Blood and Bytes (Revna x Delryth)

[Revna]

It all started what seemed like an eternity ago but was in all reality just a few months ago. Another clan has approached Bella’s, her family the Ashclaw clan, had accepted. Bella did not agree with how the new family wanted to run things and after looking over the sunset she decided she would finally try her luck in night City. After all, if you could make it night City, you were set for life and then some. That was the plan, go to night City. Make it big, cash out and head back to the desert with the sunrise ahead and a full tank.

That was the plan and then it started to go sideways. Bella agreed to kill her mark, some entry level corpo who saw too many things. The night had started in her tiny apartment just right on the edge of Watson. Big enough for her queen bed, her clothes and even a one eye cooking area that held a tea kettle. It was dirt cheap and people never seemed to come around the very edge of Watson. Too close to other territories for a lot of people, Bella didn't really mind and they left her alone.

Taking her bike, she went over to the apartment of one Sierra Wilkson. Her mark lived in a tall apartment closer to the city center where most corpo rats lived. A fake delivery got her into the building and soon she was up flights of stairs. Usually only using the elevator if she absolutely has too. Her cybernetic enhancements, attached from the knees down, grant her remarkable speed and agility, making the stairs honestly a faster and safer option anyway.

Dark burn-red hair, fading to black at the tips, framing her face yet long enough that she had to bring it into a sloppy bun that still had trelasis of hair randomly going down her neck. She moved quickly up the stairs until the 6th floor before going into the hall of her mark. Getting into the apartment was not hard, finding her mark was equally as easy since she was in the shower. Almond-shaped pale brown almost tan eyes gleamed with a hint of technology, allowing her to identify and mark threats. Her gun synced with the ware in her eyes, triple checked to make sure everything was silent and shot.

How the fuck Sierra survived that gun shot was beyond her but as she was ready to leave the apartment, the trauma team’s lights and sirens sounded as they landed on her balcony. Annoyance flashed through her as she quickly moved to hide in the apartment, only having one chance to attempt this again before she was behind police security. The trauma team moved quickly, grabbing the woman and heading back out. Only once she was sure to have an escape route of the front door, she took her shoot as the trauma team attempted to take Sierra out to her balcony; one had seen her and shit, making her jerk clipping the women in the spine and without Bella’s realization, missing anything extremely important before she fled the scene all together. The bullet missed but ricocheted, coming back and hitting her in the inside of her thigh. All she could do was hope the woman died in the hospital as she fled with blood dripping down her mech. Which, of course, was not her luck as Sierra made it to the hospital and was saved. Burning her a bit in night City on top of not getting paid for the job, she now nurses a slice in her thigh. The bullet was warm enough to sear the skin enough for a thin angry red burn sliced into her creamy pale thigh.

Spending a week doing minor bullshit jobs to essentially start her street cred over again while getting her new alteration to finally stop hurting in a pair of pants. Finally a half decent job comes on the board but it is a two man team. Something about finding and retrieving a BD, but it could get complicated which is why it was worth a cool quarter a million credits. Even split in half that would set her up for a year, plus a tempting bonus if the job became more complicated. Bella could handle complicated just fine, it was the teamwork that would be a challenge.

Since coming to Night City, the thought of trusting another was non-existent which one needed to get the job. With how desperate she was, plus the completion would really ramp her credibility, she called her contact and set up a meeting. There was already another person and they would all be meeting to go over the job once she was approved to do the job. She had just enough time to go over to the bar for the meeting; which went over quicker than she expected once they saw her upgrades plus her nomadic history. The job wasn't supposed to be that hard, a bit of research here, a little theft there. A regular Thursday night in Night City.

With the meeting over, information was exchanged and she received the number for her teammate. Flicking a message with a time and place to meet, knowing better to say much else and ending with the code word; Deliverance. The meeting of her teammate was in an hour, giving her time to make her way over and even brushing out the curls that softly ringlet without it being even a medium coil. More waves than curls themselves. Making herself half presentable, she finally made her way into a different bar on a very different side of Night City. One didn't do their business in one place. Standing at 5'3"; Bella was short but mighty with voluptuous curves that made her seem softer than she actually was, she entered the bar an looked around. Quickly messaging her new teammate that she has arrived and to look for the fire fox.

