Chapter 13: Lizzie’s

  Cal bolted awake in his bed, wing from the pain that burned across his left side. His injuries and the memories of his assault on the Aquads had left him restless and made falling asleep st night difficult. The jarring and abrupt awakening early this m only added to his disfort as he was disturbed by the dreams that left him disoriented in the dim light of dawn.

  Fshes from his scrambled dreams stuck at the front of his mind leaving him fused as they mixed into his return to reality, causing him to examine his unfamiliar surroundings in a slight panic before he was able tain his bearings and reize his apartment. Cal let out a deep breath as he rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his greasy hair. His heart was rag as a numbing tingle spread across his skin erasing any hope he had that he would be able to fall back asleep.

  “…fuck.”

  The lingering ss of his dreams made him feel dumb and helpless as he tried to calm his mind. The bits he remembered were bastardized nightmares cobbled together from his various failures in this life and his st. Night City was a viscous and unfiving pce to live. Cal had faced mortal danger more than once already and all of his efforts to protect himself just seemed futile irospect. Even a mostly i night spent at a rave had almost left Cal pletely vulnerable and subject to the whims of some unknowrunner. Feeling the pain from his test misadventure just drove home the reality of his fragile mortality.

  Cal took a brief cold shower and got dressed before stepping out of his apartment and leaning on the railing overlooking the atrium of his megabuilding as he lit a cigarette. He savored the bittersweet taste of the tobacco while he stood there and watched the residents of H10 beginning their m routines. Some groggily stumbled out of their apartments dressed in their suits and uniforms, off to feed the corporate maes with their very lifeblood, while others aimlessly trudged around the walkways or made their way to the various shops and facilities housed in the building.

  It was strangely f to see the throng of people carry about their various tasks peacefully. The megabuilding was an iing mi. The massive structure housed a wide array of homes and businesses allowing many individuals to remain within it’s fines for an indefinite period of time. Between the vending maes and other facilities avaible to residents and non-residents alike, there was truly little o veside.

  Cal had occasionally been disturbed by a otion while he was inside his apartment or walking around the building, but they were all retively tame and tained when pared to what he’d experienced outside. The density of the building just made it u out any flict or escate it to the point it could potentially spill over and involve others in the area. Anyone who got too brash would quickly find themselves assaulted from all sides by residents that took offense or felt threatened by their activities. It wasn’t unheard of for even NCPD officers trying to overstep their authority to disappear inside one of the megablocks.

  As he watched his neighbors start their days, Cal realized he should probably let Coach Fred know he would be taking some time off to heal. He didn’t want to waste eddies paying fym time and training that he knew he wouldn’t be able to utilize for a while. When he finally made his way down to the training area, Fred seemed more disappoihat he’d lost a pung bag and supplemental source of ine for that short time, but Cal didn’t think he really cared much beyond that. They had never really clicked on a personal level and Fred was just a training coach to Cal much like he seemed to be no more than a t to Fred. He didn’t take it personally, but Cal realized he was falling into old habits and might look around one day finding himself once again alienated and alone.

  ‘I really o get out more…’

  The retionship was a stark trast to the one he had with Vic. The old ripper was a bleedi, sure, but so far he was the only one in this city Cal truly sidered a friend. Muamar Reyes had always been warm and friendly during their iions, but that was more or less just his personality. They had never actually ied when there wasn’t some kind of business involved and any showed by the up and ing fixer seemed to be more of a protective measure one would take with someohey sidered an asset rather than any genuiion they would show for their friends. Cal wasn’t really upset by this, but he still felt that he’d o do something to rectify this situation.

  He spent the rest of the m and most of the afternoon developing a few ideas he had for various Demons and Quickhacks before the restlessness and self doubt he had been feeling all day caught up to him, making it impossible to tinue trating on the projects. He could have pushed through it or tried to keep himself distracted with busy work, but he knew he would just end up making mistakes he would ter be forced to fix when he had a clear head.

  After a moment of ption, he decided to go check out one of the pces he had been avoiding since he woke up in Night City.

  ----------

  Lizzie’s Bar wasn’t a dangerous pce to visit for the average person even sidering the heavy gang activity that took pce there. The Mox ran a tight ship iablishment, trying to eo not just maintain their business, but grow it. This was the hub for all their activities iy, but it was far from being some kind of criminal fortress or hive of viliny. Instead, it was one of the city’s major purveyors of pure vice. That required them to establish a basic reputation of trust and security with their ts, both potential aurning ones.

  The Mox took their business seriously, due in rge part to the murder of the bar’s namesake and the following riots that formed the gang just a few years ago. The ramifications for crossing the lihe gang drew for their activities were as harsh for their members as they were for anyone else who crossed them.

