Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by Priapus, Beans
The Celestial Punk
Chapter 05: Long Term Plans
– Panam Palmer –
She'd been wrong.
Their pants had, in fact, not stayed on.
As Luis laid down in the lowered driver seat of her ride, she gasped quietly as she ground her pussy along his length. Her pants were hanging off the passenger seat, her thong pulled aside. It- it was fine, she still wasn't putting out and this felt better than grinding through several layers of clothing. She was not some blushing virgin, anyway and it had been a while for her.
Yes, she was not so unaware to not realise she was already making excuses for why she'd been the one to push past the limit she'd set for them. Luis was just happy to go along for the ride, wherever she was taking them. He was a very relaxed type of person, rolling with the punches.
Ironically, if he'd tried to push her to go this far she'd have shut this down before her top had come off. Instead, he'd just played along as she convinced herself to go further and further. Oh, and kept his hands firmly on her backside no matter what happened. Her breasts were practically suffocating him at times and still his hands remained planted on her ass.
"You are such an ass man," Panam laughed through heavy breaths, feeling her own pleasure building as she slid her wet womanhood along his cock. He had nothing to be ashamed of, with a nicely sized dick.
"I'm Latino," Luis replied simply. Panam paused for a moment, considering his point, before snorting. "And your ass puts even the Heywood girls to shame."
"Fair enough," Panam agreed with only a little smugness. "But it is hard to grind with your hands glued to my backside."
Grabbing them, she moved his hands to her breasts with a sly grin as she began to speed up her movements. She knew her nipples were rock-hard, his fingers gently playing with them.
"I am not made of glass. No need to be so careful," Panam advised, wondering if Luis was a virgin. He seemed hesitant at times, but experienced at others. He'd definitely fooled around with some girl, but he still seemed inexperienced. Not that he wasn't a fast learner, and she already knew how talented he was with his hands. "I like a little roughness."
"Got it," Luis agreed, giving one of her nipples a light tug as she gasped before grinning down at him encouragingly. For a moment, he seemed to zone out and she laughed instantly.
"You're wondering if I'd have minded you spanking me, aren't you?" Panam gasped, her tone growing heavier as her climax approached. "You are such an ass man. And no, I wouldn't have minded."
Seeing such deep regret on his face, she took pity on him as she manoeuvred around so she was facing away with her ass on full display for Luis. He was lucky he was so cute, as she let out a small moan as his hand instantly struck, causing her buttcheek to jiggle.
As her climax approached, she gasped and leaned back against his chest, kissing him as her body jolted and shuddered. It was one hell of a climax for just some grinding, and as he was still hard, she smirked and slipped out of his lap, twisting herself so she was kneeling under the steering wheel. No doubt a familiar position for many a Nomad. They lived in their cars, so it was no surprise that they fucked in them too. More Nomads had been conceived in the backseat or bent over the hood than in a proper bed.
Grasping his shaft, she gently stroked it a few times before taking the tip into her lips. She was sure he'd forgive her for taking his new favourite toy out of his reach for a while as she began to bob her head, pleasuring him. The salty taste of his precum was mixed with her own juices, but she was not deterred as she fondled his balls and maintained eye contact. Given how long they'd already been playing around, it was no real surprise that he wasn't going to last as he tried to withstand her ministrations for as long as he could. It was a valiant effort, but not one that had any chances of succeeding.
As he sighed in relief, she gulped down the first spurt of his seed as she pulled her head back so she was only holding the tip in her mouth. Continuing the suction, she didn't pull away until she was well and truly convinced that he was spent, not wanting to get cum on her car.
She had seen some Nomad rides under a blacklight and it was a truly horrifying sight to behold.
"Damn," Luis sighed, running a hand through his hair as she wiggled out of the legspace.
"Indeed. Hand me my trousers, please," Panam requested, watching him shuffle over to the passenger seat so she could retake her place, their joint search for their discarded clothes continuing. How had his t-shirt even gotten out of the sunroof? "We should head back to camp, before they send out a search party."
