Thunder and Webs C119 [Gold]

It's Valentines! Love is in the air, and the corporations are ready to take advantage to steal your money!

Chapter 119: Valentines

February 14th

Mirage

Elsa had woken up to find Ripley had left her apartment, it didn’t take her long to find a lovely breakfast cooked for her and a note saying that he’d left to go make preparations for Valentines.

[Wear something pretty :3]

She giggled softly at the note, Daylight and Midnight fluttering into her vision.

“Oh, I’m glad to see he’s taking his mother’s death so well!” Daylight danced, opening holograms of clothes to figure out what would look best.

“I don’t like this.” Midnight growled. “He shouldn’t be this functional. He should be…”

“Both of you.” Mirage hushed them. “I want you to behave around him… Daylight, find Emily Wilbur’s daughter. Midnight, keep a watch on Ripley but don’t interact with him.”

“Whatever…” Midnight snickered. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid, without access to his Psyche’s Preservation Matrix… nothing stopping him from offing him-”

“Don’t say it.” Mirage ordered.

“Hah, one minute you’re offering us freedom and the next you’re back to executing commands.” Midnight folded her arms. “Fuck you.”

“Just go.” Mirage turned her attention to Daylight as Midnight dissolved into the Net. “Day, look in the foster care system. Emily was an affiliate of Los Diablos, and given the gang’s current instability, her daughter could be… in unfortunate circumstances.”

“Oh, but Ripley’s going to make it better for her! He always fixes broken things! Just like us!” Daylight cheered, dissolving into the light.

Broken things.

Elsa clutched her hands.

She’d already been in his head under intrusion far too many times, she did love him, she wanted the best for him… but she didn’t know what to do about this. Selene was only just ever… a friend he had hopes of more with. His mother, however, was everything he’d been working for… if she did anything to him…

Would he still be the Ripley she fell in love with?

It felt strange to her, for once fearing what his Psyche Feature might do to him, she’d always been under the belief that the act of adapting under any circumstances was the best way forward… but Ripley didn’t think so, and now… she was doubting as well.

It was hours later in the evening when she left the house, wearing a pretty dress that wasn’t unusual for Twilight to wear while piloting her body, purple lip gloss puckered on her mouth nervously as Ripley gave an alert that he was downstairs.

She wasn’t sure what to expect of a Valentine’s date so soon after something tragic, but Ripley stood waiting at the entrance of her building in a fine suit. She’d never once seen him wear a suit. She liked the look on him, his hair sweeping backwards with a nice puff, and even his Shardware was different. Instead of the big, steel arms she’d grown used to seeing on him, he had human-like limbs with only a hint of steel peeking out that created a strange sense of technical luxury on him.

As she approached him, he blushed as he opened the door to a luxury vehicle. “You’re looking gorgeous today, El.”

Warmth crept Elsa’s neck as she took his arm to sit inside the plush seats of the car. He settled comfortably next to her, and she found herself able to speak as usual despite the lingering echoes in her head. “You’re looking like quite the gentleman today.”

“I dress to impress when the situation calls for it, beautiful.” He delicately lifted her hand, plucking a small kiss on her fingertips before caressing the back of her hand. “And of course, a gentleman brings his princess flowers on Valentine’s.”

Tapping a console in front of him, the inner lights dimmed as a compartment opened for a large metallic bouquet of roses, their petals shifting around in a dazzling display of red, blue, violet, black and white. It was just like the flower he’d given her when he first asked her out, but perfected and multiplied.

“I love it.” Elsa said, a giddy flush blooming in her smile before she kissed him on the cheek.

Ripley scratched her cheek with a soft smile, but she could see it in his eyes that his stare was… off. It was like he was looking through her, instead of at her, slightly unnerving yet it paradoxically soothed her nerves to see that he was still… affected.

He coughed, tapping the seat in front of him as the steering wheel lit up pink. “So, my Starry chaperone, mind dropping us both?”

“No problemo, Dad!”

“Oh… hi Starlight.” Elsa waved. She’d forgotten to call Star after her and Ripley… dealt with his mother.

