Faelan looked at the two men and the ten-year-old girl sitting in front of him—two men trying to appear calm, though the sweat on their faces betrayed their frayed nerves.
The girl was no less tense. She looked afraid to move, or even breathe too loudly.
He recognized all three of them.
Three people, from different circumstances and pasts, all gathered in the same room on the same day for completely different reasons—and because of his people.
Behind Faelan stood Sasha, Misty, and Dorio.
The three responsible for the newcomers, directly or indirectly.
Let's start with the most obvious one:
Jackie Welles had supposedly come to finalize the details of a deal to supply organic food to his mother's bar. A deal Faelan knew nothing about, so… Misty.
Whether he already had the mindset of becoming a legend or not, he had guts coming here, standing in front of him.
Probably without telling his mother either. Respect.
Then there was a bigger guy than both Jackie and the girl put together—none other than a younger Maine, not yet as hardened as Faelan remembered. Clearly, he hadn't gone through his time in the NUSA Special Forces yet; he was probably still working as a nightclub bouncer, before the event that would lead him there. So… Dorio.
It seemed Miss Gunnarsdóttir thought he'd make a good recruit to join them. Faelan wasn't against the idea, but he definitely needed to have a talk with Maine to see if he still had that obsession with chrome.
So far, so good. He could understand the cause and effect of their arrival and accept it.
Then he looked at the ten-year-old girl and sighed, causing her to tense up like a bowstring about to snap.
Lucyna Kushinada—or as Edgerunners fans knew her, simply Lucy.
Alright, let's do a quick rundown of why it might be a problem for her to be here, shall we?
Born in Warsaw, Poland. Daughter of Takeshi Kishunada, a Japanese veteran of the Fourth Corporate War, and the Polish netrunner Shimmer, who left behind her clandestine life to start a family with the man she fell in love with.
At first, Lucy lived a life of luxury and received the best education. But at the age of seven, she hacked her father's computer—whom she had idolized—and discovered the atrocities he committed during the war. It shook her deeply.
From that point on, her rebellion started early. She ran away from home frequently, diving into the Net. Her talent for netrunning was noticed by her father.
Now, here's where things get complicated.
During one of her escapes, Takeshi had had enough and forced her to undergo a skills test at Arasaka. Shortly after, she was assigned—along with twelve other children—to a secret facility, where her personal hell began, what Arasaka called "training."
After watching her companions die during deep dives into the post-DataKrash Net in search of lost knowledge for Arasaka, Lucy and the survivors realized they could rebel—and they did.
Result: only Lucy managed to escape and survive.
What followed was, in a way, what drove Lucy to dream of going to the Moon.
Fearing her father's reaction, she began traveling across Europe instead of returning home. She tried to settle down several times during her escape, but had to keep moving because her mother—who had rejoined Squad 404—was trying to track her down.
Lucy didn't know her mother's motives, but after everything she had experienced, trust in her parents simply ceased to exist. She had come to understand just how brutal the real world could be.
By the time she arrived in Night City, she had decided there was no place on Earth safe enough for her—and from that, her longing to go to the Moon was born.
Imagine it: a seven-year-old girl, on the run for three years across Europe, surviving however she could.
Right now, she should be in the phase where she was committing small-time thefts.
Later on, she should have met Kiwi and become her apprentice—but by a twist of fate, thanks to his intervention (and no doubt SAV's fault), this time Lucy didn't run into Kiwi… she ran into Sasha.
Given the price corporate information fetched on the market, Lucy must have thought she could try for a more lucrative score. But she was caught by Sasha, and…
"I have a deal with Hanako Arasaka, I need to eliminate Adam Smasher, and now I have the runaway daughter of two high-ranking Arasaka employees," Faelan thought dryly. "Why the hell does everything I do end up connected to that damn corporation?"
As for why Lucy looked like she might faint at any moment, the reason was obvious—even to the newcomers.
Lucy was smart and perceptive, someone who kept track of major events and key figures. She knew information was the key to survival.
Now she was standing in front of him in person, and she probably had some idea of his capabilities. No matter how capable she was…
She was still a ten-year-old child.
The fact that she hadn't already burst into tears was an achievement in itself…
Though Maine and Jackie didn't look much better.
"Misty, you'll personally handle the organic ingredients for Jackie's bar," Faelan said. "It'll be a good way to force you to practice and refine your ability—just make sure nothing… mutant gets sent."
"As for you, talk prices with her for now."
Misty let out a relieved sigh as she left with Jackie. That seemed fair to her.
"Dorio, give your boyfriend intensive training. I'll test him in a week to see if he's hired."
Since he didn't have NUSA training, Faelan needed to know whether Maine was just a street brute who threw punches, someone who only knew how to activate chrome, or if he actually had real skill.
"Boss!" Dorio and Maine exchanged flushed glances as they hurried out.
Heh. She didn't deny the boyfriend part…
Lucy didn't know where to look—she was next!
Was that really it, after everything she'd been through?
Why did she have to give in to greed?!
"Sasha!" Faelan called, turning his chair toward his netrunner friend. "Congratulations, you're a mom!" he said cheerfully. "I can't wait to see Galina's face when she finds out she's a grandma!"
Lucy: ???
Sasha: ???
Before the astonished eyes of both of them, Faelan began dialing Galina's number on his Pip-Boy…