, the young man bent down to help pull a young woman, wearing a mask like his, to the top of the truck while he was still holding on to her, helping her to stay in the truck that was heading off the road, crossing the pedestrian zone, breaking the sides of the bridge in process and .....

JUMPING off the top of the bridge, WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY DOING!!!!!


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