Crash and Burn

[Present Day, Night City]

70... 80... 90... 100... 110...

The buildings, cars, and other people flew by at blinding speed, little more than blurs against the backdrop of night as the Arch pulled away from the City and into the Badlands. Despite the open air blasting against Ky's face, he was sweating profusely, and he couldn't seem to keep his heart rate steady. His breathing was uneven, his chest tight, and he just wanted to crawl out of his skin altogether. He hadn't been the same since he was pulled out of that interrogation room underneath Dogtown. A part of his mind was still stuck in Farris' acid dream. The sounds of explosions and jetwash overhead crowded his mind during the day, while bloodcurdling screams and cries for help invaded his very soul at night. He didn't want anyone to see him like this, least of all Max... he loved her so fucking much, but if she knew even a little bit of the monster he was... he couldn't lose her, but it didn't make much sense to run; but what else could he do?

These and a thousand other thoughts bounced around in his mind like a pinball machine as he broke off Crestmont onto the highway leading to the Dam View Overpass. The throaty roar of the engine assaulted his ears as the city passed by on his right, but at least it kept the other noises away. His reflex boosters were the only thing keeping him upright at this point, and he was in no condition to ride otherwise. It didn't matter anyway; if he ended up a smear on the road, at least the shit in his brain would stop... no, with his luck, it would plague him for eternity.

He nearly got his wish as he cleared the damn, cutting too close around a bend as a car swerved to avoid him. He didn't care, he didn't blink, and he sure as shit wasn't going to stop... there!

He ate his own words as he reached his destination, swerving the bike to an offroad trail as he cut the ignition and rolled the rest of the way. The trail led to a small observation deck overlooking the Power Plant and Protein Farms off in the distance. It'd been a long time since he came here. He hadn't really had a reason since joining up with the crew, and especially since he met Max.

The deck was poorly maintained, bits and pieces of the concrete chipped or broken away, entire sections of railing missing; and as always, fucking trash everywhere... As Ky rolled to a stop, he kicked down the stand and tried his best to dismount from the bike without falling flat on his face. As he stumbled and swayed, he held a whiskey bottle by the neck between two fingers. He brought it to his mouth, but before he could take a sip, a pair of headlights caught his attention from behind as a ragged younger male voice called out, "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND?! YOU NEARLY KILLED ME!"

Fuck you.

Ky spun around, his Omaha drawn and readied as he fired two rapid shots into the sand on either side of the man. That was enough to send the man cowering back to his car as he quickly reversed and peeled out and away. Ky was left standing in darkness, holding the iron loosely as he brought his hand up and wiped across his nose, catching a dribble of spit and whatever else, his eyes sunk and dead. His entire posture was slouched as he turned back and continued towards the edge of the deck. Finally, he thought as he brought the bottle to his mouth, the liquid sloshing inside as he guzzled it greedily, followed by a sharp sigh. He looked out and down, admiring the sparkling lights coming off the power plant mixed with the dull and pale blue from the distant farms. He looked up, the stars giving him some small sense of peace as they twinkled in the vast emptiness. It was short-lived, as he lost his balance and fell back, landing flat on his ass. He wanted to laugh at the mess he'd made of himself, but the only thing he could feel was hate and regret, all direct inward. He laid on his back for several minutes as he stared into the void, tears falling and soaking his ears before mixing with the sand and dust; his only comfort was drowning the noises in his head with occasional sips from the bottle. His legs hung over the edge of the deck, his feet grabbing for ground that wasn't there. He was lost in all of it, and he didn't want to find his way... he just wanted to disappear. He didn't want to feel anymore...

--

[Some time later]

You couldn't really call this sleep, as no rest was really had; more of a blackout. Whatever it was, Ky was stirred from it as his eyes shot open and his ears perked to the familiar sound of a tuned Yaiba motor approaching. God damnit, kid... just couldn't stay away, could ya?