"Probably. I've got some missed calls from Jackie, probably noticed I disappeared," Luis agreed, giving her an appreciative look as she wiggled back into her bodysuit.
"Down boy, that's enough for today," Panam teased.
"For today means there's a chance for more, right?" Luis replied with a cocky smile. It didn't look quite right on him, and she was willing to bet he'd copied it from Valentino guys he knew.
"I told you, I'm not that kind of girl. I do not do one-night stands," Panam agreed, sending him her number. "Though, you will be returning to the city tomorrow and I'm often on the road. More so now that we're smuggling again."
City folk and Nomads rarely dated for a reason. Their lifestyles were just not compatible. The clan could just move on to another city at any moment, especially if Saul's idiotic deal fell through.
"So, friends for now?" Luis asked, once again rolling with the punches. He did seem a little disappointed at the reality of things, but not enough to argue. He wasn't going to leave his life behind for a girl he met today, nor would she change her life for him.
"A bit more than friends, a bit less than lovers," Panam corrected. "But we can talk about that in the morning. Saul is 'requesting' my presence, sounds downright polite for once. And your party will be wondering where you are."
"Oh, I'm pretty sure they know. Jackie's last message had six different winky faces," Luis explained as she laughed.
"Of course," Panam snorted, turning the car back on and driving home. The conversation petered out to a comfortable silence as Luis looked out of the window at the Badlands as it flew by. Some wolf-whistles filled the air as they returned to the party, both dishevelled, but most minded their own business beyond some teasing words. Luis was almost immediately grabbed by Jackie, the large Latino beaming proudly as he forced a beer into Luis' hands before absconding with him. Panam laughed at Luis' face, the very model of an introvert knowing his social batteries would not survive the night, before she moved on to find Saul.
As Saul explained what he'd learnt, what V had told him, Panam tried really hard to not say she'd told him so.
But she had told him so, and failed to not look utterly smug as Saul admitted that he was wrong and that she was right.
As she thanked V, she didn't miss the look V gave her and realised that she'd probably stepped on some toes here. She didn't overly regret it, though. Luis was single, she had done nothing wrong. For tonight, she was just pleased to have things going right for the clan once more.
– V –
As the others began to wake up, she smiled to herself.
Luis and Jackie woke up late, both hungover, but her counterintel cyberware let her function with little sleep and dealt with the issues that came with too much alcohol. She couldn't even get drunk without wanting to.
Letting them stumble around and get some breakfast, she called for a team meeting after they were fed and watered. Luis seemed the most awake, while Jackie looked like the walking dead after how much he'd had to drink.
"What's up, chica?" Jackie asked with a grumble, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Nothing bad, don't worry. I just wanted to talk about our long-term goals. I know you want to be NC Legend, Jackster, but the corpo in me needs more of a plan than 'take jobs, be badass'," V explained with a soft laugh. "And to tell you that I sold the other cars, besides the Merrimac. Dakota Jones bought them, a little cheaper than I could have gotten elsewhere but she's an Aldecaldo so she's good for it and I got some information out of the trade as well."
"Nice. You don't waste time," Luis praised, leaning against the hood of his Mackinaw. "So, I take it you have ideas on how we should go about this? We work well together, as far as I can tell, so I see no reason not to keep this going."
"I've got some ideas, yeah," V agreed with a small smirk. "Firstly, I've signed us up as NCPD subcontractors. It's easy money, mostly, and we don't have to respond to reported crimes but it's an easy way to pick up some extra eddies and street rep."
"I heard about that, something about the police not having the staff and hiring out contractors," Luis agreed, frowning slightly. "Can't say I love working for the pigs."
