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"The city of dreams. I'd gladly kick the balls off the idiot who thought that one up."
- Panam Palmer, 2077.
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Chapter I.
(Y/N) liked watching rockets launch into the outer space. The windows of her small studio apartment overlooked the station and the young woman couldn't help the fascination she felt upon seeing the shuttles at night, as if it was her first time seeing them.
She didn't exactly dream of space. She could barely get ahold of herself in the cruel reality she had been living in for seventeen years, so thinking about dwelling on some other planet seemed a bit overwhelming to her. (Y/N) was more into the way the rockets would rise over the lights of the dreadful city she called her home, as if finally free of its chains and ready to set out for the new world.
(Y/N) thought she would probably be scared of the new world. How would she survive there? She was alone and the risks of going out young and without a bang would probably be higher than in Night city.
And then there was air, too. There wasn't any in space. But there was in Night city.
Then why did she feel like she was suffocating each day she spent there?
Norris stopped her train of thought to look at the half-burnt cigarette she had been holding since she had started her nightly reminiscing. As the ashes fell, she wondered if there was a reason why she was trying to subconsciously defend Night City against a better future. Was she really that scared of change? (Y/N) supposed there was something better than the city out there but, then again, there should have been something much worse.
What she knew for certain, was that in Night City, there were no good endings for anyone.
Shaking her head to get rid of her depressing thoughts, the girl took one last puff left of the cigarette before the bud started to burn her fingers and put it out in a make-shift ashtray. She rose her arm to scratch at her nape and when her fingers met metal (Y/N) flinched before relaxing again. She could never get used to the thing attached to her spine but she supposed it had not yet been enough time to.
It had maybe been a few weeks since the death of James Norris, a former lieutenant colonel of the NUSA military turned cyberpsycho who was wreaking havoc on the Corpo Plaza, killing NCPD officers before he was neutralized by MTac. (Y/N) could still remember hearing it on the news, static buzzing in her ears like a thousand mosquitoes had inflated her mind, vision blurry as she watched her own blood get shot between the eyes. She didn't even get any time to grieve before she received an anonymous package on her doorstep, the implant inside still covered in her parent's blood.
It's not like she didn't foresee it coming, though. James had been showing the signs of cyberpsychosis for a while before that. Where the man used to be wise and strict, he became aggressive and impatient, sometimes getting mad over the smallest things. Then came the hallucinations and James barely held himself back that one time when he pressed the muzzle of his gun to his daughter's head when his visions got the best of him. (Y/N) knew she couldn't stop what was coming. Her father was already in too deep to get treatment.
She supposed she was not in her right mind as well when she went to implant the Sandevistan. (Y/N) barely had any experience when it came to military cyberware and her father always tried to keep her as far from his field of work as possible.
The day the younger Norris came to her father's ripperdoc, clutching a bloody bag, tears running down her face, she had to grow up a little bit earlier than planned.
(Y/N) hissed when she felt phantom pain run down her spine like a sticky web, the deep cut still hurting despite being almost healed, prompting her to scratch at her back again. The young woman moved to get her jacket off the chair and put it on, the glowing collar illuminating the lower half of her face.
Putting her pack of cigarettes into her pocket, (Y/N) looked back out of the window. She wondered if she should get out to get a better look at the shuttles. Maybe if she could get closer, she could follow them higher up in the sky before they disappeared in the black void.
Follow with her gaze, of course. Not physically. (Y/N) wouldn't even dream of it.
Some unknown power made her swallow all her doubts down and the (h/c) - haired girl didn't waste any time to grab her lighter and get out of the apartment, the door closing behind her.
Carefully stepping over empty beer cans and puddles of some inhumane liquid, (Y/N) made her way to the stairs. The hall smelt of stale alcohol and fried metal, something she was already used to, though still unwelcome. At least the lights were working and the white tiled floor clashed with light-blue from the lamps.
The journey to the top floor of the complex was quick thanks to the spring in her step - she rushed up the roof, afraid to miss the departure of the rockets. (Y/N) was on top in a few seconds, taking a look around when she was finally there.
But she realised she wasn't the only one with a knack for watching the night sky.
Not too far away from (Y/N) was a woman, her back turned away from Norris as she watched the scenery in front of her.
She was slim, her short hair dyed in a shimmery pastel rainbow gradient and (Y/N) couldn't really tell if it was a trick of light at first, but her skin seemed almost snowy white and gorgeously reflecting the lights of the city below her. Her jumpsuit was tight around her body, a cropped white leather jacket hanging off her elbows.
The stranger was sitting close to the edge of the roof, her hands behind her back to support her body as she stared up at the dark sky. But the shuttles did not seem to be her object of observation.
(Y/N) squinted and looked up to see what the young woman was watching with such intent but her gaze was met only with the black of the sky and the countless lights from Night City and... moonlight?
Was she looking at the Moon?
"Out to watch the starts so late?"
Norris turned back to the voice to see the girl looking at her over her shoulder, a lock of hair much longer than the others obscuring most of her face. (Y/N) chuckled nervously and took a step closer.