The sound of the motor ceased, but the crunch of sand and gravel beneath rolling tires persisted, ever increasing as the bike approached closer and closer. Ky looked back, his view upside down, and was unsurprised to see a black-and-gold sneaker pushing down a kickstand. The light footsteps got closer, and before he knew it, there was Miz standing over him, hands on her hips as she said, "You really are a pathetic piece of shit, y'know that?"

He tried to formulate words to respond, but all he could muscle out was a chuckle and a slurred, "F-fuck you, k-kid..."

Without a second thought, she dropped down next to him, letting her legs hang over the deck as she leaned back and inhaled deep. The air was cleaner out here. Ky fought to put more words together, but the combined dehydration and his stupor were still a force to be reckoned with as he spoke weakly, "H-how'd you k-know whe—"

Miz had a smirk on her face as she looked up to the stars and answered, "You brought me here once, when I was finally good enough to ride on my own. Said it was a place you'd come to clear your head, put things in perspective... figured it was worth a shot after checking every strip joint and XBD club between here and Heywood..."

Ky sucked his teeth as Miz reached for the bottle. He was hesitant at first, but eventually relented. Miz didn't even bother wiping the mouth of the bottle before she took a nice chug from it with a sharp exhale. She handed him back the bottle before she lit a cigarette and took a drag. For a reason Ky couldn't explain, he was suddenly jonesing, and he reached up as he said, "H-hey, mind if I b-bum one from ya?"

Miz narrowed her eyes but obliged him anyway as she pulled her softpack out, "Since when do you smoke?"

He chuckled softly before forcing himself to sit up as he said, "Long time ago..."

He grabbed the loose cigarette hanging out of the pack before Miz held up a lighter. He lit the end and took a drag like an old pro before exhaling through his nostrils. The cool menthol burn lit up his lungs, a sensation he hadn't felt in years. Miz's face changed from amused to concerned, "Hey, what happened to you back there?"

Fuck.

Ky's face changed to pain and regret as he took a long drag, "If I had to guess, Farris was military intelligence, or some type of rear-echelon bullshit... he knows way too well how to break someone, fuck with their hea—"

"Hey, focus", Miz snapped her fingers at him and he swerved back onto the highway with his thoughts... thoughts he didn't want to have, "He broke me... took me back to a time and place I'd tried to forget and leave behind..."

Miz couldn't blame him for feeling like he did; not like she didn't have her own shit she'd love to leave behind. But something wasn't adding up, and she wanted answers, for his sake, as she pressed him, "Ky, you were howling and screaming when we found you... what the fuck did he do to you?"

His eyes clouded over as he looked out over the expanse, "I can't explain it... but he had me in a dark place. I... I did things as a pilot that I'm not proud of... and I've tried so hard to leave it all behind... and he brought it right back and shoved my face in the shit. Drugs didn't help either..."

"He fucked with your head, Ky", Miz tried to comfort him, not buying for one second that her choom was some soulless monster, "He got in there and screwed things all up. I know you... and there's no way you're some ruthless murderer..."

Ky shook his head, trying to sniff up as the tears fell, "I was a fucking tool of the NUSA for five years, how do I know I didn't cause some haggard shit?!"

Miz leaned forward, "There's no way to really know, is there? All the shit we've done, there's no telling what kind of damage happened behind the scenes..."

"Yeah, that doesn't really help, kid", Ky fired back with a chuckle, prompting Miz to sit up and turn to stare Ky in his eyes as she continued, "What I do know is the Ky that I know got shot down because he made a choice to NOT kill. You tellin' me that was all bullshit?"

Ky's head sunk and he looked down and away, a half smile creeping on his face; she was right. He made his choice, and his own team tried to zero him for it. Something wasn't adding up, but Ky's memories were clashing. He knew he made the right choices, and yet whatever shit Farris had shoved into his brain didn't want to let go... he couldn't make sense of it, especially right now, but he needed to do something. He was pulled out of his own mind by Miz grabbing his face with both hands, "Are you or are you not the same annoying gonk that Max fell in love with? Hello-o-o-o?"