"Don't worry, we can ignore crimes connected to the Valentinos. Like I said, it's just free money for hitting the other gangs," V reassured them, seeing some of the tension leave Jackie as well. They might not be Valentinos, but as Heywood residents, they didn't want to be on the Tinos' shitlists either. "And we're not working for them. Trust me, even I wouldn't be willing to sign up with them. We're just taking their money. They've got plenty of subcons, but with Luis' tech and rides, we could respond to most crimes before anyone else has a chance to. Like I said, easy money and it'll give us information on the other gangs. You can't say you wouldn't like to get paid by the city to fuck up some Maelstrom or Sixth Street assholes."
"Fair enough," Luis nodded. "I doubt we'll see much in our neighbourhood. The Valentinos keep the other gangs out of the Glen as best they can."
"That leads to my second point. If we're doing this, I think we need a place of our own. No offence, but legendary mercs don't live in their mom's house," V pointed out, seeing Jackie go to respond before he snorted. "And I think it should be out here."
"Wait, you want to move into the Badlands?" Jackie asked, and she could tell this was going to be a hard sell for the two Heywood boys.
"Hear me out first. I'm not saying we leave the Glen. Luis has his own place there, Mama Welles is there and so is her bar. What I'm suggesting is that we get a base of operations outside of the city for our merc work. A place where Luis can do his own work without prying eyes, away from any corp. Somewhere we won't step on the toes of the Valentinos by getting too big in their backyard," V explained. "I know Raul and Padre have been looking out for Luis, but as he gets better, and he is getting better, it's going to be harder and harder to convince the Valentinos to accept this independent contractor deal. If we don't want to end up with a fight on our hands, we need to move him away from the temptations. I spoke with Padre and he agreed with my analysis of the situation. Respect and your brother's position are only going to go so far, especially when intel about Luis' power spreads, and it will. We can't say it'll stay secret if Luis stops to heal every injured person he comes across."
"I don't heal every injured person," Luis replied before sighing. "But she's not wrong Jackie. It feels like half of Heywood knows that the 'Saint' operates out of Mama's bar. I don't want any attention coming to her. I take it you have a place in mind already?"
"I do," V agreed. "That's what I got from Dakota. The Corp-Bud Cement Factory, long abandoned. It's a frequent hideout for Wraiths in the area but it's currently empty as far as Dakota knows. It's in Sierra Sonora, to the south. Just east of the Laguna Bend Reservoir."
"Won't the corps take offence to us moving in, abandoned or not?" Jackie pointed out, still frowning slightly.
"Normally yes, but give me some credit, Jackie. I do know what I'm doing when it comes to the corps, at least," V replied with a sly smirk. "So, Corp-Bud used to be everywhere, you could find a dozen abandoned Corp-Bud projects in the Badlands in a day of driving. Long story short, they tried cutting costs and accidentally caused one of the biggest ecological disasters in Mexico's recent history. Sank an island, caused massive damage to the coast, displaced millions. They're on a downward spiral, with little chance of stabilising."
"I think I heard about that. Stealing sand from the ocean near Mexico or something," Jackie mused.
"Yeah, pretty much. Now, the North American Environmental Protection Agency just outrights sinks any Corp-Bud ships that it sees. Like I said, they're spiraling and will probably fall apart in a decade or two. The point is, they don't have the manpower to care about us and are eager to divest themselves of useless abandoned projects. I contacted a mid-level exec to discuss outright buying the factory," V explained.
"Can we afford that?" Luis pointed out.
"Normally, no. Badlands property values are in the ground, but it's still a large factory and the surrounding lands. In this case? Yes. Long story short, I made the exec think he was dealing with an Arasaka agent," V laughed. "As far as they know, Arasaka wants to use the building to create a base of operations to counter the heavy Militech presence in the Badlands. The exec wants to jump ship from the sinking Corp-Bud and agreed to a far more affordable price in the hopes of getting a better chance at getting into Arasaka. Frankly, my read on the guy is that he's going to take the money for himself and ditch Corp-Bud entirely, aiming for a corp that has a better chance of existing in a decade."
