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Cyberpunk Edgerunners: The Rebel Path

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Cyberpunk Edgerunners: The Rebel Path by Auxmas 365 is a crossover/Elsewhere Fic featuring various characters and elements from across the Cyberpunk franchise, primarily Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

Adrian Walker isn't special. And he's perfectly okay with that.

Despite living in the urban cesspool that is Night City while being a high-school dropout and (somehow) ex-gang member, Adrian and his sister Maya have been able to lead relatively normal lives thanks to the efforts of their hardworking delivery-driver mom Willow — sure, things might be tough, and eddies are always tight, but they've got each other: a lot more than many have in this rotten city.

But then, Willow brings home the gun. Not one of the mass-produced firearms carried by every gangoon with more than two brain cells to rub together, but a Malorian Arms 3516: a truly legendary piece of iron, and something that raises an awful lot of questions about where, and how, a seemingly-ordinary woman was able to find such a thing. And before these questions can even begin to be answered, Faraday, a slimy, sinister suit with four eyes, arrives to destroy everything Adrian has ever known.

Escaping with Maya by the skin of his teeth, Adrian is left with a missing arm and eye, his home burned, and his mother dead. Then, the siblings are rescued by a mysterious figure from Willow's past: a grizzled, older man fitted with a distinctive black cyberarm. He presents Adrian with a simple choice: accept a stack of cash for the pistol, and go on to live a quiet life in the margins of the Dark Future; or learn from him how to run on the Edge, and become the newest merc looking to make it in the City of Dreams, taking up the lost weapon and wreaking bloody revenge on the Corpo-rats who upended his peaceful existence.

You can probably guess what he chose.


This work provides examples of:

