All of us were still processing what had happened, ea our own way. The general mood was uandably somber, but everyone seemed in much better shape mentally than I would have though. Losing panions, losing your battle buddies, had to hurt. Yet, the troops were already willing and able to jump right into the flict. This showcased that everyone's emotions were much clearer to me now, then they had ever been through the Psifield. A fun of Voice of the God Emperor css probably.

  What a fug name. I didn't like it. It made me feel like I was some fucker's puppet. Cross Universal puppetry? That sounded like a storybook nightmare. I was deeply rattled. The breathing teiques that John had shown me helped, but I could barely keep using them. It would be ages before my mind had been reordered into a bastion of quiet refle. Time we simply didn't possess right then.

  I was reviewing my as in my head from the fight. Something had been off, I'd been barking out orders like I had known what to do. Again, I suspected the influeny new css. My only other exposure to battle and would have been war movies, and the majority of those were highly exaggerated. They were hardly a det basis to start my bat and career. No, everything had felt like something remembered from a long time ago, having the dust brushed off o was needed again. I rauation through my mind again, calmly analyzing what I had gotten wrong and what I had gotten right. How I even knew what were the proper as would have been was a mystery, but every critique seemed logical, each suggestion for improvement art of an obviously sistehodology.

  That my thoughts seemed to move faster now was both a blessing and a curse. It had led me to start reviewing my as since my arrival, and sequentially quite a few strong moments of self recrimination. All the opportunities I had squandered, were written rge in my mind's eye. Time spent whining when I could have been improving. Allowing myself to get catch up in my own misery at the exposure to the horrors of this city. If everything was rotten, I had to do everything I could to recim it. Then I could turn it all towards a better purpose, a better tomorrow. No matter the cost. Even the costs to myself. I was not important, I was merely a vessel t order to this benighted nd...

  What the fuck was that?

  There it was, all the proof I hat my csses, and particurly the one, were affeg my thoughts. Insidious ideas were burrowing their cepts deep into my psyche. Was that on purpose or merely a sequence of gaining knowledge from this fucked up system? How mue" would be left, when all this was said and dohat line of thinking earlier was some kind of sideways tyrant's justification for future atrocities. It's not for me, it's for your own good. Easy to say, but almost impossible to trust if you studied history at all. Maybe some of the great despots had genuinely sought to improve the world, but that didn't mean their definition of "improve" matched everyone else's in any way, shape, or form. So what were all of these alien thoughts going to do to me?

  No, hell no. Let's try to stay off that path for the moment. Sure, I wao help people, but at any cost? Absolutely not, too much had already been lost. More loss was iable, but I should exhaust very option to keep the colteral damage as low as I could. The "victory at all costs" mentality, ofte you with nothing worth having. Let's not fet that I'm ultimately here t life back to this world, not destroy it further. Patience would allow us to reach the required goal as well as aggression. Spread the water and then expand the areas of greenery. Soon enough, our efforts would have new life marg over the nd again.

  And there was the Druid css shifting my thoughts into its preferred methodology. My mind was caught in a rollercoaster, while pying piail on my brain. How could I even be sure that any of my thoughts were truly my own?

  When we had arrived at Lizzie's it acked to the rafters. I had to guess that fire codes were not a thing in Night City, because the club was at the level of standing room only. Even the lobby was jammed with bodies. Some supposedly preem band ying there. I hadn't known that live music was a thing in this city. But I thought that maybe it showed that all hope was not lost for these folks.

  The band, Rev/Des, had quite a rge and rabidly loyal following. Being a bunch of street kids who had found the path of music together and the to el their struggles into a form of art. Then they sold that art and made millions of dolrs, but I digress. I had some strong feelings about artistry vs odity, and I found most people didn't agree with my take, especially the "artists" themselves. However, Rev/Des were on the cusp of being a on a geion phenomenon. Maybe they would as big as the greatest names of previous eras, like some band called "Samurai". Maybe they would crash, and then burn out before they got there.

  So why were these up and ers pying Lizzie's? Turns out, that they had run with Mox for a while to make ends meet. Heh. This club was a sed home to them, and these howling lunatics were their people. While they remained mostly indepe, the Corpos were cirg the band, smelling all of the mohey could extract from the gealented band. You could see a lot of them mixed into the crowds of street folk and gangers. They stood out quite a bit, and I had to wonder why no one had zeroed them yet?

  I'll say that I liked a band in this overly automated world that still pyed real instruments. So I thought that it might be nice for us to check out asses for live eai. The boys he break and so did I. Hmmm. On one hand the crowd would be a ton of stress for us right now, oher the right kind of music could help lift the spirits like nothing else.

  Nah, these crowds were way too crazy, we needed something at least a little more quiet than this. I was just about to get everyone bato the truck, when Rita caught sight of us.

