Devil in Night City (Cyberpunk) (Patreon)

Chapter 13: The Way of Life

Gloria’s POV

Everything had changed.

Ever since she had run into that handsome bastard, her whole world had turned upside down, and Gloria could hardly recognize herself in the mirror sometimes.

The worst part in all of this was that Gloria couldn’t even find it in herself to complain too much about the handsome gonk that had somehow managed to crawl his way into her heart.

Despite being a fucking playboy, and having other girls on the side, so far Lucius had been a man of his word and made sure that Gloria had all her needs completely taken care of. Even her personal ones, as much as she hated to admit it.

The bastard was just too good at sex and manipulated her body like a puppet on strings, leaving Gloria no choice but to lay back and take it.

Thanks to him, Gloria wasn’t worried about David’s schooling anymore and didn’t have to work extra shifts at work that left her with barely any energy at the end of the day.

After the incident last time with David at school, her son had seemingly finally understood the life lesson she had been trying to teach him for years now. That if he didn’t want to end up on the streets dead somewhere before he was even twenty, he needed to climb the corporate ladder and find a steady job.

Without money, life was extremely hard here in Night City, a fact that had made itself clear again when she almost lost her son just because she didn’t have the money to pay for his surgery.

If it hadn’t been for Lucius, the most likely scenario was that Gloria would probably either be dead or in debt with one of the gangs of the city trying to gather the money needed for her son.

She might not even have been able to save him in time with how hurt he was.

Ever since that day, Gloria had found herself trusting — and dare she say even caring for — another person that was not her son, and she hadn’t looked back since.

They had better food now instead of the usual tasteless slop from before, all her bills and rent were always paid on time, and Gloria even found that she had extra money leftover that she was saving for a rainy occasion.

With all the changes, though, it was obvious that her son would notice and become suspicious of where she was getting all the money.

As she was checking herself out in the mirror — something that she had found herself doing more often now — and making sure there was nothing out of place since she was about to meet with her lover later, she was startled when she heard a voice behind her.

“…Who’s the guy?”

Feeling a blush rush to her cheeks, Gloria quickly pulled herself together and took a deep breath before turning to her son with her usual smile.

“What do you mean, honey?” she asked with her usual tone, while inwardly panicking inside.

She had been planning on telling David about Lucius for weeks now, but she always chickened out in the end due to embarrassment.

Gloria didn’t know what her son would say when he found out that she was dating a guy only a few years older than her own son, and she was afraid he might not approve.

“Come on, Mom. I’m not an idiot.” David replied with a roll of his eyes as he stuck his hands inside his jacket. “You smile more often now, don’t seem to be constantly worried, don’t work as much, and yet are somehow still able to pay for my school.” He counted off every example, causing her blush to return with a vengeance.

“So either you’re seeing someone, or you got a new job, which I don’t believe since I’ve seen you working sometimes.” David continued with a shrug before giving her a serious expression.

“Which is it?”

With her secret discovered, Gloria tried to think up an excuse, only to come up blank, before eventually letting out a small sigh and slumping her shoulders.

“…I found someone.” She muttered quietly, just enough so her son would hear, but kept her gaze facing the ground, afraid of his reaction.

David stayed silent for several moments — moments which seemed to last forever — before he finally spoke up again.

“Is he treating you right?” David asked simply.

Instantly snapping her head back up, she saw that David had an awkward expression on his face, but didn’t seem to be mad or even annoyed, and unknowingly a smile grew on her lips.

“Yes,” she muttered with a nod. “He’s the reason we’ve been doing so well lately and how I’ve been able to afford your schooling.”

David stayed silent for a moment longer before letting out a sigh and looking at her seriously. “I see. Just please be straight with me, Mom. This choom is not using you, right?”

His words for some reason brought forth the memories of the countless times Lucius had taken her in every position imaginable, sometimes gently but most of them being quite rough, which to her shame she had quite liked.

A blush sprung to her cheeks, which her son instantly caught, causing his serious expression to disappear and be replaced by a disgusted and weirded-out one.

“Never mind. I don’t want to know. I’ll be back later.” David hurriedly said as he quickly made his way to the door of the apartment, leaving her mortified and quite embarrassed.

Before he left, though, David turned around one last time and gave her a small look while scratching the back of his head. “Umm, one of these days I’d like to meet him if that’s alright?”

“S-Sure, honey.” Gloria found herself instantly agreeing with a much softer look, inwardly hoping in her mind that her son and lover could get along.