A fire fox tattoo ran up from her knee, up to her hip and settled on the curve of her abdomen which was all visible thanks to the smaller pair of black shorts that really only covered her thighs and rode a bit higher on her hips. Her mech calves and ended in a pair mid calf black biker boots. Topped with a loose black tank, some random logo on it that she barely paid attention to. Soft, full lips that often curl into a confident smirk and a small, slightly upturned nose that adds to her unique charm which held small chains on the ridge of her nose; pierced into her skin. An eyebrow ring glittered in the bar’s lights as she looked around, softly clicking her tongue piercing against her porcelain teeth that held small gems in her slightly extended fangs. A fox like woman between her hair, almond tan like eyes and the small bits of eyeliner she used to make her eyes shine.

 

[Delryth]

Derrick Taylor had been a member of trauma team for years now and had appreciated all the perks and benefits that it granted. It paid well for a start, something that most jobs in the city couldn’t hope to do. It also gave medical care which essentially equated to a wage bump with how expensive medical bills tended to be in Nightcity. All in all, he was content with his life and knew that he had the kind of job that would open up a good career path that actually put him into a position where he’d one day be able to return and live a comfortable life with enough eddies to see his days through. Another thing most people didn’t get to do.


That was until the incident at least.


He’d been less than a month or two away from the promotion that he’d been earmarked for. He was going to be a lead, the lead of his own team which came with a substantial pay bump. Rather than gearing up and following another’s lead, he was going to be the one calling his shots and have his own team. He’d been so close until that little bitch had ruined everything.


The call had been routine, the kind of call they got several times a day. Nightcity was dangerous and every other callout was going to some hot zone with a couple of gonks or gangoons waving guns around. They were usually no issue. Most fled the moment they saw the trauma team transport’s lights knowing that the doctors inside didn’t fuck around. They shot first and asked questions later. Those that were dense enough to try and fight ended up flatlined.


This day he was serving as one of the security specialists rather than his usual role as an ET. He manned the machine gun on the side of the transport and the moment they landed he and the other security officer took point. They raced out of the transport equipped with their pulsars followed by the two ET’s with pistols. He burst through a door and saw the target on the ground. He raised his gun and sprayed shots towards the other person in the room making them duck for cover while they recovered their client.


Everything seemed to be going well as they turned to bail and that was where it went wrong. The bitch had taken a desperate shot and caught the client in the back. Derrick had known things were wrong straight away. He raced back into the doorway to try and put her down. The lines of the cyberware visible on his face glowed a bright blue, his optics trying to spot her. He took several shots though he knew he missed. He glanced to the side and his optics gave another target. He fired several shots at a nearby pipe causing them to ricochet around the corner. He heard the hiss and then tuned back into his radio. They called to leave. The team pulled out and got the client to the nearby hospital.


They’d saved her at least but their performance, upon review, hadn’t been satisfactory. The customer had been paralyzed due to the bullet she’d taken. The cover she paid for assured that no further damage would occur once trauma team were on the scene. She was a powerful individual with a lot of sway. Trauma team couldn’t lose the entire team so they’d needed a scapegoat. Derrick wasn’t sure why it was him that was chosen but within a week, thanks to her, he’d lost his job, his pension and his insurance.


He had enough savings to last a few months but he knew he couldn’t rely on that for too long, not with the bills he had. He’d been blacklisted from most of the corps where his skills would likely have gotten him a job either in security or a private medical team which also meant the chances of him finding a job with anything close to similar benefits went out of the window. As a parting gift one of his former team members gave him a chit with contact details in case he ever got “desperate enough to look for gig work”.


He’d spent weeks trying to find work and it was either not worth his time for the eddies they were paying, turned him away after doing a background check or told him that he wasn’t what they were looking for. Eventually, he got to the stage where he had no other options. Bills were mounting up and he knew that people didn’t survive long in Nightcity once they fell into debt.


The number got him in touch with a middle-of-the-pack fixer who went by the nickname “Frost”. He didn’t know or care why they got that nickname, he wasn’t bothered by asking too many questions. He did a few small-time gigs for them at first. Klepping some gonk’s files for his first and then busting out teen who’d gotten caught up with the Tyga Claws and had been held for ransom. The jobs were easy enough and they paid enough eddies to tie him over.


It wasn’t long before the fixer had determined that Derrick Taylor wasn’t a suitable name for a merc and had soon been gifted the nickname Detox. As much as he protested it at first the nickname soon stuck whether he wanted it or not. After another few weeks, he stopped fighting it and just accepted the street name.


Frost had gotten in touch with a new gig that was offering a high payout. Two fifty gs. Enough to let him breathe a little easier for the year. He knew full well that a big payout also meant that the gig was going to be a risky one. It wasn’t a simple gig, it had multiple parts to it that were going to take a while to get through. Not only that but he wouldn’t be working alone. Frost had insisted he had a partner on this and shared half the eddies.


