*Full cyberware list at the end of the chapter.
------
Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
The trio of lenses fitted into my new left Optic narrowed in focus, the scanner suite within giving me a far more detailed picture than its predecessor as I began operating on my newest patient.
My [Artifex Mk1.2 'Terebrus' Mechadendrite]* whirred into position as I rapidly listed through its selection of precision titanium drills in my head, and satisfied with the second-smallest one I pressed it into the barely blooded spinal cut.
No natural bone was damaged as I slowly sheared away at the slightly molten ends of the overused Sandevistan, removing the parts that were rapidly making the young man on the operating table go cyberpsycho by literally burning his synapses out from within.
The last bit of molten hard plastic was pulled out by my original manipulator, before my [Artifex Mk1.1 'Secutor' Mechadendrite] moved in with its scalpels to cut away at the things I could not simply drill away, and did so perfectly.
Exactly as it was designed to.
Within minutes, the murderous mess of an implant was removed wholesale and I brought out the replacement ordered by the man's parents.
A simple and efficient cybernetic spine made to work specifically with his current selection of cyberware. Nothing more, nothing less.
Not a particularly exciting challenge, but at least it showed the wisdom of my current customers.
Unluckily for the man in question, said customers had neither the money nor the trust needed for me to break out the nanites, so I proceeded with a simpler if equally refined process.
Namely I began knitting his nerve endings to that of the new spine with my hands and dendrites, all the while my [Occulus Mk2 'Oraculum' Optic] ensured I did not miss a single connection.
The work was tedious in the extreme, and yet there was nothing in this world I liked doing more.
Finally being able to focus on pursuing my craft and passion in full was beyond liberating, and the previous month had been the most restful time of my life despite the rush of customers Jugo threw my way.
Even if I couldn't truly breathe easy before I dealt with the scare I got from the Militech gig.
An issue solved by simply increasing the armoring across the entirety of my body, as well as making the isolation of my energy system far more robust than it was previously, and then adding redundancy to top it all off because the threat of death was for meat.
And meat I was not.
Only when I finished designing and fabricating my new heart, the [Cor Mk2 'Fulgur'], a previously tiny circulatory organ and now a full backup generator that could restart my entire power system within less than a second, did I begin actually letting myself relax in truth.
Despite the threats lurking on all sides, just waiting for the time to pounce.
More and more fights were breaking out all across Watson, and multiple raids had been conducted by the 'rogue' elements of both the Tygers and Maelstrom, but neither side wanted to be the first to make the big move, and so their conflict remained relatively cold.
This was not a threat to my life per se, but definitely one to my peace, even if the constant stream of profit from my Tyger Claw contacts made me practically swim in eddies.
The threat that actually intimidated me came from the Tygers' own bosses, namely from within the massive tower looming over the heart of Night City.
Arasaka.
When the daemon I had burrowed deep inside V's OS pinged me about her snooping I was sorely tempted to simply wreak havoc all over their systems without a care about the consequences to the woman in question and be done with the whole issue.
I knew without a doubt that she would at the very least die for the crime of inconveniencing the megacorp but I found that at the moment I did not particularly care. She was the one to poke the sleeping bear and thus had to bear the consequences of that choice.
My hand was stopped in the last second when she failed to actually press the issue, and instead hid the information about me while giving me a perfect in to outright delete all of it without drawing attention by piggybacking her clearance codes.
I of course had to delta from the tower's systems immediately after that, as the shackled AI they had watching over the place was beyond terrifying and I wanted nothing to do with those things.
Making things blow up in her face would have been the safer option, but I was no thankless coward, despite her less than honest motivations, and one good turn deserved another.
I supposed time would tell with her, and I'd hopefully not have to tell Jackie about frying his choom, even if it gave me a fresh source of worry I could have really done without.
Aside from plotting, and working on my craft, I did not stop doing mercenary work, even if I did greatly reduce the amount of gigs I did to something more reasonable by normal mercenary standards.
Regina Jones had no worthy gigs for me, what with my connection to one of the sides of the conflict she was no doubt greatly profiting from at the moment, and so most of the jobs I did do I did directly for Rogue.
Of course, expecting another big job like the Militech heist was utterly idiotic, as gigs like that were exceedingly rare even at the highest echelons, and instead she had me going on the usual edgerunner grind of stealing, killing, threatening, and coercing my way into a quick payday.
Except I was paid much better for it this time, at the cost of some discretion in how I did things.
Besides, mother said I shouldn't coop myself up in my workshop all the time, and cleaning up Scav filth from the streets was good for the soul.
And admittedly, shooting up scum with Rebecca was always fun.
