Cyberpunk 2077: You Shall Never Have To Forgive Me Again

Ch. 1 Circles

Omegas were rare in human society but especially in Night City; the free ones, anyways. It was something like less than 0.2% of the population of the NUSA were omegas, so less than 200 thousand. Majority were betas, and the rest were alphas. With a total population of about 100 million, omegas were rare indeed. And therefore highly sought after.

In Panam's lifetime so far, she could recall meeting less than a handful. Most in passing and never without being attached - or chained - to some sleazy, cigar-toting corpo alpha. Panam vividly remembers an omega she had met in a different circumstance, but probably much more unfortunate: her and few other Aldecaldos had finished clearing an old auto parts assembly factory in Wyoming that had been taken over by some Raffen Shiv. While some gathered crates and boxes to haul back to camp, Mitch, Scorpion, and she had combed the basement. They came across a room and upon entry Panam had immediately wanted to hurl. Raffen Shiv are known for their inhumanity, their brutality, but seeing it first hand... It was a sight Panam knew she would never forget.

Random unmarked boxes were stacked around the circumference of the room, along with less randomly placed spotlights, all pointing towards the center. In harsh lighting - Panam took notice that the lights were left on - was a filthy mattress, no sheets or bed frame, littered with rips, cuts, questionable stains that probably included dirt, oil, blood... semen.

"Shit..." Mitch's curse brought Panam back to reality but did nothing to lessen her heart rate. Her focus finally centered on the fourth person in the room, a girl, half sprawled on the bed and very much not moving.

"Scorpion, watch the hallway. Mitch, get ready with a stim." Dulling out orders came second nature to her; half so shit actually got done and half so she could ignore her own issues.

"Not sure we're gonna need it but whatever you say, girl..." He may be right but... fuck it. Just in case...

They crept closer until they hovered over the mattress. It was even more gruesome up close. Desperately ignoring the churning happening in her stomach, Panam ran her eyes over the scene; the girl's body, not even a woman from what Panam could tell, was half on her side with her head pointed to the ceiling. Her legs slightly curled over each other and arms fanned out across the bed. She was littered in gashes, blood splattered all over. Panam ground her teeth harshly when she saw the blood dripping from between legs. Her hair, what was probably normally a light blonde color, was dyed in browns and reds, blood pooled behind her head that was leaking from ripped patches on her scalp. And her eyes, completely dull. Lifeless.

Panam kneeled, trying to avoid touching anything. She reached out and placed two fingers on the girl's neck, eyes closing in what she would argue after as merely concentration. And like Mitch predicted, there was no life to be saved here. She was already gone.

Letting out a deep sigh, Panam let her head drop and sat in silence. In those quick moments though, she caught a scent. One she wasn't very familiar with. It was light, a little faint, and sweet. It did not resemble a beta's, which she found to be fairly dull and nothing that could be compared to anything, but neither was it like an alpha's, which tended to be more heavy and earthy. Like a shock to her system, Panam came to the sad realization that it was an omega's scent.

Looking quickly up at Mitch, she saw that he most likely had come to that realization about the same time as she, and he looked equally as distraught over it. But his eyes then turned almost frightful before he hissed and sharply turned his head away, covering his eyes with a hand.

Panam's brow furrowed and looked to where he had last glanced, and then understood his reaction.

A bump.