  • Ace Custom: M's preferred weapon is the Malorian Assault Cannon — a devastating one-of-a-kind Super Prototype assault rifle that fires miniature homing rockets, noted as a precursor to Cyberpunk 2077's Smart Weapons. Of course, like his cyberarm and other equipment, it's a sleek matte black.
  • Affectionate Nickname:
    • Rebecca refers to Kiwi as "Birdie" on a couple of occasions. She's not so keen on it.
    • Adrian sometimes calls Lucy 'Rainbow,' in reference to the layered, pastel colors she dyes her hair. She didn't appreciate it much at first, but it seems to have grown on her as her friendship with the mercenary has deepened.
    • Rebecca sometimes called Adrian 'Shoulders,' in obvious reference to his relatively broad shoulders. He was a little weirded out by it at first, but has come to accept it as a sign of affection from the short woman.
    • Kiwi started calling Maya 'Little Ms. Turtle' as a reference to her prodigious use of, and preference for, ICE and defensive Net protocols over most other forms of Netrunning, to the point that it has since become her main Net handle. She still resents the nickname a little, but has since adopted it into something all her own.
  • Alliterative Name: Rebecca's last name is Reynolds, which she considers "a shitty last name that makes me sound like some comic-book bimbo".
  • Arch-Enemy: Faraday, to Adrian and Maya. If killing their mother and leaving them to die in a burning building wasn't already bad enough, his sneering, callous attitude towards the whole affair was what really cemented his place at the top of Adrian's list.
  • Asshole Victim: Adrian's gigs and quest for revenge leads him to flatlining a lot of rather unpleasant people.
    • Dealing with Scavs is considered closer to performing a public service than it is to murder. And for good reason.
    • Jotaro Shobo, the Tyger Claws boss and "Devil of Kabuki" featured in Cyberpunk 2077 as an assassination target, is encountered by Adrian while performing a gig for Kiwi. After completing his task, he accepts Regina's bounty on the murderous rapist, then patiently waits outside the building in order to blow his head off with a Sniper Rifle.
    • One of Adrian's revenge targets, a Corpo-brat named Shinji Takeda, also turns out to be a paedophile and rapist who was keeping images of his twisted tastes locked in a safe in his apartment. He doesn't last long, with Adrian noticeably not even bothering to give him the chance to live if he showed genuine remorse for killing his mother and leaving him and Maya to die in their burning house, the way he had with his last two targets.
  • Awesome, yet Impractical:
    • The fic goes into quite a lot of detail to explain why the ridiculously overpowered Hand Cannon that is the Malorian 3516 has a serious set of drawbacks. For one, it cannot be fired without cybernetics, and completely shatters Adrian's arm when he tries doing so. It requires Abnormal Ammo which is expensive and can be procured only from specialists, and, most importantly, it attracts attention. If word gets round about a Malorian, it will cause thieves and/or Glory Hound mercs to hunt down Adrian for a chance at obtaining it for themselves.
    • Adrian's Super Prototype cyberware, the Dead-Eye Combat Analysis Regulation & Assistance Device, is also this, to an extent. It provides its user with a limited form of Bullet Time and data with which to gain the upper hand over an opponent, but can only be used for limited periods, otherwise it will overheat and fry the user's brain. It becomes less impractical over time as Adrian gets to grips with the device, accidentally unlocks it's onboard AI, installs heat sinks, and discovers other hidden functions.
  • Berserk Button:
    • A horribly, horribly unfortunate Maelstrom gangoon makes the fatal mistake of calling Rebecca a "loli". Everyone else steps back in horror, and Becca swiftly kills him via a vicious No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
    • M has two. The first is bringing up a certain failed job that seemingly went bad so catastrophically that he doesn't even want to think about it.note  The second is using Soulkiller. When President Elizabeth Kress, who he had served loyally for many years, proposes using it on his protegé Wendy (Willow), he, without hesitation, helps her flee and contacts a Netrunner friend (implied to be Spider Murphy or even Alt herself) to purge every trace of the deadly algorithm from NUSA servers.
  • Brooklyn Rage: M, as in Cyberpunk canon, originates from Brooklyn, and still has the accent.
  • Cool Old Lady: At one point, Adrian and Rebecca go for a date in Japantown at a cafe whose rather formidable proprietor has strenuously resisted contributing to the Tyger Claws' Protection Racket, and threatens some of their gangoons with a shotgun when they try and menace her.
  • Does Not Like Guns: Willow, who, despite the dangerous nature of Night City, seemingly never carried a gun or tolerated them around the house, which is another reason her bringing back the Malorian is such a shock to Adrian.
  • Dramatic Irony: As the (probable) grandson of Santiago Aldercaldo, Adrian is also the (probable) grandson of Rogue, which explains why the "Queen of the Afterlife" seems to have an unusual amount of time for him.