Had to get her out of the house somehow, lest she become a true couch potato, even if her chipper ways tended to bring up mom's mood most of the time.
She liked that damn big TV more than I did at this point, and the collection of old movies I got was not helping.
Shaking my head, I finished attaching the final nerve cluster and began scanning the patient to make sure everything was in order, before grabbing a large syringe from a nearby shelf with my mechadendrite and inserting it in the back of his neck.
The scans showed the expected reaction and I allowed my focus to dim and addressed my guest "So. Thoughts?"
Beside me, Vik rubbed his chin and whistled "Haven't seen things done this way for decades." And then eyed my mechadendrites, the tips of which were currently going through their cleaning cycle in a nearby sink while I kept observing the startup of the boosted healing just in case.
"The new ways are less invasive and far more time efficient, true." I nodded along "But they are also less precise. And I don't like imperfection in my work."
The veteran ripper chuckled "So long as you know what you are doing kid."
The flat look I directed him with told him all I thought about that.
He shook his head before turning serious and looking pointedly at my back "You sure those things are safe, Mike?" He asked slowly "You know inhuman cybernetics aren't done for good reason."
Said reasons being the supposed detachment from humanity they induced, and thus leading into inevitable descent to cyberpsychosis.
"And you know." I countered without looking "That I was never particularly attached to my humanity to begin with, Vik."
He frowned and crossed his arms, worry clear on his face.
Rising my free hand to forestall his response I added "Besides, they are controlled by subroutines I spent days programming and weeks perfecting, their pressure on my actual neural network is minimal, and I don't keep them active at all times."
"I still don't like it." The veteran ripperdoc said after considering my words only briefly "Do you take them off from time to time at least?"
Done wiping my hand with gauze and pure alcohol, I pointed at the thin backpack-like implant hidden under my coat "It is made to be easily removable, but I've seen no need to do that so far."
Went unsaid was that I did think about removing them whenever I was with Rebecca, but she seemed not to mind them at all, so I just kind of forgot about the whole idea after the first time.
"Good." Vik nodded "From now on I want you to remove them every time you go to sleep."
"But-"
"No buts, Michael." He said in his 'doctor' voice "You know damn well that believing you can take all the chrome load in existence is just asking to have it blow up on you at the worst possible moment."
His voice turned less stern as he looked me in the eyes "You are a bright kid, and even if you think you know you can keep going like this indefinitely, why risk it?"
We stared at each other for a long moment, but it was ultimately I who broke first.
"Why indeed..." I muttered while looking away before slowly sighing "I suppose I've just come to accept them as part of myself, and the thought of wearing them like clothes seems odd, even if I know you are right."
"Well then." Vik smirked lightly "It is a good thing you have more self control than to fall for something as simple as that, right?"
Thankfully I was able to hold down my wince "Yeah. Right. Of course I do." Damn it.
"Good." He nodded in satisfaction, a brief flash of relief in his eyes "Now if only all my other patients were as good as listening to what I tell them."
Smiling wryly in turn I shook my head but said nothing.
There was a good reason I still talked to him about my work from time to time, despite being infinitely more knowledgeable about the depths of cybercraft than he was.
Sometimes you just couldn't beat experience, and as much as I disliked the meddling, I knew damn well he was right.
A light groan drew my attention back to the patient whose anesthetics were supposed to last at least ten seconds longer than that, and I quickly noted down to account for the surprisingly large effect such little change in mass had on the dosage.
"Don't move just yet." I told the slowly awakening Asian man "Eyes open. Good, follow my hand please-"
-----
The doors to my workshop slid open as I pushed the wheelchair bound man outside, the sole person waiting for him in the hallway I had recently had refurbished into a proper waiting room standing up with wide hopeful eyes.
She quickly schooled her expression when she saw me looking though, and calmly approached the young man, crouching in front of him and resting her hands on the sides of his dazed face.
Seeing his muted reaction, she looked up to me questioningly, but not quite threateningly just yet.
"Peace, Shimitsu san." I said before she could throw some stupid accusation at me that I'd be obligated to throw back "He is still drowsy from the medication but I assure you that the operation was a complete success."
"Yeah." The man rasped "I'll be fine kaasan, don't worry."
"Hush, you foolish boy." She snapped and then visibly held back a barrage of other choice words for her less than wise progeny, waving for me to follow her some distance away from the patient.
She held her emotions down with respectable competence as she spoke up "How bad is the damage, really?"
"He was lucky to end up in that shootout when he did." I said, making her scowl "That Sandevistan was of poor quality to begin with, obselete decades ago, and whoever installed it did a competent but rushed job, which just exacerbated the whole thing. And that is without mentioning the overuse."