He laughed, sniffing up hard as he wiped the tears from his face and asked, "H-How is she?"

"Worried sick", Miz answered, "She wants you back, whatever it takes... might want to sober up first, though..."

Kid has a point, he thought as he looked up again briefly. Miz turned back and sat beside him. There was a low rumble coming from the city, the amalgamation of cars, sirens, people, and everything else all rolled into one. After far too long, Ky finally said, "Hey, thanks Miz..."

She punched his arm, "Don't mention it, choom..."

--

[A few hours later - The Glen, Heywood]

Boosters or not, Miz wasn't going to let Ky ride until he could walk a straight line on his own. It took a few hours, by which point the sun was beginning to rise. It was nearly 06:00 by the time they got back to the Loft apartment. Ky slouched against the wall of the elevator the whole way up, the embarrassment of the last week having set in by now. He held his forehead as he rubbed his brow with a low groan. He knew he was in for a ration of shit, and he knew he probably deserved it, but all he wanted was a shower and to sleep... actually sleep. Try as he might, he could still tell something wasn't right in his mind. But it wasn't his brain... he could feel it in his neuralware. Miz's efforts helped a ton, but he was somehow still getting flashes of memories that weren't his... so, then, whose are they?

He knew he needed to get checked out, but he was too embarrassed to go back to Vik at this point. Maybe Max would take a look, if she didn't throw him out after she tore him a new asshole... no, he needed to stay positive. There was nothing to worry about until there was something to worry about; in other words, just fly the damn plane. Although it's hard to fly when you feel like you're in a nosedive... but Ky had been through worse.

As the elevator approached their floor, there was a smell permeating that Ky couldn't quite place, but his mouth started to water. Miz looked down with a smirk and a blush; Billy was hard at work while they were gone. It was amusing to her how quickly he picked up cooking after they moved in together, considering he could barely boil water when they first met. But that was par for the course for her input; if there was something his mind was set on, not a thing in the world could stop him.

As the elevator finally crawled to a stop, Miz stepped ahead of Ky and slid open the cage doors. Sure enough as they rounded the entrance, Billy was standing tall over the stove, finishing up something in a wok as he strained a pot of noodles over the sink. Max sat and watched him with an amused expression, sipping on a fresh cup of coffee, before she nearly dropped the cup altogether as she ran at the sight of Ky walking in, still in one piece. He tried to get the words out to apologize, but instead had the wind knocked out of him altogether as Max crashed into his chest and wrapped him up tight. He took the moment of peace for all it was worth and closed his arms around her as they stood together for a little while. Miz walked right into the kitchen, giving Billy a hand as he said softly with a smile, "Hey, I'm glad you found him..."

She reached up and gave Billy a kiss on the cheek, "Yeah, me too... he was a mess when I did, though. Didn't want him riding back until he was a little bit sobered up... how was Max?"

Billy's face shifted as he shrugged, "Up all night, didn't sleep a wink. Worried... in her own way."

Miz leaned down, looking up in Billy's eyes, "How 'bout you, Tiger?"

He smiled again, "I'm okay, Em... just glad you're both back."

She took a chance and wrapped herself around Billy's back, squeezing him tight as she watched Ky and Max completely forgetting the world around them. Finally, Ky pulled away slowly, apologizing profusely as he fought a round of tears building up. Of all the people wrapped up in this, Max didn't deserve any of it. She tried to comfort him, but it was clear he was torn up over all of it. Through the myriad of words, she managed to make out, "I need you... to take a look. Something's not right..."

Her eyes widened, and she quickly shook her head; quickhacking enemies or sending target data to the crew's Kiroshis was one thing, but having basically full access to the cyberware side of her partner's brain was another level entirely. It was invasive and impersonal. Not that she was afraid of what she might find, but she didn't want to betray Ky's trust... ever. She looked in his eyes with a genuine concern before finding comfort in his smile as he cupped her cheek and said, "Please... I trust you... only you."