  • Enemy Mine: Adrian's first job for Meredith Stout is to recover some lost Militech data from a well-fortified Sixth Street hideout. To even the odds, he's able to recruit some of their deadly rivals the Valentinos to help him out by bribing them with the prospective loot.
  • Famed in Story: Adrian gradually makes a name for himself in Night City as "Redhand" with a reputation as a cool, competent professional, which isn't all that surprising given that he is being trained by the greatest Edgerunner in history and has taken to it very well.
  • From Hero to Mentor: Adrian's teacher "M" is none other than the Living Legend Edgerunner Morgan Blackhand, who is passing on his skills to the young man (and acting as an occasional Parental Substitute) due to some as-yet-unknown connection he had to Willow. He notes that he's trained up several other students previously, however, including Willow herself.
  • Gotta Kill Them All: Played with. After a chance encounter with one of the Arasaka goons who helped kill his mother, Adrian obtains the names of the other Mooks and plans to track down each and every one. However, if, like this first victim, they genuinely regret what they've done, they can live: otherwise, their skull is destined to become Pink Mist courtesy of the Malorian.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Played with. Technically, an Arasaka executive named Williams is actually responsible for everything that happened to Adrian and his family, having dispatched Faraday to recover the Malorian which Willow (presumably) stole from him. However, it's Faraday who decides to 'cut corners' and destroy the Walkers and their home rather than bother conducting a proper search for the weapon. Sure enough, when Adrian actually crosses paths with Williams, he subjects him to the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique to gain more information about what happened on that fateful day, but quickly decides he's Not Worth Killing as he's just a rich jerk who wanted his trophy back, and delegated the task to Faraday.
  • The Gunslinger: Adrian's primary shtick as an Edgerunner. Thanks to Dead-Eye and M's instruction, he is a lethal shot with almost any firearm you care name, but is generally weaker, although by no means hopeless, in close-quarters combat.
  • Heroic Lineage: Adrian and Maya are descended, in a manner of speaking, from no less than three Night City Legends: Morgan Blackhand (adopted "father" of their mother Willow), "Nomad" Santiago and Rogue Amendiares (parents of their father). Both seem to be following in their forebears' footsteps.
  • I Call It "Vera": Adrian names all of his (many) firearms, most prominently dubbing the Malorian pistol "Calamity". M is skeptical towards this.
  • In Love with Your Carnage: Adrian Has a Type, and it's "women that could kick his ass". Especially prominent with his primary Love Interest Rebecca, given her love of violence, and in her case the feeling's mutual as well.
  • In Spite of a Nail: David's first encounter with Adrian leads to him calling the mercenary for help after his and Gloria's car accident. She survives, but ends up in a coma, leading Adrian to cover the hospital fees — and David to run off and get the Sandevistan chipped anyway as he struggles to think of any way in which he could pay him back.
  • In Which a Trope Is Described: Each chapter is preceded by a brief headnote to this effect.
  • It Began with a Twist of Fate: David Martinez's story is irreversibly altered when he gets winged by a stray bullet during one of Adrian's Cyberpsycho takedowns, causing him to be brought to Vik's for treatment. Adrian gives David his contact in case he gets into an emergency again, which ends up saving his mother's life by allowing the Edgerunner to take Gloria in for treatment by Viktor instead of the shady back alley clinic that may or may not have killed her in Canon.
  • Kick the Dog: Richard Grant, the Lazarus executive attempting to recruit Adrian, shows himself to be a Jerkass when he insults a receptionist who refuses Adrian entry to their office and threatens to call security, claiming she "isn't paid to think". Especially so given that the whole thing was set up as an unsuccessful ploy to psyche Adrian out and show off Lazarus' capabilities.
  • Lethal Chef: In the first chapter, it's noted that Adrian tended to do all the cooking in his household: Maya simply couldn't be bothered to learn how to prepare anything other than instant noodles, while Willow was able to "burn water".
  • Mugging the Monster:
    • A gaggle of passing Tyger Claws thugs attempt to shake down Adrian, unaware he is a mercenary. Their leader eventually threatens to rape his sister, which ends as you might expect.
    • In Chapter 52, Adrian and M are in London for a mission, and while enjoying a meal at a pub, three Exotic thugs barge in and start antagonising Morgan Blackhand and his protégé, who ends up wiping the floor with all three of them in a Bar Brawl.
  • Noodle Incident:
    • When beginning firearms training with M, Adrian is incredulous at his mentor's claims that, in the right (or wrong) hands, a BB gun can make for a lethal weapon. M can only shudder and mutter something about "so much blood..."
    • Rebecca apparently once played a 'prank' on the rest of Maine's crew using flashbang grenades. Her comrades visibly cringe at the memory of it.