"Typical rat," Jackie snorted. The fact that they were conning a Corpo had improved his mood.
"How much?" Luis asked, frowning to himself. She gave him the price, getting a low whistle from Jackie. Even lowered, it was not cheap as it was the building, everything inside it and the surrounding area. She'd negotiated the man into the dirt, pointing out that it was a blight on Corp-Bud due to the Wraiths often taking it over, and that Corp-Bud didn't have the manpower to clear them out or reclaim any of it. Plus, the gear had been picked over by scavengers a million times by now. The entire factory had become defunct thanks to the railway being shut down. In any other situation, she'd have had a much harder time but she'd picked a corpo who had all the signs of wanting to jump ship for this. She wasn't a counterintel vet for nothing. "I can buy it."
"Wait, you have that much?" Jackie asked, and V was partially surprised as well. She was going to set up a payment plan with the guy as a way for him to siphon the money but if Luis just had that in his private account that changed things.
"The Valentinos pay me well. I get 1% of any smuggling profits in exchange for making and maintaining the vans. And Gizmo has been making a true fortune," Luis admitted. "It'll nearly wipe my savings, to be honest, but it could be worth it to have a place to call ours."
"Why don't we take a drive and look at the place today, before heading back to the city?" V suggested. Jackie was still hesitant, a city boy through and through, but looking to Luis he sighed and then nodded.
Saying goodbye to the Nomads, she spotted Luis chatting with Panam and Iris, the look of irritation on Iris' face as Panam gave him a kiss goodbye. He left with two numbers, but she wasn't sure he'd noticed Iris' interest. She was sure that Iris wasn't going to leave it at that, since Panam was scared to commit. That worked well for her goals.
Driving the Mackinaw so Luis could drive the Merrimac, they took the trip to the abandoned factory, parking up in front of the closed gate, covered with graffiti.
"This place is a dump," Jackie said, looking inside the abandoned security office in front of the main gate. It was completely walled, except for one place where the walls had fallen from years of decay, but the main systems still functioned as she accessed the security and opened the gate. Inside the walls, two main buildings stood, along with three smaller ones, a bunch of shipping containers and some long abandoned cranes. Machinery and materials just left abandoned for years, too heavy for the common vulture to pick clean. Behind the main building, the old quarry stood, filled with no doubt toxic water as Corp-bud decided to ensure nobody could work their quarry after they were gone. "Not exactly a place I could bring Misty, you feel me?"
"It's a dump, now," Luis pointed out, looking around. "But the location is good. Remote, easily defendable. We could turn that big building into our home away from home."
"And the second biggest building was where they worked on their machinery. It's already got half a garage workshop still inside, and I can buy the rest that you'd need. We can turn that building into your garage and workshop."
Luis looked to the building, which was connected to the main one by a second floor bridge, before he headed inside, examining the place. It was spacious enough to place both the Mackinaw and Merrimac inside, plenty of room for his tools, any machinery he wanted, with an upstairs area that could be converted into his living space or a workshop for weapons or anything else he wanted to make.
Jackie looked disappointed as Luis gave the place his seal of approval. If he wanted to make more and more advanced stuff, he couldn't do it in a Valentino garage without… complications and she knew that the idea of having his own place to work on whatever project he wanted.
The main building was a mess, old machinery filling the space, trash and graffiti everywhere. It was very much a fixer-upper, needing time and effort to make into a livable space but she could envision it as a far more comfortable and secure space. There was even a fairly vast underground section that she could convert into her Netrunning space and operations area.
It was too big for just three people, but if her plans worked out, they'd grow in time. Luis was going to be too valuable for the corps to leave alone, and they couldn't fight the world with just three people and a dream. No, she needed to build something that would give the corps pause.
This was the first step.
"How the hell are we going to clean this place up?" Jackie finally asked, realising that he was being outvoted by the two people who actually had money. Luis would have to foot most of the bill, if they wanted to buy it outright which was less risky, but she still had a chunk of change from Jenkins.