“Later. I’ll be back this afternoon.” David quickly left after that with hurried steps, obviously quite embarrassed himself, causing her to smile and then giggle to herself.

With her heart feeling lighter and happier than ever, Gloria went back to making sure she looked fine in the mirror and then left herself.

When she reached her lover’s luxurious apartment — something she was privately starting to think of as her second home — as she was cuddled in bed with Lucius while enjoying another afterglow after having sex, Gloria quietly told him what David said.

Then, with a quieter and more vulnerable voice, she quietly asked him if he wouldn’t mind meeting her son sometime.

There was silence for several moments, during which she found herself anxious like never before, before Lucius finally responded.

“Of course, Gloria. Just give me a bit of time to mentally prepare myself.” Lucius responded with his usual calm voice.

Slumping against him in relief, she raised her head and gave him a soft kiss that he returned, and smiled at him as she felt her feelings for him grow even more.

“Thanks for agreeing, Lucius. I know it’s a big step, but it really means a lot to me.” She found herself thanking him earnestly.

After another round of passionate lovemaking as thanks, Gloria slowly drifted off in his arms, completely unaware of the scowl of utter distaste now marring Lucius’s face.

A week later, Gloria would receive devastating news of her son’s death, the NCPD finding his body thrown in a dumpster and riddled with bullet holes.

As she cried her heart out while watching as his body was cremated, held in the arms of Lucius, who hadn’t left her side even once during all this mess, Gloria cursed this city in her mind for destroying the dreams she had secretly been harboring in her mind for a while now of being a proper family.

In her state, she once more never noticed the sheer look of satisfaction on Lucius’s face as her son’s body was slowly burning.

A week later, she moved in with him, finding it impossible to continue living in her old apartment as it brought too many painful memories.

=====

Lucy’s POV

What was she doing?

Lucyna Kushinada repeated to herself for the umpteenth time as she made her way along a by-now familiar path, toward her current home in Heywood with enough food in her hands for several people.

A home, she might add, that she shared with her partner and friend Rebecca, a regular woman named Gloria, and most importantly her lover, Lucius.

A lover that she shared with the other two women.

Ever since first meeting him back at Lizzie’s Bar, there had been something about him that had attracted her like some kind of magnet.

At first, it had been the possibility that he was an assassin working for a megacorp, since he didn’t seem to have any chrome on him at first glance. Since the best chrome was almost invisible to the naked eye, it had raised some flags inside her head and she had kept a wary eye on him.

It didn’t help that he was literally a fucking ghost and didn’t seem to exist in any system at all, and only had his name and physical features to go by.

Rebecca seemed to really like him, though, and was quick to get into bed with him. But with how horny that girl was, Lucy didn’t find anything strange about it, as the guy, despite being suspicious, was quite the looker.

As if by fate, coincidence, or something else, they somehow kept running into him, and Lucy quickly came to learn that she had been completely wrong about him.

His popularity was skyrocketing, and it wasn’t long before he was more known than their own group, which said something about his abilities since he was a lone merc.

The day he met with her now-previous group for biz, she had been sitting right next to him, and under such close proximity, she examined him as closely as she could.

To her complete surprise, Rebecca had been right, and the guy had no cyberware to speak of, which was mind-blowing to see as he hadn’t been killed yet. Forgoing how it was almost a nightmare to go by without cyberware as a regular citizen, the guy was a merc too, which meant either he was lying when he said he was working alone, or the guy had abilities on par with those using cyberware.

Lucy would get a front-row seat a week later, when Maine went cyberpsycho, killing Pilar and Dorio and injuring Kiwi, with Rebecca calling him for backup.

He had arrived several minutes later despite living on the other side of the city, before breaking every held belief Lucy held as he all but toyed with Maine before quickly taking him down.

The guy was impossibly fast, something she only had thought possible with the use of a Sandevistan, strong as hell, and insanely skilled with seemingly every weapon.

Lucy had immediately tried to see if he had finally gotten some chrome, only to become even more shocked when she didn’t spot any.

That whole evening, her mind had been spinning trying to think of a logical conclusion as to the mysteries presented before her that didn’t make sense at all.

That same confusion would last several days, and when Rebecca had asked her if she wanted to accompany her to have a drink with the guy, Lucy had found herself unconsciously agreeing.