  That didn’t mean that they were above killing or stealing from ts, it just meant that they would never do it openly. The bar had bee a bea of retive safety to anyone who felt threatened or oppressed, especially sex workers and victims of sexual violence.

  All this meant that Lizzie’s Bar was one of the safest pces in e the neighborhood it resided in. They’d fail to keep drawing in ers and new members alike if everyohought there was a ce they’d be tricked into loading up a spiked BD or catch a beating for looking at someohe wrong way. The gang o project a certain image and they were keen to uphold the ohey had established thus far.

  Lizzie’s ce that boasted The Mox’s wide variety of services, but the brothel that ran on the upper floor of the building and drugs that could be found almost anywhere inside were just a side business for the gang. Their real money came from selling various BDs.

  Braindances were extremely cheap to produ a mass scale, making the rgest expense for the vehe cyberware one of their members would have to install to scroll a BD with all of the emotional and sensory yers they required. They had expensive servers and equipment that allowed them to store a their library of BDs, but those were easily acquired by the gang through their less legitimate els. Sex sells, and a few hours worth of work could produce a truly absurd amount of eddies after the BDs were distributed through their vast work.

  Their extensive library ehat no matter the kink or fantasy, they would be able to satisfy even the most etric tastes one could find in Night City. They didn’t publicly advertise or distribute XBDs, but anyone could guess that they kept some of the more well known and widely distributed ones squirreled away somewhere they could be readily copied and sold.

  After all, they didn’t eveo produce the XBDs or sacrifiy of their members to make oo capitalize on the market. The gang had all of the equipment and manpower o u a portion of ongoing sales for any BD that got popur after hitting the market. Their street level gang members were regurly asked to procure bootlegs of all kinds for their ers. Finding a copy of whatever they were looking for after that was child’s py for the gang due to their wide spread es.

  It made them less than popur with the individuals and gangs that produced the traband items, but the victims brutalized during the grotesque works were generally the same kind of people The Mox sought to recruit or protect, if they weren’t already a member, making them natural enemies in the first pce.

  Previously, Cal had unknowingly tried out an XBD that he found in his apartment and the revulsion he felt afterwards had turned him off from the cept of braindances almost entirely. He had already experienced death ond he was not keen to re-visit it over and ain. Cal had ended up throwing away every single BD he found in his pce after that just to spare himself from actally loading up another one of the tasteless snuff flicks.

  He found the attra people had to the morbid works pletely alien and uable. There was a much easier and cheaper way to experience death for those ied. Hell, in this city it was hard to escape from an enter with it.

  Cal hadn’t e to Lizzie’s to start a new colle of BDs, but he would be lying to himself if he preteo not be even the slightest bit ied, despite his previous experiehe draw of the escapism they promised was strong, especially in this dark and depressing city, and the women of The Mox had an undeniable allure. Regardless, Cal had only came here to acclimate himself to the bar and blow off a little steam in a retively safe enviro. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

  He had gotten tired of sitting around brooding in his apartment and o ve into the city before he started developing bad habits out of fear and just turned into a shut in. He would have tried to go somewhere else like The Afterlife, but he hadn’t been io the semi-exclusive bar yet and El Coyote Cojo was deep in Valentiory even if Mama Wells held a tight grip on the bar itself. There just weren’t many other pces that he could think of going for a casual night out other than bars htclubs, leaving him with limited options for his evening jaunt.

  The main reason that Cal had been avoiding “familiar” locations up to this point rimarily the disfort he felt when he visited pces he had seen while pying Cyberpunk 2077 in his previous life. It was a disorienting and dissociative experiehat left him feeling strangely unattached to his surroundings. The small differences between what he saw and what he expected always brought forward a wide array of unanswerable existential questions that served no real purpose and ultimately left him uled.

  He had been in a straate of mind while grappling with his new life during his first few weeks here and the feelings hadn’t affect him much, but now that he had accepted his situation and tried to ie himself more deeply into life in NC it became quite noticeable. The detat the experiences left him with would fade as he became truly familiar with the locations, but it was unfortable he less.

  He probably could have tried harder to find some other previously unknowo visit, but ultimately his curiosity got the better of him. He was already in a detached funk, so the additional unease he felt going to Lizzie’s didn’t end up bother him as much. Plus, there lenty of eye dy here to help smooth over any of his disfort.

  “What’s your poison, friend?”

  “Broseph Ale.”

  Cal didn’t reize the bartender or any of the Mox he had e across so far, but the pink and blue lights that illumihe bar set an unmistakable atmosphere that elicited a small smile from him. The bartender popped the cap to the brown bottle and pced it in front of Cal after receiving payment for the drink and moved on to his er. Cal left the ter sipping his beer as he observed the lively crowd.