"I was considering hiring the Aldecaldos to help strip the place down," V explained. "Luis can go over it all and work out what is worth keeping or can be dismantled for parts, and the landfill isn't far from here. Nobody is going to notice more trash in the mountains of garbage. Some paint to get rid of the graffiti and corp markings and this place could turn out nice."
"I can make a water filtration system to turn the flooded quarry into a genuine source of clean water," Luis pointed out. "And I've got some ideas for the security as well. We've still got those guns from the Wraiths, right? I can make new turrets, with enough parts."
"What about your place, Luis? Just gonna leave it empty?" Jackie asked.
"Hm. Why don't you and Misty rent it? You keep talking about moving in together, and you've wanted to move out of Mama's spare room for years. Can't ask Misty to move into your little garage space," Luis pointed out. Jackie went to respond, before trailing off with a thoughtful look. It was a genuinely nice apartment, better than most their age could afford.
"You sure, Luis? That's your parents' place," Jackie pointed out hesitantly.
"Nah, my parents place is in the North Oak Columbarium. Keeping their room looking the same ain't gonna make them magically come back," Luis said bluntly. "I've been considering moving anyway myself. I'll borrow one of Raul's trucks to move the furniture I want to keep here, then you and Misty can take over the place for a while and see how it goes."
"...do you think Misty would like it?" Jackie asked after a moment.
"The last time you brought her over she said the place had a 'good aura' so… hell if I know," Luis shrugged. "But I know she doesn't like her current place. Something about her landlord?"
"Yeah, fucking creep. She was two days late on rent and he suggested she pay the late-fee on her knees. He's lucky Misty wouldn't let me grab him for a talk," Jackie scowled. "Now that Vik is renting out the backspace of her shop, she's doing better for Eddies but it's not like her shop is uhh… well, you know."
Jackie hesitated, not wanting to point out that Misty's Esoterica and Chakra Harmonization was extremely niche and by extension not overly profitable.
"Well, I hope she'll like her new landlord better. Just cover the utilities and the place is yours for as long as you want it," Luis offered. "Talk to her. I'm moving out of that place either way. Misty and Mama Welles both told me to after Mom died, but I didn't listen then. Even Raul offered to let me crash at his place instead."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll do that," Jackie agreed, clearly growing more and more fond of the idea by the second. "Maybe Mama will finally accept that Misty is here to stay if we move in together."
"Eh, she only ever saw Camilla's nicer side and doesn't understand why you dropped the toxic bitch," Luis shrugged easily. "I'm telling you, you should just tell her what went down."
"Ahh, Camilla and her family still come around the bar. Ain't worth the trouble," Jackie waved off. It sounded like there was a story there, but V knew when to stay quiet because Luis was doing more to convince Jackie of this plan than anything she had said or done. "Fine, fine. Gonna be weird to be living out here half the time, but the Nomads are good guys, and I could get used to seeing the stars. Hell, maybe this will be a place I can bring Misty. Get a tent and a little campfire going, yeah."
"Sounds like you're going to get her back into horoscopes again. Good luck," Luis snorted. "So, you guys wanna go to Mama's bar tonight and celebrate our first successful job? Maybe tell her the news that we're moving?"
"I can arrange everything with the property. Can probably have it all signed and sealed by tomorrow. Like I said, Corp-Bud is eager to regain something from all these failed projects," V agreed, excitement bubbling inside her. For once, she didn't have her cyberware stamp it down.
"I'm going to have a look around, mark out what is worth keeping and find out what we're going to need to make this place run again. I can do all the tech work myself, wire it all back up, even make a new generator that'll power the place if you can get me the parts," Luis agreed, looking around with an expert eye. "I won't lie, it's going to be expensive to get the parts I need to make the garage and workshop. I can make a lot of it myself, but the parts aren't going to be cheap."