After a brief exchange with his tentative partner, he prepared to meet her at the designated spot. He dressed in simple clothes that, while they weren’t expensive, were obviously not cheap and practical. Black combat slacks over dark brown boots. His shirt was a light grey colour with a small neon blue star symbol in the left corner. His arms were decorated with grooves that made it obvious he packed some kind of cyberware. He was in his late twenties and his face had started to mature. He sported a neatly trimmed goatee that trailed along his jawline. He had cool grey eyes and neatly cut slicked-back hair that was practical and presentable. His face also had several notable grooves showing the chrome he’d had fitted. Optics along with a port on the side of his head.


He made his way towards the bar and quickly looked at the building once before deciding to head inside. Inside he instantly began to look over the customers gathered and noticed that it was busy enough to help avoid notice and yet not too busy that it was crowded. He’d only been told the basics. He was looking for a fire fox. With the help of his optics, he scanned the clientele quicker than if he just had organic eyes. It didn’t take long for him to see what he was looking for.


He made his way over towards her table and slipped into the seat opposite her and said in a low tone. “Deliverance”. He settled his gaze upon her and his eyes narrowed on her. He scanned his databank briefly and confirmed what he thought. It was her. She was the one who’d fucked up his life. He stiffened before her and his face turned into a sneer. “What the fuck? This some set up?”

 

[Revna]

'Deliverance'

The code word spoken made her focus on the man in front of her. The bar was barely lit and people were drinking, talking, loud enough that it would be hard to hear much of their conversation as long as they kept it at a reasonable volume. As she looked at the man in front of her, the tech in her eye zoomed and ran his face. He seemed to recognize her just as her own software locked in on him as well. Her own pretty face turned into a scowl and anger.

His accusation of this being a set up only annoyed her further and made her eyes narrow and blazed; "why would I set you up?! You are the one who wrecked my last big gig! Do you have any idea the eddies and rep you cost me?!" Voice filled with venom but barely loud enough for him to hear let alone anyone around them.

Getting up, she placed her hand on the table edge to lean against as she got up. "I don't know what game this is but there isn't enough eddies in the world for me to play it," snarling softly she shot daggers at him.

Just as she was about to fully attempt to leave, a text came in from the fixer asking if they had meet yet. More than anything she wanted to give this fixer a piece of her mind but she knew doing so would limit her job list and she had only just started to get back to where she was before running into him previously. Sending a last scathing look, she pushed off the table to leave. Denying this job would cost her already, she didn't need to make it worse. Of course it would be him costing her another job, she thought viciously.

 

[Delryth]

Derrick still wasn’t entirely sure he bought it, it was too much of a coincidence that, of all people, he’d ended up paired up with her. Perhaps the fixer knew what was up, perhaps this wasn’t an accident at all and he’d arranged to pair the two of them up because of their past. The thought didn’t sit right with him and it made a hot anger smoulder inside of his stomach at the thought of it. Still, what could he do? He needed this gig, it was a big pay off and he couldn’t afford to start slipping now, not when he was starting to make this whole shitty situation work.

“Never heard of trauma team? It’s our job to keep people alive when gonk edge runners like you try to flatline clients who pay their medicals.” He scowled again and gave her a look of distaste. “My heart fuckin’ bleeds for you. I had a good thing going before you fucked that up.” He watched as she stood up and pushed away from the table and simply sat and watched her. He could just make the eddies himself without her and not split them two ways. Instead of watching her leave he looked towards the bar and considered what he was going to drink. He wasn’t leaving here until he’d at least knocked something back.

 

[Revna]

Annoyance and anger filled her, she wasn't told that the dumb bitch had any medical. She was supposed to be a nobody, just some random button feeder who tried their luck. Nails dug in where her hand was but she kept her lips tightly shut as she gave a look that could kill. At the end of the day, she should have double checked herself. The clan would have. It was a bad op and she was more to blame than anyone, part of her knew this but it was so much easier to blame others and right now easy was the best option.



A flicker of 'good, suffer as I have;' flashed across her face but went just as quickly as it came. With nothing stopping her, she went outside. One of the nice things about nightcity was that it was almost always busy. Even at 3am, busy with bustling bodies trying to make their life work here. It made it easy to blend in. Now was no different, bustling bodies allowed her to duck into a side street and call the fixer. It was only a ring or two before they answered, "heeey!" An overly friendly greeting as their face flickered in their vision; "how did the meeting go? He's great right? Perfect for the job!"

