Goro Takemura x Reader

Ten

The beating of your heart made you suffer with every breath that you took to fill your lungs with oxygen. Your entire body was stiff, bend and bruised like a beaten dog.

As a child you had once fallen from a tree, after many times of Yorinobu telling you that it was too careful to climb the delicate branches.

You had landed on your back and years had filled your eyes. Back then you had thought that there was no bigger pain.

But this?

This was way worse. Almost like a knife that constantly cut into your flesh to take a small piece, dig around in muscles and bones only to cut some more.

Maybe it was just your imagination but you could have sworn there was the feeling of blood that ran down your legs.

Slowly, you tried to move your feet but the joints ached with every small twitch. At least you could still feel your toes. That meant the necessary nerve ends weren't damaged. You would be able to walk again.

Unless your legs were completely shattered from the impact. Although a rather unpleasant thought it seemed unlikely to you. The fall had been damaging but not fatal.

It made an escape rather difficult though.

The darkness already crept back into your eyes again and made your brain feel heavy as you could sense another movement in the shadows.

V and Jackie had readied theirselves. With their guns drawn they crouched in the shadows, behind cover and had their attention fixed to all the opening through which someone could have breached in.

Dex, however, seemed rather calm and the netrunner he had called T-Bug also still sat on a box of ammo. Her entire face seemed so uninterested and unbothered. As if she did not care if she was with her crew or dead. It did not matter to her.

"Everyone relax.", Dex looked up to the sky as if he expected a drone or a plane to crash in any second. "My guests should be welcomed accordingly."

"Guests my ass.", V hissed.

"You could have told us a tad earlier that you were about to sell to fucking Militech.", Jackie added with an undertone of disapproval.

Your heart stopped beating for a moment.

Militech.

Was that even possible?

Yes, fixers were nothing but the bloodhound of the big corporations but it was extremely unusual that they made direct business with them. Usually, a corporation hired them through third parties, someone who knew someone who knew someone.

And admirably, even Arasaka didn't deem itself too prim nor proper to strike occasional deals with the underground of Night City.

Yet it was absolutely irresponsible to make direct business. It was like an open postcard send to the opponent.

Here we are, we did this to you, come and start a war with us.

Everyone around knew that Militech and Arasaka enjoyed certain privileges around town. A war between these two mega corporations wouldn't shake the city one bit. Not even if there would be casualties amongst the public.

But that also meant that there would be legitimate war. Like a world war, narrowed down to Night City territory.

It wouldn't allow for survivors. This event would be but the final drop that broke the camels back and all of Night City would go down in flames to never recover from it ever again.

From the distance, the engines of cars cut through this nightly silence. How cozy it was, so unbothered.

The blood inside your veins started to boil, everything inside your body wanted to run away. But you couldn't. Pain and ropes chained you to the freezing ground of concrete.

Darkness made your vision go blurry, mixed with the irritation of tears and sand that scratched in the corners of your eyes.

Everything seemed to down in a pool of things that lay out of your influence.

It felt like not a single breath could keep you alive no more. All of your limbs were as heavy as stone. A weight pressed down on you, threatened to crush your shoulders. Every single bone inside your body felt fractured and useless.

From the last blurry bit that you could still make out between the shadows, you managed to catch a glimpse of V's facial expression.

Why was she so on edge?

Did she have a feeling that something wasn't right?

Steps sounded. But they were heavy. Not like the ones of a person dressed in a neat and tidy Militech uniform. More like a soldier who was armed up all the way to fight his was through lines of enemies.

An exhausted huff brought a smile to your face.

Perhaps Militech planned on fucking their street dog over. Not a thought of the impossible since it was cheaper and, if another issue called for it, they could just get someone else to do it.

In the dark, Jackie and V exchanged a glance. Their lips were sealed but expressions sometimes told more than words could.

Something wasn't right.

It made you chuckle once more. Oh, how much you bathed in the surprise that was written all over their faces. How you loved to see this fling of being unsure to the core in their eyes.

Even though they only did the job that they would be paid for it seemed like they were about to get what they deserved.

All of a sudden the night had shifted. Instead of a calm and cherishing feeling of moon and stars it felt like the end of time.

A cold breeze chased through the abandoned place. The shadows trembled. It was almost like a bad omen. All that was missing was a dog that howled towards the moon.

What a ridiculous thing to think in a moment like this.

But what else was there for you to do?

Death knocked at your door. At you weren't in a position to turn it away.

Was this fate?

Something that only Saburo Arasaka seemed to still grasp in a world of numbers and calculated possibilities?

Whatever it was, it did not mean well with you.

Your vision was almost entirely wrapped in shadows as, suddenly, V and Jackie jumped back and vanished in the dark.

At first, Dex appeared to be confused.

Then a shot rang out.