She leaned into his hand as her eyes closed, and a light smile broke on her face. Finally, she looked up in his eyes and nodded, "Wi, cheri... wha'ever you need... bu' first you need ta eat somet'in'."

They let each other go as Ky walked first toward the kitchen before turning in the direction of the stairs, "I can eat later... all I want is a showe—"

Billy caught him off-guard, sliding a piece of perfectly seared and seasoned syn-beef in his mouth before giving a playful smack to his cheek, "Shaddap and do what the lady says, okay?"

"D-Did you ju—", Ky was in shock before he tasted the food and cut himself off. The flavors spread quickly, lighting up his entire mouth into a wide smile as he chewed. Where the fuck... what?!

Billy flashed his teeth, "Hurry up and shower, I'll have a bowl ready for ya."

--

[Fifteen minutes later]

It didn't surprise anyone, Ky being a military man, that it took him less than five minutes to shower. It shouldn't have surprised anyone that it also took him less than five minutes to chow down an entire bowl of Billy's specialty syn-beef-and-veggie udon, even with chopsticks, and yet they watched in awe as he was already halfway through a second helping; to be fair, he hadn't eaten in several days, subsisting off nothing but whiskey and bad memories that weren't even his own. While he probably would have eaten the ass out of one of those Buck-A-Slice styrofoam pizzas in his current condition, his muddled grunts and positive-sounding groans were enough to satisfy Billy that the fruits of his labor of love were actually enjoyed, not just ingested. Max had already asked for the recipe before Ky and Miz had gotten back.

Despite Max's protests, Ky insisted on getting his head looked at as soon as possible. One entire corner of their impressively sized apartment had been converted into her "workroom", with servers, terminals, and monitors lining the walls. There were trunks of cables shooting out anywhere and everywhere, and yet all of them were neatly bundled into trunks and tied off. There was a method to 'Mad Max's' madness, as she sat at her desk with a half-finished bowl of udon and clattered away on several different keyboards, her eyes flashing blue and cutting between monitors with lightning speed.

Ky sat a few feet away, having set down the now-empty bowl as he took a deep breath and exhaled with a grotesque burp, "...oh... sorry."

Miz and Billy shook their heads with a shared chuckle. Max had Ky hooked up by his personal link with another cable running directly to the interface port behind his ear. His own eyes flashed blue as she went to work, scouring through his neuralware for anything out of the ordinary. She stopped at odd intervals, her eyes cutting back to him as he assured her to keep going. So far there was nothing to cause any conce— Mèd, dey it is!

Before their very eyes, Ky doubled over, screaming in pain as he grabbed his head with both hands, his eyes glitching between red and blue. Max flew away from her keyboards to check on him. Between the slew of profanity and otherwise incoherent shouting, it was painfully clear to all of them, whatever Max found didn't belong there. As much as she wanted to comfort him, she needed to see what was happening on the screen, her eyes darting back and forth between the two. Miz read her mind and took a seat at the desk, trying her best to decipher what she could see on the displays. Before her eyes was a readout of the file structure on Ky's neuralware, and a representation of his 'ganic brain with various sections highlighted in different colors; it took her almost no time to figure out the color-code. It was a multi-dimensional representation of which directories his neuralware interfaced with which parts of his 'ganic brain... and there were references and links to some encrypted block everywhere. In the file structure, it just appeared as a uniquely-colored 'file', but its counterpart in the brain-map looked more like a tumor with veins spreading throughout. It was a virtual cancer, spreading and infecting everything it touched.

Miz stepped back from it all as she placed a hand on Max's shoulder and said, "Babe, you need to see this... I think we have to call Vik on this one..."

Max fought it with every fiber of her being, but she forced herself to turn away from Ky as she looked at the terminal display. Her face turned to stone as she confirmed, "Wi, it gon'ya take both o' us to clear dis out... can ya make de ca—"

They were cut off by Billy stepping over to the window, his eyes orange as a holocall pinged, "Hey Vik... yeah, it's worse than we thought... I'll flash you the deets... okay, see you soon, thanks."

