Chapter Text
2076, Timeline 1
Night City
The sun started its ceaseless march into the smoggy sky over two men sitting in a Thorton Colby. The car idled next to the mildewed back wall of a Buck-A-Slice pizza joint, its windows rolled down in a feeble attempt to rid it of the stench of congealing almost-pizza and stale cigarette smoke. Angry and discordant electronic music wafted out of the window, and a briefcase full of Eurodollars- real paper Eddies- sat in the back seat. The driver sat hunched over the wheel, trying to set fire to a Eurodollar with a lighter. An unlit cigarette dangled limply from his mouth.
"Fuckin Eddie not lightin. Fuck is with this shit?"
The driver's friend chuckled and took a long drag from his cigarette, not bothering to sit up from his reclined seat. "Can't light em on fire. Made outta some kinda resistant polymer or some shit."
"Like fuck they are! They light a cig with an Eddie in most of the Bushido movies, yeah?"
"Gonk shit, trustin a movie like that. Probably just got a pile of old Eddies or had someone print fakes."
"We got a pile of Eddies now, just wanna live the dream yeah?"
"You're the gonk with a pile of cash lying around for anyone to klep. I took delivery digitally." The other man tapped a finger against his head.
The music faded out, and the driver put down his lighter. "Shut up for a sec, 'kay."
"I didn't say shit," the passenger replied.
"Shut up-" the driver began again, then the radio roared to life.
"Gooood morning Night City! Last night's Body Count Lottery came out to a lean, mean seventeen." The driver cheered a little.
"Job cashed out twice! Gonna get an-" the driver said, only to get glared at by the passenger.
"You said shut up, so you shut up." The passenger said, and they fell silent again.
"...gang violence, no surprises in Heywood tonight." The radio continued. "But in City Center we have a real shocker, folks. Corpo blood on the pavement in broad daylight. You better hope they just pissed off the wrong manager, or else we'll all be staring down some seeerious haaaardware!"
"And we're the gonks that hardware will be for, see?" The passenger said, leaning back in his seat again.
"Like hell it will, this is some real corpo cash, yeah? None of our problem." The driver said.
"...and Pacifica still never changes. This has been your man Stan! Join us for another day in your city of dreams!" The radio concluded.
The driver finally managed to set an Eddie on fire, and he cheered, fumbling his cigarette in the process. His companion chuckled to himself as the sunrise heated up another scorched Night City morning.
Elsewhere, there were two bullet-riddled bodies cooling in a morgue, and secrets that were supposed die with them. But that's just the price of business in Night City.