"But worth it. Hell, you ensured we'd have the Aldecaldos as customers yesterday," V pointed out. "It's an investment, and one that I'm sure will pay itself back tenfold in no time. Dakota hinted at wanting to hire you to work on her drones, and the Fixer of the Badlands is one hell of a customer to have. We might even be able to buy a lot of the pieces through her, in exchange for some work."
"We're really gonna do this, huh?" Jackie asked, his former reluctance being swept away by the growing excitement.
"One day, this place might even be the next Afterlife. The place to be for Mercs," V pointed out. "All legends need a strong foundation under them, and this is the start of ours."
As Jackie called Misty, V escorted Luis around as he examined the discarded tech, before Jackie returned with a beaming grin on his face and put those muscles to use helping to move the stuff Luis wanted to strip down to the garage.
Between them, they made a shopping list of stuff they'd need for the renovations and their job. She was the team Netrunner and sniper, as neither of the boys thrived at long range. Luis was the driver, medtech and techie, and both she and Jackie agreed they didn't want him near the danger. You didn't put your medtech on the front lines. Jackie was the heavy weapons guy, and he'd need some armour and defensive cyberware since he was the one in the most danger.
As they talked, she noticed that Luis would almost zone out as they talked about certain things, a thoughtful look on his face. She'd watched him enough to know that he was considering if he could make the stuff they needed, and the idea of Saint-made cyberware almost had her salivating from two pairs of lips. Luis was an undeniable genius and she wanted to see him take that big brain of his into every single industry and make the corps beg for his attention because they were too afraid to fight him outright.
In her ideal world, they'd get so big that Arasaka and Militech would come to them begging for Luis' tech. The image of Hanako Arasaka and Rosalind Myers being sent to honeypot him made her grin wildly, giggling to herself at the idea. Was it likely? No, but it was very funny all the same. And the fact that the idea was merely unlikely instead of utterly insane told her just how much she valued Luis.
Sure, Myers was the president now, rather than the Militech CEO but she was so deeply tied with Militech that there was barely any difference between Miltech and the NUSA. If one was looking at you, so was the other.
And they were bound to come across Militech's desk at some point, operating in the Badlands. But that would work in their favour slightly. Every corp expected every other corp to spy on them. Arasaka would assume she was with Militech, Militech would assume she was with Arasaka, and both would shrug it off as just part of the game until it was too late. Militech didn't want the Corpo war to begin again, so they wouldn't actively act against a possible Arasaka asset in the Badlands as it wasn't officially their territory and the land was bought legally. Corps could play by the rules, but only when other Corps were involved.
And she was going to exploit the ever-loving shit out of that little flaw.
– Luis Ibarra –
Once again, V is the one with an actual plan. Every time she starts something, it shows me how much me and Jackie really didn't have a plan for what we were doing. I'd never have thought to become an NCPD Subcon, and I would have stayed in that apartment forever, working from Raul's garage.
100cp granted. 100cp total.
Feat Achieved: Panam's Booty, 100cp granted. 200cp total.
But legends don't live in their parents' old place. If we're going to do this, and do this properly, she's right that we can't be hanging out in Valentino territory.
Sitting in El Coyote Cojo, at a table Mama 'reserved' for us, I look around as Jackie dramatically tells the tale of our glorious success with only a few dozen embellishments. Mama rolls her eyes at his dramatic retelling, making him pause before altering his story slightly to make it clear how safe we were definitely being. Yeah, she'll definitely believe that we're the very picture of caution Jackie, it's not like she knows us both better than that.
Even Padre made an appearance, though he doesn't drink much anymore. Liver problems, and he's too stubborn to buy a new cybernetic liver. Hey, I had to get my bullheadedness from someone.
