Tired, you raised your head as a flash of lightning shattered the darkness and turned night into day for a second.

It was not uncommon for rockets to be fired over Dogtown. Sometimes this was because the Barghest were hunting cargo aircrafts that were forced to fly over Pacifica. This occasionally resulted in a few nice additions to the Black Sapphire's coffers.

But on this day, it wasn't just any ship you saw burning in the sky. Sheets rustled as you rose. It was cold in the flat. Kurt had turned up the heat before he left. You had switched it off again.

You didn't even realise why exactly.

Taking a deep breath, you sharpened your visual nerves and a sharper image appeared in the distance. A white space plane could be seen in the sky. Flames and smoke rose from the broadside, it seemed to have lost its course and had to make an emergency landing.

There were no large areas in Night City where such an aircraft could have landed. Not just like that without permission. The only two airports belonged to Militech and Arasaka and they did not share.

Only for very large sums of eddies. Such that you could have built your own runway.

Lazily, you rubbed the sleep from your eyes. It didn't take much to know who was responsible for this impending crash. Or who owned the aircraft.

"Kurt, you bastard.", you hiss through clenched teeth.

With a swing, you threw your legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. Soft sheets fell from your shoulders, brushing along your back.

You stared at the crashing plane with red eyes as you sent a command to Six to perform a scan. An error message appeared in your field of vision. Sourly, you pulled a face and let out a growl.

That's right, you had sacrificed Six to get to the mainframe of Cynosure. He had been practically fried through. Nothing more could be saved, not even the wickedly illegal Arasaka chip you had installed a few years ago.

You were still convinced that you could have overwritten the system if Kurt hadn't interrupted you. In truth, you'd probably be dead now if he hadn't done it. But you didn't want to admit that.

The defeat hurt your ego too much. And it only drove the madness further into your mind.

How much time had you lost?

How little was left?

All your life you had been able to solve all problems yourself, whether by force, fear or pure skill, it didn't matter. But there had never been any limits. That's why you had begun to believe that there was none. At least not for you.

The higher the flight, the deeper the fall. And yours was so deep that it threatened to break your neck.

Hissing, you put a hand to the back of your neck. There it was again, that miserable feeling that always ate into your flesh at the most inopportune times. It was like a ticking time bomb, a reminder that there was no escape, no immortality.

Thanks to Kurt's iron rule over Dogtown, it had almost felt like that. Almost as if you were immortal at his side. Like no one could touch you, not even Myers.

Shit, you could have fought the entire NUSA if only he'd helped.

And now?

Now he had flown so close to the sun himself that he was assassinating the President of the NUSA. Simply because he could. If there was a limit to the power one man could have, he had exceeded it.

And he wanted so much more, you could feel it. So much higher, so much more powerful. Until the world was no longer enough.

And yet.

Although what you two were about to do resembled madness, there were no doubts, no regrets. At the end of the day, you were only human and greed was powerful.

Although that wasn't quite true.

Kurt was not greedy but power-hungry. He did all this because he was firmly convinced that he could do better. Not nicer or more honest, but better. And Dogtown was an impressive prime example of this.

Especially the Black Sapphire.

The thought sent a shiver down your spine. All this was an empire like no other. And you and Kurt were king and queen, tyrants with iron rule. And all that was threatening to crumble because he attacked the fucking President.

As if it were just another daily business.

Shivering, you watched as the billows of smoke grew higher and higher into the sky. Flames coloured the sky red.

Even though everything was so far away, you thought you could smell cinder mixed with ash and the acrid smell of aircraft petrol. Suddenly it tingled in your arms, crawled down and made your fingers tremble.

Myers would be down there in the distance. Maybe she was wounded, bleeding like a dog. Maybe she would try to buy her freedom, fight until she couldn't anymore.

Your hands clenched into fists. All at once the cold was gone and a heat boiled inside you like it had been strange before. Hate fuelled the fire at your core.

At that moment, all plans, all restraint, were shattered. You wanted to kill her, scratch her face and feel her blood on your skin.

You wanted to hear her beg until there was nothing left but whimpering. And then she would die without honour or at your feet.

Yes, this end would be compensation enough for everything she had demanded over the years, all the orders and knives she had tried to ram into your back.

A deep breath escaped your lips. Calm drowned the rage, extinguished the fire and left everything steaming like lava turned to stone.

Patience. It had taken seven years.

You wouldn't destroy this gift Kurt gave you with an overheated head just like that. Silently you thanked him, running your hand through your (H/C) hair while your dark eyes rested on the pillar of smoke and fire.

It smelled like war. And you answer its call.