"Absolutely fucking not," she seethed in the exact opposite of his cheery tone.

The call went silent for a moment, she has a temper. One she usually kept mostly in checked but she was called the fire fox for a reason and it wasn't just the tattoo the ran up her thigh. "Be-" he paused when she cleared her throat, "fox. What is the problem? He is good! He will help get the job done easy! Plus he has medical experience-"

"I know. That's the problem. We can't work together, I can do this on my own or I can find someone else." Her tone left no room for argument, her answer was final.

"Then I'm giving it to him," caused a snarl and enough anger through the phone she could hear their voice tremble for a moment. "You know I like you fox but I've worked with him more, I know he will get the job done. Besides," the cheery tone returning, "it would look sooo good if you could work with him! The fire fox can put work first can't it?"

"Fuck you," she hung up but they both knew she would have to figure it out. He was right, fire fox was work first.

"I fucking hate when other people are right," she muttered as she kicked a trash can; denting it harshly thanks to her mechanic calf and foot.

'So?' Came the message, simple yet she could almost feel their victorious smile behind it. 'fuck you, you owe me' her reluctant acceptance.

'The eddies always do the talking, I will set you as a solo after this. I will even make sure to not snub you of the best jobs!' really a help to the fixer than her and she knew it but at least it meant this would be the last time she would have to be a team player. Part of her ached to be a part of a team again but she shoved it down, closed her eyes and let the emotions calm before opening them again. Shaking it out, she gave the garbage another dent before going back inside. Quickly making her way back to the table.

"Let's just get this mission done so we can both be done with each other," she declared her return, only looking at him until their gaze met before going back to her seat and glaring at the table.

More like a pissed off teen at the moment, she let her nail trace the dig from earlier. "It's not a set up, I don't care about your shit and you don't care about mine. We both care about getting this job done, getting our eddies and heading back to our own person hell's. So for now," she offered a hand and looked up but her face was dark and tightly controlled; "I can't work with someone who will let me die just to spite me. So for now I will look after you and I hope you're professional enough to know if I do die that just means you let another job die on your watch;" she couldn't help but dig at him.

 

[Delryth]

In the time that Fox had left the bar Detox had gone and gotten himself a drink not sure if that was the last he was going to see of her or not. Part of him hoped that it was and he was somewhat confident that he could manage the gig on his own anyway. What was one extra person going to do? She was just a merc, could she have any vital skills that were crucial to this gig? Fuck it, if she did it didn’t matter, if he needed to he could find another edgerunner wanting a cut of the eddies, how hard could that be? Mercs weren’t exactly a dying breed in Nightcity though he was starting to find that good ones were. People paid a premium for those that could be relied upon, something he was working hard towards. He still treated the whole merc economy with his trauma team mindset, like it was a steady professional job rather than how some of the more eccentrics did and he knew some of the fixers appreciated that.

He returned to his table with an old-fashioned which included some of the not-terrible bourbon from the bar. The cherry inside seemed completely luminous and gave the dark amber drink a shimmering appearance. He returned to the same table, sat down and brought the drink up to his lips to sip from it. He let out a satisfied sigh as the taste washed over his tongue. How often had he drunk in the past few months? Three… four times a week? At least. It was strange that while you could be struggling to find cash for bills and essentials there always seemed to be enough left over for a drink. Like 98% of Nightcity, he didn’t have much of a kitchen. He’d seen how lavish the Corpo’s kitchens could be when he’d had to recover clients from them after a heart attack and yet he like almost everyone else bought every meal in… unless he just fancied cup ramen.

The doctor pulled out his phone and began flicking through a few news articles on it to pass the time. Maybe another two or three drinks wouldn’t hurt before he could leave and confidently tell Frost that she’d bailed on him. It was probably better for everybody as she seemed wild and unpredictable. They were both traits he hated in people. He preferred to know the kind of person who had a gun at his side. Trauma team was one job where you learned to trust and rely on your team. Right now it was only himself that he could trust.

He was just about finished with his first drink when he saw her walk back in and he let out an internal groan. He managed to force a smile onto his face as she sat down opposite him which came more easily when he saw how much she’d struggled to do it. “You came back. I take it Frost had a few things to say and you backed down and decided to play nice?” He took a long final swig of his drink and grinned further. “Who knew you could be such a good girl.” He placed the glass down and looked at the woman hoping that he’d managed to get under her skin.

He gritted his teeth for a moment as she mentioned his previous job with Trauma team. “She didn’t die.” he corrected and tried to quickly hide the annoyance that had crept back onto his features. “Some of us are professionals, we take the job seriously. Not all of us are wild mercs who don’t know how to play as part of a team. I’m assuming that’s why you run solo anyway. Because, you don’t play nice, because people don’t fuckin’ want you?”

