On The Edge Of Legality (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners)

Out Of Business

Who was I to judge those that live a life of crime? In my mind, I had always reserved a particular sort of hatred for those who tore through the streets letting bullets fly and unsecured drugs fall accidentally out the back of their vehicles as they were chased past every intersection. Even after Jantex tossed me into this life I continued to think such thoughts, foolishly ignoring what I had become. 

Yet finally, as I swam through the darkness of my own thoughts the wall of denial and self-preservation came crashing down as I realized that the very thing I hated was my own self. 

Once upon a time I wished to be a cop that could finally do something about all the crime going down in the vast city, But that was nothing more than a childish dream of mine. I no longer knew what I wanted in life, so much was dumped on me so quickly and left my brain scattered. 

Now I don't know what to think. In fact It was quite hard to think when my head felt like a train had hit it. I let a groan escape my lips as the sudden wave of pain began to grow. Scrunching my face from the uncomforting feeling I then blinked my eyes open only to be greeted with a dark mesh. 

The groaning continued as my tired body began to wake up only to get spooked by a shuffling sound that was soon followed by a quick slam of something heavy.

"Hello?..." I called out with a weak voice. There was a dim light that shone through the holes within the mesh covering my face. Despite my dazed position I tried to move my hand to remove whatever covered my vision only to find it being held in place by something. I then tried moving the other but was met with the same sort of resistance. 

"What the fff-" I tried tugging my arms but they wouldn't budge. A wave of panic would soon ensue the more I woke up and I began to spastically pull and tug at my hands only to eventually realize they were bound together with rope behind my back. 

"What the fuck!?" I exclaimed and tried to move my legs only to find them restrained as well. I started to jerk my body into a hop to try and find at least some form of freedom only to quickly correct and balance my mistake as the chair I sat upon lifted off the ground and nearly threw me to the floor. 

"Fucking hell. . . Hello!? What do you want!?" I shouted out only to regret my decision as I realized I hadn't a clue who these people were and what they could possibly do to me. My best option was to play my cards right.

Yeah, like I could do that. . . And what fucking cards? I'm at the biggest disadvantage here and have practically nothing to help. . . I'm so fucking dead.

And when I thought life at the moment couldn't get any worse, it did in the case of multiple footsteps walking along at a rapid pace with a muffled conversation following before what sounded like a door being flung open in front of me. 

I began to tense up further as one pair of steps walked toward me and soon whatever covered my face was torn off and I was forced to shut my eyes tight as the sudden change in light blinded me immediately. Even with my eyes shut as tight as I could muster the light still shone through my eyelids. It wasn't until I heard someone clear their throat did I begin to blink the brightness away and allow my eyes to adjust so I could meet my captors only to find myself jumping in fear as my gaze focused on the barrel of a gun being pointed just a few centimetres away from the gap between my eyes.

"Woah woah wait! Easy dude!! What do you want!!" I yelped out while I tried my best to shrink as far away as I could from the Iron. 

"Who are you?" A voice belonging to the owner of the iron interrogated me with an authoritative tone.

"Uh Nick- Nick Gardner. Who the fuck are you?" I looked past the barrel to see a man carrying a good amount of what seemed like natural muscle. His face held a chiselled straight jawline with cybernetics channelled along his cheeks to just below his eyes. His hair was a caramel brown that was swept up and to the side while his eyes contained a bright green colour. He looked like a guy who held a relatively clean background, yet in the back of his eyes I could see that was far from the case.