  The pce acked. All of the tables as on the first floor were filled with only a few pces left open for the people dang to the deep and steady beats. Cal was mostly just ied in taking in the se and enjoying a few drinks tonight so he slowly weaved through the crowd towards a staircase at the side that lead to the mezzanine baly overlooking the main floor.

  He was still stu a bad headspace, but it was slowly clearing as he nursed his drink and watched the patrons below mingling and enjoying their evening. From up here he could see other members of The Mox making their way through the crowd solig groups and individuals with their bodies and wares, occasionally guiding some of them to another wide staircase in the back that lead further up to the floor. At that time he wasn’t aware of the brothel they ran on the sed floor, but it wasn’t a big leap for him to assume there were at least booths or rooms up there that could be used for more private enters.

  Cal was still leaning up against the railing and enjoying the atmosphere of the club when he felt a light tug on the back his shirt followed by a vaguely familiar voice that cut through the din of the club.

  “Hey handsome, looking for anything special tonight?”

  He had been fully expeg to be approached by one of the gang members tonight, but Cal was a bit taken aback by what he saw wheurned around.

  Ghostly pale skin with green hair and pink tattoos matched by the iris and sclera of her optics. Rebecca was standing in front of him wearing a loose fitting blue hat did little to hide her tantalizing assets with her thigh tattoo peaking out from just below the bottom hem. He wasn’t sure if the garment was meant to be a dress or if it was just a repurposed tank top, but it definitely fit with The Mox style looking more like nightwear than something you’d don in public.

  ‘I know she just wore underwear and a jacket in the anime, but is this girl allergic to pants or something?’

  She obviously looked different than her 2d terpart, but her style and attitude were unmistakable.

  “Like what you see?”

  A taunting smirk spread across her lips as she cocked her hip to one side and pnted a hand on it in a teasing aive pose.

  “Uh… aren’t you a little young to be w here?”

  “Pffft Good one . I really feel the siy leaking out of your eyes right now. BDs? SynthCoke? Blue Gss? What are you looking for?”

  “Nah, I’m good. Just trying to unwind a bit and take in the sights.”

  “e on, don’t be so stiff. I don’t bite. Uhat’s your thing, of course!”

  Rebecca’s smirk grew into a full toothy grin as she leaned forward and taunted Cal. Running into her like this had not been part of his pns for tonight. He didn’t even realize she art of The Mox in the first pce. That said, once he got over his initial shock he found himself more than a little ied in what she had to offer.

  “Oh yeah? Does that cost extra?”

  “For you? Nope! So what’ll it be?”

  Cal sidered it for a moment. He wasn’t sure if Rebecca was just here to sell BDs and drugs for The Mox or if she really was also on the menu. He was tempted to find out, but he ultimately decided to steer the versation down a different route.

  “You star in any of the BDs?”

  “Course I did! OV do you want? I’ve got dom, sub, solo…”

  Cal was once again a bit shocked as the list went on and on. It was clear to him that she wasn’t a newer to this game. His mind drifted off for a bit as he imagined some of the sarios she was describing, only ing back to reality when she seemed to finish up.

  “That’s quite a list… Any you reend?”

  Rebecca sized him up for a few seds with a half serious look before her smile returned and she pulled a small, square, foil ed chip out of her bra and ha to him.

  “Hundred and twenty eddies, please and thank you.”

  Cal couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle as he wired her the creds and pocketed the BD before extending his hand to the little gremlin.

  “Cal.”

  She seemed equally amused by the enter as she grabbed his hand and gave it a vigorous shake, but as she opened her mouth to respond someo her to the punch.

  “BECCA! There you are!”

  Cal froze when he looked over and saw the newer calling out to her friend. Rebecca turned around to the girl and waved at the familiar face as she approached them.

  “Hold up Sasha. Almost done.”

  “Oh? Look who we have here! Long time no see, Loverboy!”

  Cal really couldn’t believe his luck as his runner paramour cut in and tched onto him in a quick, familiar embrace before breaking away.

  “I have a name, you know.” Cal said as he reached up to check his shard slots.

  “Yeah? Didn’t catch it st time.”

  “You two know each other, Sash?”

  “I don’t know if I’d go that far. Just a brief enter is all.”

  “Right… well I don’t want to hold you two up. Enjoy the rest of yht.”

  Cal wao leave ASAP. Sasha had ged her hair sihe st time they met, dying it bd styling it a bit more, but the feelings that her appearance dredged up when they were face to face agai him feeling flicted. The mess that his new reition of the girl added to the picture added airely new facet to his dismay as her short but tragic story flitted through his mind.

  “Not so fast Mr. Mystery!”

  “ you quit it with the fug niames already?”