 

[Revna]

The good girl comment pissed her off more than most of their conversation, she had seen what good girls got. Nothing. That's what they got and she wasn't going to be that girl who broke themselves for someone who would eventually just use the good girl. No, fire fox was not a good girl by any standards. Her face remained empty as he dug at her desire to be by herself, a smirk came to her lips as she eyed him. "I run by myself because I have done the team thing and it blows up in your face every. Single. Time." She kept their eye connect as she said it and chuckled softly, "if I want it. I could have it, but why would I want it? I would have to share my eddies with some ingrate who always puts most of the work on me anyway. Plus," she let the predator smile take over as she was enjoying their game for once; "I've never been fired or removed from a team." The only close call was that job, but even then; she was given half the eddies as the women did pull her nose back after the incident.

Shrugging it off, she sat back in the chair and watched him. The fox has a temper, sure, but once you got passed that harsh guard. Her loyalty was unmatched; it took everything to leave her family when they merged. She had cried when she left, a feat that not many possessed. It was clear she was thinking about something as even though her gaze was on him, it was distant. Clearly thinking about something else, it was only a loud crash of glass breaking did she come back. Eyes snapping into focus, her eyes dilated as the tech in her vision spotted where the glass fell before coming back to him and sighing clearly ready to be done with their pissing match. The memory of rising sun on her back as she looked at her family one last time before driving to Nightcity faded and so did her desire to keep their game alive.

"We can keep pissing and moaning if you like, or we can get this job done and pray this city is really big enough to not see each other again. I only came back to prove that nothing," eyes flashing down the body she could see before looking back into his eyes, "is worth losing eddies over. I play nice when you give me a reason too, until then."

Another shrug rolled her shoulders, "we don't have to play nice for eddies. Just get the job done and move on, hopefully you will be my last teammate." The word teammate came out icy but with the smallest bit of sorrow than unless one knew her; would nearly undetectable.

 

[Delryth]

Detox toyed with the glass in front of him, passing it from hand to hand as an idle gesture while he listened to her with a sneer back on his face. “Yeah, sure it does. Depends on the person, some people just aren’t made for teamwork.” He had a quick chortle at her next words as though confirmed what he was already thinking. “Can’t imagine you being on a team long enough to be fired or removed. First time for everything, kit.” He found it easy to brush off that comment aimed at him as he knew the context was different, it was nothing to do with the team, it was corpo bullshit that got him fired… though being reminded of his loss of job wasn’t exactly a pleasant job. “I get fired and fall to the dredges where you reside.”

He drummed his fingers on the table while he let her have whatever mental trip she was having. He raised the glass again and drained what last remnants of his drink still lingered in the bottom of the glass. Finally done with it he placed it down and pushed the glass off to the side in a gesture that made it spin a little. Finally, she’d gotten over her moment and looked back towards him to speak again. It was then that he realized just how annoying he found the sound of her voice, he couldn’t stop himself rolling his eyes.

“Love the sound of your voice, huh? You’re too verbose.” His head tilted towards the side as he got what she was trying to say. He could work with her or almost anybody for a stack of eddies. Money was always more important in this city. “Don’t care if you want to play nice, not going out of my way to appease you. Don’t worry, I don’t see you having a queue of future teammates waiting for a gig.” Finally having his last barb he settled down with it. “I agree, get the job done, earn the eddies, and delta the fuck away to our next separate gigs.”

 

[Revna]

Nails dug into the table but her face went blank and unreadable, he didn't know her background and she had as much interest in sharing it with him as he did sharing his history with her. "As you enjoy yourself talking just as much," her eyes rolled and the only sign of annoyance being a tick in her jaw.

Letting the table go, she clicked her nails against the increasing slashes. "Good, glad we can agree to focus on the job than." Clearly going into job mode, she crossed her legs and leaned back into the chair; eyes looking more past him than at him.

"All we need to do is locate the BD, get in, get out and delta. Turn it in and move on, that shouldn't take more than a day or two. Do you have anything helpful to locate the BD or am I going to have to find it?" Swinging her gaze to his, she arched a brow.

Even if he was a possible good teammate, she was used to doing most of the work herself. It's why she didn't want to do any more teamwork ops, at least until she found her own crew or possibly another family. The history of working with the people of Night City has taught her quickly that most were all but useless at the level she was currently at. Giving the expectation that he was just as useless.