He returned with an airhypo canister in hand, pushing Ky up and back as he surveyed the veins bulging in his choom's neck. Whatever was happening now resembled more of a seizure than anything, as Ky's entire body was convulsing, drool running from his mouth. He looked to Max and said, "I'm sorry, but he doesn't need to be awake for this."

Max nodded firmly; she knew Billy was just looking out for Ky, and was honestly impressed at his calm demeanor about it all. He carefully cradled Ky's head as he pressed the canister against his neck; a hissing sound escaped in a small cloud before the body calmed almost immediately, and Billy was able to hoist him over his shoulder. Miz gathered a few supplies, including one of Max's handheld decks, and they all made their way out of the apartment.

--

[Vik's Clinic, Urmland Street, South Watson]

Early morning meant almost no traffic on the roads, and they were able to reach Urmland Street inside of fifteen minutes. Granted with the way Billy drove, Max's hair likely would have turned white if she didn't already regularly shave her head. He wasn't a bad driver, but he possessed none of the grace that Ky commanded behind the wheel. Still, what matters is he got them all there in one piece.

Vik was ready, nearly waiting in the street for them to arrive, and wasted no time in getting Ky on the table and strapped in. He didn't want to, but he was more interested in Ky's wellbeing and keeping everyone else safe in case of another episode. He'd spent the time since Billy had called him reviewing the data sent over; he already knew what they were looking at, and it infuriated him. And yet he still had to explain it to everyone else...

He had just finished another round of sedatives as he spun around in his chair to meet expectant eyes and said, "He's got a long road ahead of him, but he will be okay... Max, I'm going to need your hands on this one..."

Max stepped up, presenting the handheld deck Miz had grabbed earlier, "Wi, wha' I can do?"

"I've got him jacked in on his personal link, so I can keep him under and monitor his vital signs", the older 'doc said confidently, "I'll need you plugged into his interface port to do the heavy lifting on his neuralware..."

She nodded with a light smile, finding comfort in his tone, "You take da meat, I take da metal."

Miz stepped forward cautiously, not wanting to interrupt them. Vik motioned her to come closer as she asked, "I saw the readouts on Max's terminal... what is all this, Vik?"

He sat back in his chair with a deep sigh as he considered his words carefully, "...you familiar with how a braindance works?"

She nodded and he continued, "So, the gist is each BD is tuned to harness all five senses and really immerse you in whatever it is you're watching, right? ...well, what they've done to our favorite good-natured wiseass is directly implant someone else's memories inside his neuralware. They've been tuned like a braindance, and they encrypted the block holding the data. Problem is... they also wrote a script linking it to all the different memory centers of his 'ganic gray matter... so try as he might, he's forced to experience these flashes, and it's getting harder for him to distinguish what's his and what's not."

Miz's hand curled into a fist as she muttered, "Those bastards..."

"Yeah, this is some next-level evil shit", Vik called back with another sigh, "Problem is we can't just go in and zap it. It's wormed itself into his systems like a cancer. That's why he started seizing as soon as Max found it. We have to induce a coma to keep his brainwave activity stable and manageable, then Max here has to 'shut down' his neuralware and try to clean it all up offline."

"What's the risk?", Billy asked, stepping behind Miz as she leaned into him. Vik shook his head, "Ain't a walk in the park, kid, but it's better we found out now than later, before the trauma actually scars his psyche permanently."

"What if we hadn't found this?", Miz asked, "What if he'd just kept on the path he was on?"

Vik shrugged his eyebrows and shoulders, trying to not talk out of his ass. After too long, he gave as best a speculative answer as he could, "If he was already suffering an identity crisis from this, eventually his mind would simply reject any memories, his own or otherwise. He would likely slip into a psychotic dissociative state and lose himself completely, and given his training and background, that would probably end in a feral rage. He'd be operating on pure instinct with no idea who or wha—"

Max reached over, placing her hand on Vik's arm. The look in her eyes was a silent plea, begging him to stop. She couldn't bear the thought, and he realized his error as he said, "...sorry. Got carried away... okay, let's do this. You two can stick around or wait upstairs."