  "Hey Ryan! Wait up!" I turo see her just plowing her way through people like they weren't there. For some reason, I found that funny. Especially since she was smaller than most of the folks in the area, not that size meant quite as mu a cyberware den future. Watg her shove a giant gonk out of her way with barely any effort proved that. He want to start shit, but saw it was Rita and didn't say a thing, though his eyes did fsh. I was chug when she arrived, which stopped cold when I realized that John had turned all his attention on her. Even Raynor who ying herd dog with the fels, had stopped to watch this little bundle of "fuck you" e our way. Now that would be an iing fight, but no I liked Rita, she was a good egg in a carton full of bad ones. I held up my hand to calm everyone down.

  She stopped in front of me, and she seemed excited. Which couldn't bode well for me. Theiced the others and her excitement grew. Then I was sure that this wasn't a good thing for us, but I'd been wrong before, especially with the Mox.

  "Ryan, help! We ain't got enough girls to cover all the angles. Especially out here." She was sing the crowds jamming up the parking lot with quick side gnces before refog on me. Now that I thought about it, her appearance was disheveled, as if she had already been through a fuck ton of something bad tonight. It wasn't surprising, trouble and special events go hand in hand with the Mox in my experience.

  "Rita... " I owed the Mox nothing. That said, I had nothing against them either, and I did appreciate their attitude in the face of this city's bullshit. Use what you got, make others take notice of you. Then take what they were willing to give, and a bit more besides. "Fuck to Death!", indeed. I could see how that was a valid respoo this world. Maybe even a sane one.

  "Don't say no! ay well and the after party will be nova, once we clear everyo." She looking like she was more than ready to kie ass, but her tone suggested she was actually worried. This really didn't sound like anything worth our time, until she mentiohe after party. That sounded like a swell idea.

  "Raynor, are the boys good to go on crowd trol?" I wasn't really expeg the ao be yes. Part of me was hoping it would be a no.

  "We covered a few lessons on it. So a tentative yes?" He nodded. He started going over the best methods to works a crowd with the troops.

  "John, you good to work a cert?" There were less reasons to refuse. My earlier trepidation was being eroded by the thoughts of a party.

  "Not my first time." John smirked. His body was already fag the crowds and his new eye were sing for threats. You know what, fuck it. It beat trying to find a new pce to hang out on short notice. Though that did beg the question, what kind of cert started at this ungodly hour?

  "Alright, you keep Susie out of my hair and we'll do it Rita."

  I'll give Rev/Des this, I felt their pain.

  The music itself was kind of a bnd, bass heavy, fast rhythm, and light melody sound, simir to a thousand other pieusic, even from my world. The notes served as an innocuous background to the message of shared suffering. The vocals though, were amazing. Truly marvelous. The lead singer's performance was so haunting, so soulful that I caught myself a few times beiranced by their voice, even though I was trying to ighe musid pay attention to the people swaying in the masses outside. I was curious if the voice was somehow the product of e or not.

  The band itself ying on the roof, with only a small select crowd getting to be up there to see them live. Big eddies ged hands for that privilege. Likely all wheelers and dealers, perhaps some idle rich, with just a handful of super-fans splurging on a on a blue moon show. The Security up there was all run by the Mox's heavies. No one was gettihe band, without major iron and a lot of split blood.

  The main portion of the club was jammed full of folks getting a full live broadcast or BD experience for a lighter, but still siderable price. Most of the folks in there were behaving and the general vibe was one of joyful sorrow. The Mox had a lot of their mid-liners keeping the pea there. The outside had beeioned off from the publid only a small fee was charged to hear the band from here. To be fair, it was still a great experie here. You could hear everything a like a part of the show. To all of our shocked expectations, no one caused any major trouble. A few folks getting too handsy, and a brief scuffle over some imagined slight. Easily diffused by the boys.

  We where w the event in pairs, I was with Jarous. Who was one of the first folks summoned by us at the founding of New Lordaeron. He was a calm and jovial fellow, always with a lite quip or jape. A really likable guy. Mostly we talked about how different things were here. Though the sensus amongst the troops was a morbid fasation at all the teology. To them, it was almost as if they were part of one of the darker legends of their world. Well, I'll try my damo make sure they really were legends in this world. Living ones.

  When the show was over we helped hustle people out of the area. Then we helped with the up. A few Probes would have sped this up siderably, but I wahe outposts all ected as soon as possible so I didn't call any of them out here. Though that did highlight that the Psifield now covered a good portion of the eastern half of the city. I could sehem w if I trated on it for a moment. Nothing seemed out of sorts and I had no messages when I checked briefly. Hmm, I wonder if the Corpos could deteything at all through the cloaking fields.

  Once everything was tidied up, we were allowed into the club for the after party. Which was a far more subdued affair then I thought, at least by Mox standards. Softer musid the lights were turn down to a normal level. Most of the Mox were showing their real personalities rather than their w personas. It was almost like they were ordinary folks trying to have some fun, imagihat.

  I was sipping a modest whiskey while sitting at a table with Rita, Raynor, John, Kimmie, Mateo and the Lead Singer of Rev/Des, Revy. Revy itfire of a tall redheaded woman, and she lived and breathed the stereotypes of redheaded women. Lots of fire. It didn't hurt at all that she was quite a stunning woman. If I hadn't had Sally and Megan waiting for me, I might have made a fool of myself. She was hard not to fall for.

