Chapter 5: Culture Shock.

The Shards of Freedom.

Chapter 5: Culture Shock.

Chris, Vanguard.

Night city, 2074

A small part of me expected Vik to say no. Wouldn’t have blamed him. Their eyes kept flicking toward me like they expected some invisible army standing behind my shoulder.

Not me, exactly. Just whatever force they assumed was backing me.

Fear could be helpful, sure, but it was a tight rope. One wrong step and everything would blow up in my face.

A made-up backer might keep predators off us for a while, but not forever. For now, I was just grateful these three looked decent.

They didn’t have to save us. Hell, back on Earth Bet? We’d have been left to die.

The fact that they even tried said a lot.

After a moment’s hesitation, Vik handed me a battered laptop, after cutting every form of outgoing communication, of course.

Smart. I’d do the same thing.

They left me mostly alone after that.

Misty whispered to Jackie, and her crush couldn’t have been more obvious. Meanwhile, Vik worked on Missy. I hated not knowing what he was doing, but I could barely lift my arms, let alone help.

Even typing on the strange keyboard hurts in places that shouldn’t hurt.

The first thing I noticed about this world’s internet was how… tiny it felt. Fragmented and controlled in a way that only the tinfoil brigade thought possible.

Corporations and governments carved the Net into private territories and left scraps for everyone else.

And even the “public” section was controlled by something called NetWatch… which, hilariously enough, was also a corporation.

And people just… accepted it.

God. This world was worse than Earth Bet.

“Corporations” kept popping up, so I dug into that next. I really shouldn’t have.

Even with alarms blaring in my head, I still facepalmed. Hard.

We were so screwed.

I grew up in Earth Bet. I knew governments could be a mess. The U.S. and the PRT were walking reminders that giving one group too much power always ends badly.

And Cauldron… yeah. Better not think about that.

But even Earth Bet… functioned. Barely.

And honestly, that was mostly because heroes and villains kept each other in check.

This world? It was humanity let off the leash.

Corporations are stronger than countries. Entire populations dependent on monopolies these corps protected with literal oceans of blood.

And no one fought back. Even the worst capitalists back home looked like amateurs compared to what passed for normal here.

And the government wasn’t any better. From what I could gather, the NUSA was basically sponsored by a megacorp.

The president was literally their former CEO.

Insane. All of it.

It was no wonder that Night City could stay a free state despite being on the border of two powerful states. But things were just as bad, if not worse, here.

I honestly couldn’t decide. Everything was owned by corporations. Police, Healthcare, Food, Security, and Housing. Literally everything.

And here I believed I would never have preferred to have Lung hiding in a corner.

I didn’t want to imagine what this world would be like if capes existed. I was thankful that Missy and I were probably the only ones.

Even if that brought its fair share of problems. We had to keep that hidden from the world.

These corporations reminded me of the Yangban, and I knew they would pay any price to have Missy and me as their lab rats.

Because in a world like this? Power wasn’t just tempting. It was currency, and we were walking gold mines.

I didn’t get the chance to spiral, because my “saviors” didn’t leave me alone for long.

Jackie strolled back and dragged over a metal chair that looked like it had been stolen from a dive bar. Rust and all.

He flipped it around and sat on it backwards like the world’s friendliest gang enforcer.

I actually laughed. He fit the stereotype, gun included.

At least he wasn’t aiming it at me anymore. Just… holding it.

Then, as if he remembered his hands were full, he casually set the gun on the counter.

Like it was a cup of coffee. Nothing more.

Vik and Misty didn’t even flinch. Didn’t spare it a glance.

It took me five whole seconds to realize they genuinely saw nothing strange about a clearly loaded gun, safety off, on a grimy table next to some surgical tools caked in blood.

Just another part of the décor.

I just hoped Missy and I didn’t pick up a disease from this place. And God help these people if Amy ever learned it existed. After what she became… yeah. They wouldn’t survive the hour.

My heart rate spiked so hard the monitor flashed red.

Thankfully, Nobody reacted.

“So, choom,” Jackie said, clapping his hands.

Friend, my brain supplied. Such interesting slang.

“Where are you from? You and the fierce little chica. Pure curiosity.”

Vik and Misty stayed quiet but leaned in.

“The East Coast,” I said.

Jackie perked up. “No shit? I’ve been over there. Any place I’d know?”

“I’ve been told the accent gives me away,” I smiled. “But no, you wouldn’t know it. It’s gone.”

Not a lie. I’d checked the map already.

Even if Vik saw the searches, he’d never suspect a “dimensional displacement.”

“Most of that region got fractured after the war,” Misty said softly. “Never rebuilt the same way.”

And she accidentally helped my cover.

“Militech nuked half of it,” Vik added, frowning.

I kept my jaw from hitting the floor. Nukes weren’t a thing back in Bet, but… Hearing it so casually discussed was insane.

They looked at my baffled expression, at which Vik just looked saddened.

“Don’t sweat it, kid,” he waved his hand, “Everyone in Night City has heard worse. We won’t see you as lesser just for being from that part. Can’t imagine it was easy.”

I stared at him. They weren’t being dramatic. They were being literal.

Jackie leaned in, “What about the people who did this to you, chico? Corpo hit squad? Gang? Black ops? With the kind of heat you were strapped in, it certainly wasn’t street trash. That mech suit looked military grade… just, unbranded.”

Of course it wasn’t branded. I built the damn thing. My pride and joy… and maybe the reason we survived. Or almost died.