Billy planted himself firmly on a table in the corner, Miz curling up next to him. They'd come this far, and they were committed to seeing it through. As if to validate their actions, Vik turned his head one last time and called out to Miz, "You made the right call, goin' after him. Probably saved his life."

Miz smirked as she nestled into Billy's chest with her eyes closed and sighed, "Then... I guess we're even..."

Vik flashed his teeth as he turned back to Max and pinged a call directly to her, "Give them some quiet... you ready?"

Max nodded, "Wi."

There was a light whir of machinery springing to life as Vik tapped a few keys on his primary display. A stream of liquid ran through a clear tube, ending its journey to a needle taped into a vein on Ky's arm. Vik watched closely, monitoring the blood pressure, heartrate, and neural activity. His eyes were locked on the screen as each readout decreased slowly and he counted backwards from ten on Ky's behalf. Just a little more... there!

The screen dinged with affirmation as Vik spoke up in the holocall, "He's under. Do your thing."

Another nod as Max went to work, tapping multiple keys with multiple fingers on her deck. A larger screen connected to the deck showed a readout of Ky's systems, followed by a power-off procedure in a terminal window. Once she confirmed his systems were offline, she opened another terminal window and tried to find a way to mount his flash in a way that she could traverse and manipulate it. She felt uneasy about the entire procedure; for one, if she wasn't careful, she could kill him or render him a vegetable. The other reason is she just didn't like violating her partner like this. She knew he would tell her it was fine, but she still didn't feel right doing it.

She needed to focus, as she saw Vik giving her a stare. The 'doc could see right through her as he said, "Stay on target, you can do this... you have to do this."

Max took a deep breath and continued her dive into the file structure. Vik passed a color-coded readout of Ky's brain over to her screen, similar to what they were looking at earlier in the apartment. A few clicks, and she had the filesystem color-coded to match, prompting a smile as she said, "...mèsi."

Thanks to this, she was able to retrace her steps fairly quickly, arriving to the same spot as previously. She elected to stay one directory up from last time, not wanting to cause any spikes or complications, as she passed her terminal session over to Vik's screen, "Das de source. I's encrypted, high-level, bu' you can see wha' it links to in de rest of de system."

Vik nodded, "The tangled webs... there's a special place in hell for whoever wrote this little payload... so any attempts to crack it while live causes a surge in the system, hence the seizures Ky was having..."

Max's eyes narrowed as she watched the gears churning in Vik's head before a smile crept on his face and they locked eyes, "C'mon, Max... where have you seen this before? An encryption system that worms its way deeper, shifting and changing... most importantly, counter-attacking the host and any foreign agents..."

Her eyes widened this time as it all came back to her. She was looking at a biological carbon copy of the same ICE she encountered during the H10 job. And perks for them, they had already isolated the bug from crawling deeper into Ky's systems, implant or 'ganic. Neuralware was no different than a computer at its bare bones; the only difference being it was designed to interface directly with an organic brain to assist and augment, but also to bridge the man-machine interface of flesh and chrome. But boiling it down, it was a computer, and it still relied on a network to be able to communicate. In this case, the body's own network: nerves, blood stream, synapses. All of it was crucial to the neuralware functioning properly, but since the implant was offline and Ky's brain was also more or less 'shut down', the bug had nowhere to go.

As for the encryption, Vik was already digging through a directory on his own server of scripts and crackers he had accumulated over the years before Max shook her head, "Le'me twy somet'ing firs'... if Militech go' dey hands on 'Saka ICE, no' likely dey had a chance to re-base de algorithms..."

Vik smiled, pulling his hands away from the screen, "Do your thing, kid..."