The old woman bit out a curse in Japanese, no doubt naming the man that was likely soon to be murdered ripper, before focusing back on me with a cool tint to her voice "Continue."
'Almost forgot this hag was a Tyger as well' I thought wryly "His overuse of the Sandevistan has already strained his nerves dangerously, and while I can guarantee that my replacement will cause no further strain, and even ease that of the rest of his implants, the damage already done to his system is not easy to remove."
"I see." She frowned "How will it affect him?"
'Good, at least she isn't raging against me like an idiot' I thanked my lucky stars I didn't have to deal with that again "Only his reflexes are certain to be permanently weakened, while the mind itself will suffer only minor consequences. Loss of attention span, and short term memory issues are the most probable with this kind of damage."
"At least he won't end up a complete idiot like his father." She muttered "Your recommendation for further treatment?"
"The third line of Arasaka's subsidiary Kyushu biolab's neural booster, Serenity." I listed off, while uploading a full list of lesser recommendations to her Agent "They are not likely to keep production going for much longer as the components are too expensive to be profitable enough, but it has shown the best results with this kind of issue."
Went unsaid was the fact that neural damage was (aside for some very specific circumstances) for all intents and purposes, permanent. You could treat it, but not cure it.
Or so common 'wisdom' claimed.
"That damn corp will drain us dry, I know it." She clicked her tongue and ever so lightly inclined her head "But I suppose I can't have my last son living like an idiot. You have my thanks for your work, Magos-san."
An infusion of 300k eurodollars fell neatly into my account a moment later.
"You can tell Jugo-sama that he has my support." She added almost as an afterthought.
Holding down my annoyance at the fact that was not my fucking job, I simply nodded and did my best to smile "I've sent you a basic physical recovery regime, you can bring your son back at any time for a checkup if any fresh issues pop up, or you just want to be sure. Have a pleasant rest of your day."
The old woman nodded, and left to rejoin her son, leaving my clinic and bringing the four Tyger Claw escorts loitering outside with her.
It was irritating, letting them skulk around the place, but biz was biz, and bitching about it would be pathetic.
"Finally done with your customers?" Vik called from the workshop.
"Yeah, that's it for the day." I called back "You finally done gawking?"
"Kid." The ripperdoc's response was one of utter exasperation "If anyone else saw what you have hidden in here, they'd do much worse than gawk."
Good.
-----
Two hours later, having said goodbye to Vik after he spent most of the day touring my new workspace, and giving his recommendations on what to add or remove, I was just about to call it a day when I saw a reminder pop up on my Agent.
Holding down a groan at having 'totally forgotten' my meeting with Yoko, I took a seat in my workshop proper, and activated my Cyberdeck.
'Uploading' my mind felt as smooth and liberating as ever, and soon enough I was hurtling through the fake cyberspace and towards the EdgeNet cafe, whereupon entering I immediately drew dozens of curious and cautious glances.
That were vastly outnumbered by the excited ones.
Here we go again...
"Maggy-chan! You finally remembered your poor old senpai!"
'Wasn't it sensei last time?!'
The far too fucking cheerful voice of the old ass fox made me wish to be forced into humiliating another bunch of overeager gonks playing at netrunning again instead, and that was after the act had become nothing but a chore.
But sadly, I gave my word, and so here I was "Hello, Yoko."
"Mou." And thus the ritual continued as foretold "It is almost like you don't like me, Maggy-chan."
"What could have possibly given you that idea?" I deadpanned, and pinched the bridge of my digital nose as she went to answer "That was fucking rhetorical, Yoko."
And of course that only made the little shit giggle.
"Alright, alright." She raised her hands in surrender as I went to bonk her hard enough her actual head would feel it "I do have some actual biz to discuss."
"Oh?" Took you long enough you insane hag.
"I've heard about your fresh little setup in H11." She said as we 'walked' over to a booth "Don't think you are drawing too much attention by working so openly?"
"I'm not selling anything military grade, or to anyone who enters for that matter." For now "And the Tygers are good for their word." For now, again.
Her avatar gave me a calculating look that said 'I don't believe you for one second but I guess that is the best I am getting.' "Well, as much as I'd like to scold you like a proper senpai should-"
The eye under my hood twitched.
"I'd like to make use of your services today."
"You?" I looked her over, both here and elsewhere "Or someone else?"
"Just a middleman today, Maggy-chan. Don't get too excited." She waved me down playfully "Come on, I'll introduce you."
We passed through a wall of security code and came upon a delightfully designed traditional Japanese booth where two other avatars were seated and waiting for us.
And I had already met one of them.
As promised, Yoko began introductions "You've already met-"
"Kiwi, was it?" I interrupted, looking the... competent I supposed, netrunner's ICON over.