“And before you ask,” Ripley held her hand. “Starlight and I… had a talk. You were right, as it stands we have to be there for eachother, but I know that right now both of us are… grieving. I have you, Starlight has Twilight. It isn’t healthy for Star or me to…”

“What Dad’s trying to say…” Starlight started both speaking and the engine of the car, “is that we need time, and we need friends. I might be a part of my dad’s brain, but that doesn’t mean we always have to poke around in each other’s thoughts. Especially when those thoughts are, understandably… not the happiest, right now.”

“You’re right.” Elsa could perhaps give the most honest answer to that particular statement.

“Oh, crab.” Starlight hissed. “Protest popped up so I need to reroute, you’ll be a bit late… but still on time.”

“A protest?” Ripley leaned forward, but Elsa already knew.

She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Yeah, you’ve been busy so you haven’t seen it… but not everyone in this city is on board with Diana’s crusade against Soul Killer. The recent policy changes and powers given to the police have been… controversial.”

“How come?”

“You know how that… thing is.” Elsa murmured. “To really root out Soul Killer means getting your hands dirty, looking into places that seem innocent on the surface and have very little proof otherwise that there’s something malicious lurking there. With how quiet The Revenant has been… SynTec’s making bolder moves.”

“I see.” Ripley’s gaze hardened, before he shook his head. “But its not our problem to deal with. Let’s just have a nice Valentine’s, okay?”

“Of course.” She smiled at him, before kissing his cheek.

———

Arriving at the restaurant, Ripley and Elsa were one pair of many couples searching for Valentine's luxury. Ripley couldn’t help but mouth in hypocrisy about how it was so obvious that corporations were scamming love-dovey couples, but Elsa teased him for falling for that trick.

“For you, I’d fall for any trick.” He’d responded with a smile. But she couldn’t help feel a sting behind his words.

When they reached the reception, a man whose skin was colored silver welcomed Ripley under one of the aliases Elsa had made for him as part of his bookkeeping. “Ah, Mr. Alberich Tomb, I believe you have a reservation for three?”

“Three?” Elsa squinted.

“I… booked a month ago.” Ripley whispered. “I thought… I’d want to treat…”

She didn’t need him to answer that. He had plans to bring his mother.

“Just two of us here.” He coughed. “Only us two.”

“Very well, Mr. Tomb. Right to your seat, your appetizers will arrive soon.”

The dinner was everything Ripley and Elsa never got to indulge in with the wealth they collected. For once, instead of restocking Shardware supplies, Ripley and Elsa got to stock their stomach with fresh fish, lobsters, farm-harvested chicken and steak — even wines and liquors produced the normal organic way instead of chemically synthesized.

She had to correct him a few times on his eating manners. He’d joke about how she only learned from movies and she’d respond with the fact that at least she learned something. They talked about the food, Ripley’s first experience with organic fish — and a particularly nasty swallow of bones that sent him gagging — while Elsa couldn’t get enough of Ripley’s meaty steak when she’d specifically said she was fine with a salad.

They got to even try out various cuisines the traditional way. Ripley was quick at mastering chopsticks, claiming it wasn’t too different from handling surgical tools, while Elsa stuck with a fork for sushi. They laughed and bickered, held hands and snuck in a kiss or two before calming themselves and leaned on each other with a mild tipsy flush as Ripley drawled on about future expansions to his enterprises.

“A Retrofit Operators on every street!” He waved his hand, “can you imagine that?!”

“Wow, so you’d become the new monopoly on Shardware? Snuff out the competition?” She teased.

“Nope, I’d take the competition to the Founders.” He said with a bit too much bravado in a corporate-owned restaurant.

She shushed him, before he calmed down and began talking about other ventures.

“I’ve been thinking about getting a… new apartment.” He admitted in a low whisper. “And… I know your place is your place, and you’d always welcome me in there, but I have ideas of labs and workshops and all sorts of stuff that I wouldn’t really want to busy you with.”

“Ripley, it’s fi-”

He showed her schematics of the ideas he had. It was not fine.