  “’t! Still don’t know your name!” Sasha’s eyes glinted with amusement as she toyed with Cal.

  “Said his name was Cal. Didn’t get much else out of him.” Rebecca looked positively thrilled by the exge as she added iwo ts.

  “Yeah, he’s not big on words.”

  “If memory serves, you didn’t have much to say that night either. Your moans were pretty memorable though.”

  “Funny. I figured you wouldn’t have remembered much from that night.”

  “Probably wouldn’t have if you had gotten your way…”

  “Oh e on! You walked out of there perfectly fine. No harm, no foul!”

  “And that was always the pn?”

  Sasha just shrugged

  “I’m not big on pns. They ruin the fun!”

  Cal just stared at her for a mih a ft, unamused expression on his face.

  “I’m sure all the vegetables you’ve left behind were just as amused by your antics…”

  “Please, I’m not that reckless. You would have woken up just fine if my breach went through.”

  “Five me if I don’t take your word on that…”

  Sasha rolled her eyes at that.

  “I’ll buy you a drink to make up for it!”

  “Really? Still got that cred shard you klepped to pay for it?”

  “Jeez… You just don’t let anything go, do you?”

  “Kinda hard with that first impression.”

  “I SAID I WAS SORRY!”

  “No. You didn’t.”

  “Didn’t I?” Sasha brought her fio her and feigned a moment of thought before she looked to Rebecca for support.Becca had somehow found the time to grab a small bag of snacks from somewhere as she watched their bad forth.

  “You didn’t Sash.” Becca said as she popped another small puff in her mouth and ched down on it with with clear amusement.

  “Well fine! Sorry.” Sasha held her hands behind her bad pushed out her chest as she looked at the floor during the half hearted apology. Cal couldn’t tell what was an ad what was just Sasha, but he khat this was the best he’d get out of the girl.

  “All right, so am I just supposed to trust you now?”

  “Would you prefer a more personal apology? We could go upstairs. I’m sure Becca could find us some handcuffs if you’re worried about a repeat of st time…” Sasha said in a seductive tone as she stepped closer to Cal and pulled lightly at the colr of his shirt.

  He paused for a moment as he sidered the offer.

  “Tempting, really, but I think I’ll pass.” he said as he gently grabbed her hand and stepped away from the minx.

  Cal truly was tempted, but every bone in his body was telling him not to trust this girl right now.

  Sasha let out a disappointed huff as she pouted for a minute before a pyful smile returo her lips.

  “Your loss. Let’s go Becks! I’m sure we find someone who knows how to have fun somewhere around here!” Sasha grabbed Rebecca’s hand and started to walk away before she looked back over her shoulder at Cal and her eyes lit up for a moment.

  “Call me if you ever ge your mind, Loverboy!”

  Cal got a ping on his Internal Agent with her tafo as the pair walked away, Rebecca giving him a parting wave and Sasha swaying her hips in a clearly provocative manner.

  ‘Women…’

  ------------

  Cal got a bottle of Real Water? out of the vending mae in his apartment after he got back from Lizzie’s Bar. He hadn’t stayed there much longer after the ued enter. He didn’t want to run into the pair again, fearing that his lower brain would cloud his judgment and cause him to walk heedlessly into another unfortuuation.

  Meeting Rebecca there was ohing, but meeting Sasha as well and eg her with his night at RIOT pletely blindsided him. Part of him really did want to bury the hatchet ao know her better. He had felt a real e with her that night, only soured by the st few moments of their enter. But there lied the real problem.

  Those st few moments brought into questiohing that he felt and thought that night. He wasly clear headed at the time and he had gone over the events so mu the past month that he no lorusted his memories from that evening. The only thing that he knew for sure was that his trust had beerayed and building something back up from those ruins would either take time or a leap of faith. The tter was something he was loath to do at this point in time.

  ‘What a day.’

  It seemed like even his most muasks had beore plicated retly. Cal tried not to dwell ohought as he took off his shirt and begaying his pockets, getting ready for bed.

  The suggestions that both girls had made towards sexual enters earlier that evening had gotten him a bit riled up, despite the tension he had felt at the time. Maybe he was just turning a bit weird and the tension was starting to add to his excitement.

  ‘Something to unpack ter…’

  Cal stopped for a moment as he looked at the packaged BD that he had bought from Rebecca earlier.

  He didn’t pletely trust the BD, but his wreath had some security features that were supposed to limit aive effects that a brandance could carry. He would never know for sure if it was safe without a bunch of specialized equipment for BD editing or until he just grew some balls and tried it out.

  ‘At least I don’t have to worry about someone fug with me while I scroll it here.’

  Cal slotted the BD and activated his Braindance Wreath as he leaned bato his coud prepared himself for the new experience.

  pengwn