In a more relaxed environment, Lucy had once more tried to see if she could scan for any cyberware, becoming more frustrated when the results were the same as always.

Her curiosity had even been to the point that she had found herself agreeing to join him and Rebecca as a team, completely disregarding her original plan of hightailing it out of Night City as soon as possible.

That same curiosity had led her to share a bed with him and Rebecca that evening, wanting to use the excuse of having literal skin-to-skin contact to see if he wasn’t an advanced new robot or something.

All her tests had failed, and that night Lucy found out that not only was Lucius probably one of the purest humans left in this world, but he was also extremely skilled in bed.

As they did jobs together, Lucy slowly learned, little by little, that her initial estimates of his abilities had been completely fucking wrong.

The guy was a literal fucking superhuman with everything she had seen him do. He seemed to have an expert or higher level of knowledge on multiple different fields. Fighting, marksmanship, cooking, science, math, hacking, psychology, and who knows how many more.

He was like a sponge that absorbed everything around him worth knowing.

At first Lucy had been wary that he would eventually get the attention of the megacorps with his abilities and get them killed.

That fear only grew when she found out that he had actually been targeting them for a while now by himself, under a different alias that was recently becoming infamous as the boogeyman of Night City.

Seeing everything he could do, though, and seeing him continuously get better day by day — another impossibility — Lucy slowly lost some of her fear.

After seeing him make mincemeat of dozens of gonks in seconds and not even breaking a sweat, seeing him get shot at and brushing it off like it was nothing, and other absurd things, Lucy arrived at a conclusion.

She was safer throwing her lot in with him than going out by herself and being constantly on the run and in fear of being found out by Arasaka.

A deep and hidden part of her mind also constantly whispered in her ear how good he was to her, and that as long as she remained loyal to him, he would protect her from any harm.

Lastly was her treacherous heart that would always beat a little faster when he would tease her — something that he seemed to enjoy doing a lot, to her annoyance — when he would whisper sweet nothings into her ear during sex or even while relaxing at home.

As she pushed the door open, Lucy walked inside the apartment, her eyes already looking for a familiar mop of black hair, and once more silently cursing herself as she felt her cheeks become warm when she saw him greet her with a smile.

To sum up her thoughts, Lucy was doomed.

And even if she hated to admit it, she was fine with that.

=====

Lucius’s POV

Watching as Gloria made some food for all of us, I couldn’t help but let a smile grow on my lips.

It had been about three weeks since her son had kicked the bucket, and I was glad that she wasn’t moping about it all the time anymore.

As a citizen of Night City, with so many deaths happening every day, she must have built up some resistance to loss, since I had no doubt there wasn’t a constant worry in the back of her mind every time her son had left the door, that he wouldn’t return.

It was just the way of life in this city, I guess, and I for one was happy for it.

To think I didn’t even have to lift a finger to get rid of that waste of space was the best part.

Ever since she had asked me if I wanted to meet her son, I had been thinking up a way to get rid of the little shit by either paying somebody or doing it myself if there had been no other choice.

Luckily, before I had even finished coming up with a plan of action, the little shit had ended up dead by himself, ridding me of a problem and bringing Gloria even more deeply into my side.

My good mood was suddenly interrupted as I got a call from Rebecca, making me raise an eyebrow at what she could possibly want.

I had sent her and Lucy to the Afterlife to get the details for our next mission, and since it wasn’t a big job, I had let them go alone.

Picking up, I became even more curious as I saw the annoyed expressions on both of them.

“What is it? Something come up?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You could say that.” Lucy nodded curtly, which told me everything I needed to know, since Lucy was usually the more mature of the two, and right now I could see how annoyed she was due to her eyes.

“We ran into a fucking gonk named Faraday, and the bastard wants to talk to you about a mission.” Rebecca revealed with a grunt.

“…Not a fan, I take it?” I asked calmly, looking at Lucy, who clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“No. Not at all.” Lucy said, closing her eyes and seemingly taking a deep breath to calm down.

“The fucker would always cheat us out of our money back with Maine! I told him to shove it up his ass, but he kept insisting that we owe him over some bull about not completing the last mission or something back when we were riding with Maine.”

Rebecca went on an angry rant.

“I see.” I said simply with narrowed eyes.

‘I don’t think I remember that name from the game, and I’ve only heard it here in mere passing.’ I pondered silently to myself.

‘It seems there’s no other choice than to meet this fucker and see what he wants. His life would depend on what he says.’