  The boys were mingling with the Mox and thankfully everyone seemed to be getting along just fine, maybe a little too fine... Nah, let them have their fun. We'd have some other crazy bullshit to deal with soon enough.

  "Remember when you pulled Mateo down and spanked his ass in front of the whole club, all because he hit on your sister?" Rita was half way to drunk, but seem mencholy which had me w what was wrong. Though the out of pce question had pulled my thoughts back to the table. I scoped out Mateo to see how he took it. The answer, with a nont shrug.

  "I liked her, still do." Well that was iing, something had happeo the sister?

  "Well, she o focus oudies. Plus, we all know how all of your retionships end up Mattie." Revy ughed while making a spanking motion. Rita went quiet, thinking of something. Probably something bad judging by her face.

  Kimmie chirped, "You sister was Saphie, right?" Her tone was off. Ah, suspi firmed, I saw where this was going.

  "Yeah. A toast to my sister. May her name live a little longer." A toast for the departed. Revy did have an iing way with words. We all lifted sses to that. What heartless bastard wouldn't? After the toast, I saw that Rita was looking at me with a thoughtful expression. I raised my eyebrow at her, almost dario do what I'd seen ing, and circled my hand. Even in this pce it meant "Get on with it."

  "Ryan you still have those drones right?" She began softly. I was sure she was thinking of the st time she'd asked me to use the Probes and how that all turned out. She was weighing how badly she wao know the sister's fate.

  "Sure." Where would I be without my Robo-Buddies?

  "Would you be willing to do me another favor?" She was subdued. Haunted maybe, that spoke of all kinds of unpleasantness.

  "Spit it out Rita, I promise the worst I'll say is no." I stared at her, she had my undivided attention.

  "Saphie's been missing almost a year now. We have no clue what happeo her, all. Would you be willing to look into it?" She was looking down, she khat asking thiswas crossing a bit of a line. Poking a sore point. Sinn was still someone I had a hard time thinking about.

  "Rita... " I struggled with myself for a moment. Then I saw the look on Revy's face. Her expression was oh a sick kind of hope. She knew her sister was gone, but not knowing the how or the why of the situation was slowly eating her up inside. I must have some hidden stat that made me a sucker for a woman in trouble.

  "Fuck. Okay, I'll look into to it. Send me all the detes, and I mean all of them. I don't care if you think they aren't relevant. I don't care if it makes somebody else look bad. All. Of. Them." I tapped my finger loudly oable to emphasize those st three words. Yeah, I was going to cheat my ass off. Feed all of that data to Alina, between the Probes and an Observer or two, if there was anything to be found we would find it.

  "I'll pay you." I wasn't liking this version of Rita. Meekness didn't suit her.

  "Shut up, Rita. Tell me how you think you screwed up." That was the only reason I could see her behaving like this with an acquaintance like me.

  "I was suppose to be her escort for a run up to Portnd. We were going to meet up at Tom's for breakfast and head out, but she never showed." Her head was between her shoulders. She was slumped and had a defeated look.

  "Rita, you gonk. Let me guess, you bme yourself. You think you should have let her stay with you the night before or something. Run herd on her all the way, right?" She nodded, "Yeah, I'd likely carry that weight too. It ain't your fault but it sure would feel shitty. Hindsight's a bitch." I growled. I looked at John. He nodded. My g Raynor firmed he was doing the same. "Look, we'll do what we . I don't need payment. Money's not our problem. We need es here iy. Promise to help us meet the right folks, a us wired into the pulse of this town and we'll do everything we to figure this out."

  "Tha... " she pulled herself up a bit. A little of her usual fire returning.

  "Yeah, none of that. I'm not promising we find anything, it's been way too long. So don't thank me for effort that will likely end up with nothing. If and when I find anything, then you py kiss ass." I tried to show I was joking with a grin.

  Rita gave me a half-hearted smirk, "If that's what you want."

  Kimmie chimed in, " I help?" I gave the little hyper-sexual fiend my best, "Are you Serious?" look.

  Rita ughed, "He's dating Longshot Sally and Murdermind Megan, you'll have to talk to them about sharing." What's this? Why is this the first time I've heard those names? Kimmie bnched. So, my dies had quite the rep built up.

  Revy whistled, "You must be some input. No one's ever had the balls to actually date those two. Though I know about a few of their quests if you want to hear... " Sounds like someone was a fan of their work.

  "Let me stop you there. The past stays in the past, at least where that kind of thing is ed." I've never uood the sick fasation ing up the past. Everyone's got one and it only matters if it's particurly egregious. If I o know, they o be the oo tell me, or it was all going to end badly.

  Shit, they had jammed that worm into my thoughts now. Stick a pin in it, I didn't need ahing to worry abht now. However, I was going to have to have a versation with the dies when I got back.

  The rest of our time there should have been full of light versation and good pany, with a few more drink thrown in. Of course, it wasn't.