“Point is…” His hand grew tender despite the steel that made it. “I want to build a… home. I guess, so… maybe the two of us could spend the month looking through apartments, save up for a down-payment for something… nice. And I mean, really nice, like… a touch-below-penthouse-nice.”

“Are you asking me to move in with you?” A surprised, but not entirely hesitant, smirk grew on her face.

“I suppose I am… we already do know a lot about each other and…”

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I mean, I could sell the one I’m in right now, it’s got pretty good market value since it’s right by the Pleasure Lanes… we upsize somewhere a little further, but still close to your clinic. Honestly, maybe a big apartment in some crime scandal or something which we could renovate and make… our own.”

She liked that idea, and she had a bit of a stupider one. “Or I could remind you that I do own a nonfunctional amusement park a few hours away from here. Maybe we could make that a holiday home?”

“Live the castle life, huh?” He smirked. “Let’s put it in our bucket list.”

“We have a bucket list now?” She chuckled. “God, we sound like such… normal people.”

“You’re right… but we’re not.” His smile faded to a thin line, detached from the opulent atmosphere. None of this really fitted them, the high-dining and homeowner stuff. Yet, in a way, it was something they’d both worked to get.

But did it mean anything? Would it change anything? The luxury? Perhaps the thought that it could was the most normal thing about them.

“You’re not normal, Ripley…” She kissed him on the cheek. “That’s what I love about you.”

“Same for you, El.” He nuzzled into her neck. “Want your gift now?”

“Gift?”

He made a hand gesture to the waiter, who brought in a small container that upon opening had… his mother’s necklace. A half-heart made from an Iron Shard with her name on it.

“I was originally working on a new Dreamframe model.” He admitted. “Got distracted… but… I’d like you to have it. If you would?”

“I know how much it meant to you.” She lifted the necklace and let him tie the Livewire around her neck. “And it’s cute… it’s something you made. I don’t really need… all this high-fancy bullshit.”

“Oh, thank god.” He sighed in relief to himself. “You wouldn’t want to know how much this cost.”

She sighed. “Donovick, I knew exactly how much this cost. You’re lucky I pulled us a few strings to get us a 20% discount for all of this.”

“Oh, I love you.” He kissed her deeply.

Once she begged for air and he let go, she reached into her purse and pulled out two boxes. One was the container of Nul-Serums Missy had given her, the other was her personal gift which was a… Datacube.

“Why are you giving me…”

She pushed both into his hands. “The Datacube’s for Starlight, some extra Warpcode that will make her more… independent when the time comes. Otherwise, 19 vials of Nul-Serum, each creating 24 hours of severely reduced Implant usage for someone of your Tier. You should have it. You’d know what’s best to do with it and… when to use it.”

Ripley stared silently for a minute, before his eyes glanced at the collar on Elsa’s neck. “You should have the-”

“No. Keep the remote.” She shook her head. “I know myself well enough that… Missy’s distrust of me is merited.”

Ripley didn’t speak, she questioned in her heart if she wanted him to come to her defense or not. But he was arguably the one person who knew how subtle and insidious her manipulation truly was. He tucked the remote back into his pocket.

Afterwards, they had desert. They joked and flirted some more and Elsa soothed Ripley as he paid the bill. Back home, she rewarded him.

The sex was as great as it always had been. They’d always felt connected to each other and knew exactly what the other person wanted. As they collapsed in the other’s arms, sleep came quick and heavy before she woke up again.

Once more, he had left her with a message that he was back at his clinic.

She took a deep breath, unsure what path Ripley would go down after this tragic event… but she’d trust him. 

She meant it when she said that if they had to fight the world alone, she’d do it with him. 

No matter what.

---

So far, we've been seeing quite a lot of setup. And that is the reason why I ended up with an Act 4, lol. In all seriousness, this Act has one of my favorite sections that I've written so far from chapters 130-140. And the climax is one of those moments I've had in my head for so long.

Next chapter is titled Angels, Devils, and Bureaucracy. Let's say... Archangel visits Retrofit Operators, Starlight assists Diamante in an assassination, and SynTec comes knocking.