Max dug back through her own files, taking a moment to applaud her 'digital packrat' tendencies. It didn't take long to find files dated back to the H10 job, not with her cataloguing system. She located the decryption key and took a breath, holding it in for a few seconds before lightly exhaling. Vik gave her a gentle hand on her shoulder and nodded as she pulled the trigger and watched the progress on her deck. Her jaw clenched more and more until she nearly jumped for joy at the ding and green indicator. The key worked, and the encryption was unlocked, leaving the data block unprotected. She looked back to Vik, himself smiling wide as he turned to watch Ky's vitals before giving a thumbs-up. She was in the clear to do what she needed.

--

[Some time later]

The clearing of the implanted data took no time at all, but Max was insistent now on dotting every 'i' and crossing every 't' with Ky's neuralware before Vik woke him up. Every diagnostic she could run said things were clean. Even booting his neuralware up produced no issues, although without an awake and active brain to interface with, it was all academic. She was hesitant; on one hand, she wanted Ky back so bad it hurt, but on the other hand, she was petrified by the notion of having missed something and rendering Ky a vegetable anyway.

By this point, Pops had joined them, taking a seat at Vik's desk. Miz and Billy had both managed to catch a small nap, having excused themselves into the alley for a smoke. Vik did his best to reassure Max that they'd done everything they could, but it was ultimately her call to wake him up. She held Ky's hand tightly as she took a deep breath and exhaled sharply before nodding to Vik. It was time. He nodded back as he punched a few keys on his display. One of the tubes running to the IV siphoned itself as another began to flow in its place. He kept a careful eye on the vital signs, watching them increase steadily as the fluid entered the veins and began its journey. Max watched Ky's face intently for any signs of life.

After almost a minute like this, his eyelids fluttered before opening slowly, assaulted by the overhead lights. Were he not strapped down, he would have likely tried to shield his face. Vik placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, "Blink if you can understand me..."

As an act of protest, Ky did no such thing and instead said, "...y-you're not my real dad...", prompting a laugh from everyone present. Max let it all go, tears rolling down her face as she gasped with relief and leapt to Ky to hold his face. His eyes focused on her, "H-Heya, baby..."

She placed her head against his chest as she quietly sobbed tears of joy and held him. Vik pressed on, "I'm not undoing the restraints until you play ball, dig?"

Ky sighed and said, "Y'know, normally Max is the only one I let tie me up. You going to give me a happy ending too?"

Vik scoffed as he held a pen-sized flashlight over each eye and said, "Yeah... promises... follow the light."

The merc obliged, following the penlight up and down, left and right, and blinking when asked. Vik nodded as he released the restraints, "Good, now slowly move your arms and legs... and tell me your name, when were you born?"

Ky chuckled as he moved all four limbs, curling his hands into fists and back, "You know my name, and that's just rude."

Vik was starting to show his frustration before Pops stepped up, kicking the edge of the examination chair as he said, "Y'know, I still owe ya for the poker buy-in..."

There was a confused look on Ky's face as he leaned up towards Pops, "The fuck you do! That was four years ago, and I... I used the money... to buy my Arch..."

Pops' mustache flared as he smiled to Vik, "Kid's fine, 'doc..."

Vik shrugged and backed away as Ky leaned back, "Man, what the fuck happened to me...?"

Miz's voice trailed from the stairs as she walked back in the clinic, Billy only a pace behind, "You decided to go full asshole, and I had to kick the shit out of you for it."

Ky laughed before his face contorted as he looked to Miz, "Y-You found me... over by Lookout Point... y-you stayed with me until I was able to ride back safely."

Miz walked over as she placed a hand on Ky's chest, "Now we're even, choom."

Ky squeezed her hand gently as he smiled. Vik cut back in, handing him the usual airhypo canister as he said, "You know the drill... Max was able to clean your neuralware of any nasty shit left behind. You may get the occasional flash until your brain scrubs it completely, but you should be back to... you... in a couple days at most."

There was a warm air between all the crew and Vik, until Ky had to ruin it, "Did I fucking hallucinate or was Billy cooking on my stove?!"

Yeah, he's back.

--