    • Finally, there's one example which is decidedly not Played for Laughs: when M is contacted by "Operator", she mentions a job of M's which seemingly turned into a colossal clusterfuck that he barely made it out of alive. He immediately warns her to never even think about bringing it up again. Considering that job left this impression on M, it must have been unimaginably bad. Chapter 50, perhaps unsurprisingly, seems to confirm that it was the 2023 Arasaka Tower raid.
  • Offended by an Enemy's Indifference: Implied. Adam Smasher is determined to be The Rival to Morgan and obsessed with killing him in a Duel to the Death to prove that "Metal is better than meat". Morgan, ever the pragmatist, would rather just stay the hell out of his way, infuriating Smasher to no end.
  • One-Letter Name: Adrian's mysterious rescuer and Edgerunner instructor goes by 'M'. That's because his real name is Morgan Blackhand, the undisputedly greatest Solo of all time, and he prefers that nobody calls him that to avoid attracting attention, especially that of a particular murderous full-Borg who will almost certainly cause trouble if word gets out that his nemesis is currently in Night City. This can lead to a minor case of Continuity Lock-Out for anyone not familiar with the Cyberpunk backstory.
  • One-Man Army: Given his age and profession, M's status as such was essentially guaranteed, but Chapter 48 depicts him slaughtering over 200 Raffen Shiv marauders: his biggest concern during such was running out of ammo.
  • Ordinary High-School Student: Adrian and Maya are both this at the start of the story, though more of an "Ordinary High-School Dropout" in Adrian's case.
  • Parental Sexuality Squick: David is mortified when Gloria starts hitting on Adrian — who doesn't even notice, at least not initially.
  • Press-Ganged: Adrian's competence as an Edgerunner eventually catches the attention of the Lazarus Group, who attempt to lure him into their ranks with the offer of Executive Excess. When that doesn't work, they resort to blocking him from getting any new gigs, and eventually plotting to kidnap Maya, at which point Adrian has to get M to scare them off at the cost of a favor.
  • Retired Badass: It quickly becomes apparent that Willow was not always a delivery driver: for one, she manages to take out several of Faraday's goons when they attack the Walkers' apartment, and for another, she knows how to get in touch with, and has thus won the trust of, the fabled Solo Morgan Blackhand. How she managed this, exactly, has not yet been explained. It's eventually revealed in Chapter 49 that she was Morgan's protegé and surrogate daughter, an orphan he rescued from a Raffen Shiv raid who went on to serve with the NUSA's Black Ops alongside her mentor. She was forced to flee to Night City after she proved so effective that President Kress planned to use Soulkiller on her to help train new operatives for the FIA.
  • Sink-or-Swim Mentor: Discussed. M has no small amount of contempt for people who use this method of "teaching".
    M: Whoever the fuck thought that was a good way to train people is an idiot of the highest caliber.
  • Spared by the Adaptation:
    • Thanks to having Adrian's contact information from when they met before, David is able to save his mother by calling the Edgerunner, allowing him to get her to Viktor's for proper treatment instead of the shady back-alley clinic in Canon. Gloria has lost an arm and is comatose as a result of her injuries, but it's still a sight better than being dead.
    • And again, with Sasha, as in this timeline, Michiko Sanderson saved her life in order to recruit her into Danger Gal, so she's merely Faking the Dead this time around.
  • Stone Wall: Maya decides to begin training as a Netrunner, and turns out to be something of a prodigy — especially due to her skill in creating ICE that even experienced Netrunners find to be exceptionally resilient.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: At one point, Adrian is kidnapped and his car is stolen by Scavengers and is in the process of being gutted for parts by the time he's able to break free and turn the tables on his captors. He decides to have some modifications made to the vehicle while it is in the process of being repaired to make it faster and tougher. This takes a full month and a half — no instant repair-jobs here.
  • Vetinari Job Security: Morgan Blackhand is still working for the NUSA despite the fact he is plausibly and correctly believed to have helped Willow and her husband desert from Black Ops and organised the purge of Soulkiller from their servers. Thing is, he's completely irreplaceable.
  • Walking Armory: At any given point, Adrian will be carrying between three and six firearms depending on the job at hand. How he manages to do this, lacking any strength-enhancing chrome to boot, is somewhat of a mystery. This is Lampshaded later by Song So Mi when he's using all his weapons to perform an accuracy test.
    So Mi: Gotta ask. How the hell does he manage to lug around all that iron without keeling over? Or losing his balance? It’s gotta be heavy, and he’s while he’s not a twig, he’s definitely not a body builder either.

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