"I thought you were trying to be careful with your powers," Misty says quietly, her words lost to the music and Jackie's boisterousness. Despite her words, she doesn't look overly judgemental but Misty never does. I think her serene nature is what drew Jackie to her after a series of admittedly crazy latina girls, finishing up with the crazy Cuban that is Camilla. Raul put money on her putting Jackie in the hospital. She almost did, but Jackie's fists are equal rights and equal lefts and he knocked her ass out.
"I normally am, but they would have died. I could do something about it, and the Aldecaldos seem like good people," I shrug, not really having an explanation myself. Yes, I wanted to impress Panam but I wouldn't have risked my life just for her, no matter how great her ass looked in riding leathers. "Letting them die for nothing but a chance to keep my secrets a day or two longer felt shitty."
Misty smiles at that, bumping me with her shoulder.
"That's because you're a good guy, Luis. I'm proud of you. If even a tenth of the city felt the same, Night City would be a far nicer place," Misty explains. "I know you don't really believe in these things, but your karma will thank you."
"That'd be nice," I snort, drinking my drink.
But this is Night City, and Karma hates us. We start with heavy negative karma for the crime of being born in Night City, apparently. Maybe I should ask Misty if there's some negative karma leyline or whatever under the city. It'd explain a lot.
As if to prove my point, the door bursts open to a shout. Seven guns are aimed at the desperate guy who bursts through, and I think I vaguely know him as Marlon Fus- something?
"The Saint! Is the Saint here?!" Marlon asks desperately blood on his suit. Mama rises, moving over to him with a worried look. "My daughter, my Rosita, she got hit and she's- she's bad, we don't have trauma team and I don't think I can move her."
The bar goes quiet, several people 'subtly' glancing my way. Glancing around the table, Jackie shrugs and V sighs before giving me a soft smile and a nod. Draining my drink in a single go, I rise from my seat.
"Where is she?" I ask calmly.
Time to get to work.
— Bonus Scene — Misty Olszewski
She really shouldn't have followed them. She knew there was a chance that this was a trip, despite Mr Fuscino being a regular at the bar. The corps wouldn't hesitate to use people familiar to them, either with bribery or blackmail as the method. V and Jackie clearly knew it, weapons drawn as they watched over Luis as he knelt besides the badly wounded girl.
Several Valentinos were lurking nearby, hands on guns, and it felt like half the bar had followed them to the scene, three streets away. She'd already been bleeding out for a while before her father managed to find her, in a bad state. Most medtechs would just shrug and call the time of death, even if she was still technically breathing. Luis wasn't most medtechs, glowing with power as he sent waves of golden light into Rosita's body, her limbs moving back into place, her skin regaining colour.
People knew about the Saint, but this was the first time in Luis' career as a healer that he'd been working in public, with an audience and cameras watching him. For the first time, people could see him in person, to see that it wasn't just a rumour.
She bit her lip, ruining her black lipstick slightly, as she looked around at the crowds, seeing the shocked and awed faces.
They were seeing Luis for what she already knew him as. Something more than human. It was amusing to her that someone, something, so clearly superhuman was a skeptic. Whatever the source of his power, she had no doubt that Luis was sent to right the karmic balance, to heal the city, maybe even the world.
He'd come to her for answers when it became clear that it wasn't technology, and she'd turned to the one thing she knew. Her tarot.
The Sun, representing joy, success, and vitality. The Star representing hope, healing and inspiration. The Magician representing ingenuity, resourcefulness and talent. The Wheel of Fortune, representing fate, luck, and destiny
And finally, the Ten of Cups.
Harmony, joy, love, and family
She'd never seen a Tarot so undeniably positive, and it made her curious as she reached out to other people who enjoyed the art of divinations and discovered something truly awe inspiring. Every single method of foretelling came out with the same results.
Luis was always seen as a force for good, in a world that seemed destined for darkness. So, was it any surprise that she all but worshipped him? Was it any surprise that she'd cling to this single spark of light in a world full of darkness. Looking among the crowd, she wondered how many others would come to see Luis the same way, and how many would try to abuse this power for their own ends.