The pretty stranger rose her arm in a sharp movement, a monowire visible in her wrist.
A netrunner, huh?..
"Hey, it's alright. No bad intentions, choom. I'm unarmed," she put her hands up, shaking them in the air for the better effect.
(Y/N) watched the rainbow-haired girl scoff before she turned back to the sight in front of her, "Nobody in Night City ever has good intentions." She murmured coldly.
Norris chuckled again and went to take a sit beside the stranger but not close enough to make her uncomfortable. The way she reacted to a sudden guest seemed like she really valued her personal space.
(Y/N) was finally able to take a full look at the girl. She had a beautiful face, big pretty eyes with bits of red makeup, her plump lower lip painted the same color. The side of her head was shaved and Norris was surprised to find almost no traces of cyberware on her face, aside from the ports on her neck.
"Didn't your mom teach you not to stare?"
Oh, fuck.
(Y/N) turned her head away, a bit embarrassed at being caught. She put her hands in her pockets and looked up at the sky again. Before the young woman could utter a word of apology, she felt the sting of a monowire tightly wrapped around her wrist where she put her hand in her pocket and turned to see the netrunner looking at her, brows furrowed.
"No more playing coy. What are you here for?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at the intruder.
"Paranoid much?" (Y/N) let out a soft 'ouch' at the feeling of the wire tightening around her hand, "I just got here to watch the rockets launch! Really, I do this every week. You just happened to be here tonight, I swear it's not a scheme or whatever you're thinkin'"
Norris watched the girl's eyes turn red as some info processed over her gaze. The (h/c) - haired girl realised she must have been scanning her. Oh well. No way out of this one, she guessed. So much for keeping a low profile.
"Would you look at that... " The stranger murmured with something akin to genuine interest, "Honestly, your tech doesn't really go well with your lies," She looked down at the other girl's hand still in her pocket, "What's in there?"
(Y/N) moved to take her hand out and the wire eased a bit, her palm emerging closed around her pack of cigarettes, "My nightly pills. Want one?" She smiled, hoping to ease the tension, a bead of sweat running down her forehead.
The netrunner girl sighed before freeing (Y/N)'s hand completely, and took a stick out of the offered pack. Norris thought this was a good enough apology and that it was, thankfully, accepted. She took a cig, rubbing her arm where the wire was, and moved to pat over the chest pocket of her jacket to check for her lighter.
It was empty.
Shit. Must've dropped it when I ran upstairs like a madwoman.
(Y/N) gritted her teeth, the unlit cigarette still in her mouth, frustrated at her own carelessness. She wouldn't be surprised if one day she woke up and realised she had lost her Sandevistan somewhere along the way, the implant falling right out of her spine without her batting an eye. Norris was ready to come to terms with not having a smoke on such a pretty night and moved to get the stick out of her mouth when suddenly a light flicked on next to her. Turning her head, the girl watched the stranger hold a lit lighter close to her face in silent offer, her expression unreadable but her eyes betraying a slight bit of annoyance of having to do this.
(Y/N) rose her eyebrows.
"Oh. Thanks."
She moved closer to catch the small orange tongue of fire with her cigarette, but stopped abruptly as the other girl went to do the same. The ends of their cigs met and (Y/N) found herself inches away from the stranger's pretty face and she couldn't help but watch the way the flame reflected in her light - purple eyes. The netrunner's breath barely hit her lips and Norris was quick to catch herself when the girl moved away, her cigarette lit, and took a drag before coughing a bit.
"Shit, those are far stronger than what I'm used to." She said but still proceeded to inhale again.
(Y/N) felt a small blush on her face as she looked away from the netrunner and back at the view of the city, smoke coming out of her nose, "Yeah, they were my dad's. He was a tougher type."
The rainbow - haired girl hummed, her eyes moving up to (Y/N)'s face, seemingly lost in thought, "What was your name again?"
"(Y/N)."
She hummed a second time and turned back to look at the sky just in time to watch a space shuttle start its journey up, a trail of smoke and fire following its way.
"Love this part. Wish I could watch the journey from inside of one of those."
"Really? Just the journey?"
(Y/N) turned to the girl, surprised at the question. The netrunner was looking back at her.
"Well... That and whatever happens next, I guess. I'm ready for anything that's not this wretched hellhole of a city." She muttered.
Norris didn't see the girl watch her side profile silently, something different from her usual disinterest glowing in her purple eyes. She moved to take the cigarette out of her mouth, letting a cloud of smoke out before she threw the half-finished stick away.
The netrunner stood up, dusting herself off, and went to the stairs.
"Wait! Aren't you gonna tell me your name?" (Y/ N) asked, watching the girl leave.
The pretty stranger turned to look at her over her shoulder, a small smirk present on her face, "I don't know. Maybe I will." And with that she started to descend down the narrow staircase.
(Y/N) groaned, turning back around with furrowed brows, "Geez. I told you mine, haven't I?" She murmured, her face warm, "No trust around this place, is there..."
Norris took a drag and watched the space shuttle disappear from her sight, far away in the dark - blue sky.
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