I forced myself to focus, “Nobody’s after us. If we’ve been unconscious for three days and no one’s kicked the door down, they think we’re dead.”

“You’re telling me you show up burned to shit, almost dead, wearing a clearly advanced exosuit, and nobody’s after you?” he snorted, “Don’t take us for fools, choom.”

His easygoing attitude retreaded just a tad.

And technically, that was accurate. And Vik could see I wasn’t lying.

Zion wasn’t ‘after’ us. He was just… annihilating everything on its path. The fact that this world hadn’t been affected meant that he had lost before he could reach it.

I could only wonder how many people died before they stopped him.

“I said the truth, choom.” The word felt weird on my tongue… but I liked it.

Jackie made a face, showing he didn’t like my answer, but after Vik nodded at him, he let it go.

Who knew the classes to tell the truth without being honest would come in handy?

Before he could continue, a burst of rapid gunfire echoed from outside.

Not the kind I was used to. No. The gangs back home used to have at most a small amount of rifles or submachine guns. Still, they were rare, and only brought outside in the worst-case scenarios when they didn’t have anything to lose.

The screams outside grew even stronger as multiple high-caliber weapons fired in unison. Then a car crash.

My body reacted before my mind did. I tried to sit up, instinct overriding any pain I felt. My brain went straight to danger mode.

But no one moved. Not a single inch.

Misty glanced at the door, more annoyed than afraid, like someone’s dog was barking too loudly.

Vik didn’t pause his tinkering. The worst thing was my power itching to be used when I watched him work.

“Shouldn’t we be taking cover?!”

Jackie waved his hand dismissively.

“Relax, choom,” he said. “Maelstrom and Claws, probably. NCPD will show up soon.”

“Depends on if they got bought,” Vik grunted, unconcernedly. “You know the claws have deep pockets.”

“Paid?! They’re the police!” I might have expected at least something similar to what I had back home.

“Oh, you sweet summer child,” Misty chuckled sadly.

Before I could finish through my panic, the wail of approaching sirens cut through the noise.

“Might lose some income, Jackie,” Vik snorted darkly, “They must be in the NCPD database, no?”

Before I could ask what he meant by that, which I was dying to know because I didn’t like the implications of it, relief washed through me.

Finally, something familiar. At least the sound. I wasn’t sure if I should expect much from them.

That was something I knew by heart by this time.

Even if this world was insane, the police were still police. There were laws in here, even if I didn’t have the time to study them. They existed.

Sirens screamed closer… too close for comfort, then a deafening BOOM shook the clinic and rained dust from the ceiling.

Jackie peeked outside, winced, and shut the window.

“Shit. Rhyne’s pissed after last week’s bust,” he chuckled.

“Fuck, poor idiots,” Vik muttered, but even now, he didn’t look up.

I nearly launched myself out of the damn tub.

A series of high-caliber bullets sounded from the outside before three explosions happened, like cars catching on fire. The screams continued for a moment, then abruptly cut off.

“The mayor got slapped on the face last week by some idiots,” Misty sighed, looking saddened as she explained to me, “He might be a bit trigger-happy for a while.”

“You’re telling me this is NORMAL?!”

“What do you expect, choom?” Jackie blinked at me, “You want them to use tasers?”

He snorted at his own joke even while Misty and Viktor nodded.

And they just kept talking. Like their own police hadn’t butchered some people outside.

Like nothing of note happened. As if this wasn’t something horrific and should be reviled.

Meanwhile, the machine monitoring my vitals was practically screaming.

Vik finally looked up from Missy’s arm, looked at it, sighed, and shot me an irritated look before he quieted the alarm.

“Your stress levels are spiking, Chris,” Vik said calmly. “Breathe. The sooner you get used to this place, the better.”

I started laughing. Hysterically. Because what else was I supposed to do?

Five minutes later, I was still chuckling like an idiot, fully aware they were staring… and unable to stop.

Jackie must’ve decided my silence was creepier than my laughing, because he suddenly barked a laugh and elbowed Vik.

“At least this one’s just insane,” he said, jerking a thumb at me. “Not half as scary as when the chica woke up.”

That snapped me out of staring at Vik’s tools like they were whispering blueprints into my skull. I blinked hard, dragging myself back into my body.

So many things I could build with the junk in this room…

“What do you mean?” I asked slowly. “Vista woke up before me?”

Jackie blinked, surprise flashing into a guilty oh right, we never mentioned that.

“Vista? Weird name. But yeah. She woke up first. Scary little thing… almost came up swinging. Thought she was gonna deck me. Then she saw her arm and…” He whistled. “She damn near had a panic attack.”

I winced. Of course she did. Missy hated cybernetics and the idea of losing pieces of herself even more.

Waking up alone in a filthy clinic, missing an arm, and strapped with things she’d never seen…

Yeah. That had to be hell.

I opened my mouth to ask more, but the whole room sharpened out of nowhere.

That sensation in the back of my skull, the one tied to Missy, suddenly screamed.

Worse than an Endbringer alarm.

“CHRIS!”

Missy tore awake with a scream. Raw pain, fear, panic, trauma, all tangled together.

Her eyes were blown wide, her chest heaving, her metallic arm jerking like it had a mind of its own.

I didn’t think… I just grabbed the thread between us.

“Missy! I’m here!”

Her head snapped toward my voice, and that connection between us yanked tight like a lifeline.

Then the whole clinic froze.