Lastland AU: Dark and Rainy Night Over Neonex

A Dark and Rainy Night Over Neonex

Cold, silver droplets fell in loud, heavy sheets—a torrential downpour that turned the neon lights of Neonex City into stained blur like paint running down the side of a canvas. The streets glistened with the reflection of the colorful neon signs, slick and sleek. The night air was thick with moisture and humidity. Rain created a soft pitter-patter on the skyscrapers that pierced the clouds.

Despite the grim, dreary atmosphere, the city was alive with life and light, hustle and bustle. In the heart of the city, on the ground, plastic hoods and umbrellas ran to and fro, surrounded by holographic maps, messages, news, weather, and ads. The flicker and buzz harmonized with the thrum of voices and feet, the electricity of the technology echoing the electricity in the sky above.

Glowing scooters, skaters, bikers, wheelchairs, and hoverboards weaved in and out of the walkers and hovercars and carts. In one of the upper floors of one of the many apartments filling the heart of the rainy, sleepy city stood two women, Lightning and Iridia.

"You're home early," Lightning blinked in surprise as she answered the apartment door. There stood her smaller, younger partner.

"The citizens of Sector 17 were willing to listen to reason. Lucky me," Iridia smiled dryly up at Lightning. Everything went so smoothly that she was sent home from her diplomatic mission ahead of schedule.

A smile lit up Lightning's scarred, grizzled face. It was rare for her to make such a genuine, happy expression, due in part to the section of metal that made up part of the lower part of the right half of her face. Even greater, though, was her naturally reserved nature. She was not a very expressive or emotional woman at the best of times, but around Iridia...? It was a dark and rainy night over Neonex, and Lightning never looked brighter. Her blue eyes met Iridia's purple ones, though Iridia's left eye was hidden behind a digital monocle that she used to get into the apartment. The circle of gold rotated around her eye, scanning her in. Her purple eyes were really what sold her disguise.

Lightning didn't even notice Iridia's unusually quiet mood despite having just returned from a diplomatic mission that allegedly went better than expected. The Iridia Lightning knew was chatty, and would've been bursting at the seams to share all the wonderful stories of her hilarious adventures. This Iridia, however, was quiet, almost preoccupied... But Lightning thought nothing of it. Maybe she was just tired? Either way, Lightning was just glad to have Iridia back again. In truth, though, it wasn't Iridia. It was an imposter from Sector 17 known only as "Viola". What made her unique was her ability to so perfectly copy Iris' natural, glowing purple eyes, and that was exactly what had Lightning so fooled.

ooo

Over the coming days, Viola settled into Iridia's life, always learning and improving upon what she knew of the other woman's attitudes and behaviors. She spent every waking second with Lightning, trying to glean as much as she could from the taller, older woman. Lucky her, although Lightning was an otherwise apathetic, almost rude, individual, with Iridia, she was practically head over heels. She was still restrained in public, withdrawn, but she did not seem to find "Iridia's" constant closeness strange or out-of-character at all, rather, she reciprocated it.

What a relief! Viola thought with a grin as she linked arms with Lightning, wrapping her arm around the other woman's. Lightning cast her a look of surprise, but she did not pull away. I might finally have a reason to stay...

Despite willingly accepting the mission to infiltrate Sector 5, and Iridia's life, Viola felt no emotional stake in it. She accepted the mission because she was bored, not because she was hateful. But after getting to see this newer, softer side to Lightning, Viola felt herself getting invested.

Everyone in Sector 17 knew Lightning. Even though she was practically a hermit now, never leaving her and Iridia's apartment, in the past, she was always out on the streets using her muscle to keep the rabblerousers in line.

What a grouch she was! Viola chuckled at the memory of all the time she and her Sector did battle with the likes of Lightning and her allies. Iridia was a diplomat, Lightning was a defender. But now Viola was seeing Lightning as a friend—no, partner, and what a perspective-shift it was. It's not what I expected, but... who cares?

Despite her gruff exterior, Lightning was a good person underneath it all. Viola liked that. Iridia was a lucky, lucky girl. Lucky for Viola, it wasn't too hard to call upon her connections to fake a message to Iridia that she had to stay even longer at Sector 17, the inverse of what she told Lightning when she appeared on Lightning's doorstep disguised as Iridia. Viola may not have really cared about her mission at all until after she began to care about Lightning, but now that she was at that stage, she saw it within her right to pursue as she wished.

The only reason she chose Iridia is because Iridia just happened to meet her first, but I bet that if we'd met at the same time, I would've quickly and easily proven myself the superior partner! Whether she believed it or not, that was what Viola told herself. While Iridia was born into a life of privilege, Viola had to work for all that she had. Did that not make her the harder, smarter worker?

Viola's envy of Iridia and adoration of Lightning grew. Why was Iridia given opportunities Viola never even knew existed? Lightning's devotion to—and vulnerability with—Iridia was beautiful, precious, and Viola loved knowing that her words, her touch, were responsible. But not her face. And then she cursed Iridia all over again even though she had to be disguised as Iridia to get this far at all. She would curse herself for being forced to hide in such a manner.

The irony was that cybernetic upgrades were cheaper in their city than surrounding ones—hence why they needed so many diplomats and defenders—but Viola could use none of it. The reason she was able to play Iridia so well was because she, like Iridia, was one of the Gifted. They were bioengineered human, blessed with special powers, and a successful implementation of the genes was signified by glowing eyes. Viola's were not purple, but contacts were an easy fix. The only other way for a human to have glowing eyes was cybernetic upgrades, but those were obvious.

My eyes are au natural! Viola thought proudly. I was born this way! Now, I don't know if Iridia ever told Lightning about this or not... We're not supposed to... But it's not like Big Boss Silas can control us ALL the time...

Viola looked up, her purple eyes meeting Lightning's bright blue eyes ones. "I love you," she murmured with a happy sigh.

Lightning flashed her a rare smile in return. "I love you too." And kissed her gently. In her head, Viola made a mental note to extend Iridia's diplomatic mission again.

AN: Lastland AU in the Cyberpunk genre (its name taking inspiration from words like "neo" "neon" "nex(us)").

This is a storyboard/demo fic, meaning that it is a full story told short and fast-paced for people like me, who enjoy deep sagas but don't always have the time/mental capacity to invest in long ones. Consider it a collection of highlights and scene/screenshots.