The avatar showed nothing save for a subtle stutter in her signal "Magos." She greeted back cooly.
"Ah yes." Yoko smirked teasingly, annoyingly "You two did make quite an impression on each other, didn't you?"
As one, both Kiwi and I groaned.
Before she could so much as twitch, I uploaded an ad spam virus to the fox menace.
"I'llbegoodIpromise!" She blurted out quickly.
I pulled back the daemon and directed her with a narrow-eyed stare.
Kiwi relaxed back into her seat.
"Who is the other one?" I asked after a sufficiently awkward silence.
"She is the one I set this up for." Kiwi said instead of Yoko "She has some... unique chrome installed."
"Experimental or blackboxed?" I asked immediately, calm professionalism disappearing behind a flash of excitement.
Immediately, I started working some of my more subtle hacks around the new arrival.
Kiwi's avatar tilted its head as it shot the other one a look, and promptly ignored her annoyance as she gave me the answer "Yes."
Now you have my attention.
But best not let my excitement get the better of me again.
"That kind of thing will not come cheap." I said after pretending to consider it for more than a split second "But I am more than willing and capable of taking the contract."
At the mention of a contract, Kiwi seemed to ease a bit more, though her contact's reaction was the exact opposite.
"I don't need some random 'runner in my head, Kiwi." The other one scowled, foolishly bringing the conversation outside a private channel "My chrome is perfectly fine, and it will stay perfectly fine."
Kiwi's calm disappeared behind a scowl, and I could tell she was already regretting some things "And I told you." She turned to her contact "That I won't waste time mentoring someone who can blow up at any moment."
I nodded in agreement. It was the smart thing to do.
"Maggy-chan has quite the ironclad rep in our circles of Night City." Yoko spoke up, confirming the other netrunner was an outsider "I personally guarantee his discretion."
The second netrunner scowled and finally decided to use her brain for once as she started a silent conversation with Kiwi, and after a brief minute of frowning and glaring she sighed and looked back at me "Alright, fine."
I made sure not to appear patronizing as I nodded at the expected outcome "Care to finally introduce yourself then?"
"Lucy." She said, flashing a glare "Just Lucy."
Good, now I can keep pretending I didn't just hack everything there is to know about you directly from your head.
That experimental Cyberdeck was very interesting indeed.
"Very well then, Just Lucy." I nodded, and ignoring her scowl turned to the one actually in charge "Now, let's talk eddies."
-------
(New stuff is bolded)
[Cerebrum Mk1 Biopod:
Full Technological Interface, Seamless Connection Drive, Heavy Duty Armoring, Cerebrospinal Fluid Reoxidiser, Neural Link, EMP Nullifier]
[Umbra Mk1 Cyberdeck:
20 Tb RAM, High Speed Processor, Direct Net Interface, Self BlackICE, Emergency Heatsink.]
[Draco Mk1 Cyberjaw:
Shredding Dentures, Overclock Heat Expulsion Sink, Vocalizer]
[Occulus Mk1 Optic (R):
16k Display, 8x Zoom, Mark Function, Informational Interface]
[Occulus Mk2 'Oraculum' Optic (L):
Mulitspectrum Three-Sensor Array.]
[Aures Mk1 Audioreceptor]
[Nasus Mk1 Olfactory Receptor]
[Thorax Mk1.1 Torso:
Cyberlungs (12 hour reserve), (-Cyberheart), False Marrow, Redundant Circulatory System, Heavy Plating, Gallus, Titanium Skeleton, Myomer Plastic Musculature.]
[Cor Mk2 'Fulgur' Cyberheart:
Circulatory System, Highly Stable Redundant Power System, EMP Resetter.]
[Devorator Mk1 Generator:
Biogenerator, High Filtration Cyberstomach, Reserve Battery]
[Vulcanus Mk1 Nanoforge:
Metal Processing Plant, Nanite Production Printer, Reserve Processor]
[Manibus Mk1.1 Cyberarm:
Dense Myomer Plastic Musculature, Heavy Plating]
[Pedes Mk2 'Venator' Cyberleg:
Myomer Plastic Musculature, Medium Armor Plating, Lynx Paws, High Power Cyber-Tendons.]
[Artifex Mk1 Mechadendrite implant:
External Limb Softwar, Vertibreal Harmonizer, External Manual Manipulator.]
[Artifex Mk1.1 'Secutor' Mechadendrite:
External Scalpel Manipulator.]
[Artifex Mk1.2 'Terebrus' Mechadendrite:
External Drill Manipulator.]
-------
Me want big ston.
14 glorious chapters await for those wise enough to seek them upon the forbidden Patreon (at patreon .com/ Rastislav156)
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