Missclicked early chapter, thank my sleepiness I guess.
The cult celebrates the ascension of V B and Cobalt, may their toils not shame the forge.
On a completely unrelated note, the menials may rejoice at the completion of two additional servitors to help them in their work.
A completely coincidental bout of good fortune, I assure you.
-----
The Mother
"I am not made of glass, you know." She bit back the spike of irritation as her little genius offered her his arm.
A reaction immediately regretted as her son twitched away.
"Should I just pretend everything is fine?" He quietly muttered to himself, looking anywhere but at her.
She still heard him despite the low voice "Yes." She said in a hard tone "I already told you, I am not some fragile little girl who needs babying."
He went to say something but closed his mouth with a click, shaking his head and starting to walk away "Let's just go." He grumbled.
Svetlana felt another pang of immediate regret at that, and followed after him in silence.
The people on the floor gave her odd and surprised looks as they realized who she was, though to her confusion a small number of them looked almost relieved to see her.
She would need to investigate that later...
They certainly weren't happy to see her alive, despite being neighbors for years now.
As she had done for almost a full day now, she took the dark thoughts and promptly smothered them under her pride for her son.
'Much better.' She decided.
To her utter lack of surprise, there was no one to welcome them as they walked into the 2nd Amendment store on their floor, the owner of the shop too absorbed in watching a video edit of one of the more recent famous deaths in Night City with far too much reverence in her eyes.
The brightly neon pink haired girl was hyperfocused on some idiot that got gunned down by Arasaka security because he was too stupid to run away when the alarms were blaring, and the Afterlife worshiping gonks were all eating it up.
Holding back an eyeroll at the familiar sight, Svetlana simply walked up to the counter and smashed her Cyberarm atop it.
The girl yelped and jumped from her seat, falling over her chair and ending up on the floor, tangled up in cables like the gonk she was.
"Who the fu-!?" She ripped off her headphones only to stop and pale.
"Hey Lily." Svetlana smiled down toothily "Still irresponsible as always?"
"Uh- hey 'Lana" She waved up awkwardly "Didn't know you were still around."
"Thought I flatlined?" The older woman quirked an eyebrow.
"Well yeah" Lily shrugged as she got up, blinking as she got a better look at her old customer "What's with the hairdo?"
Svetlana's amused expression turned flat "I thought it looked neat."
"...Neat?" Lily tested the word and again found herself stuck as she saw Svetlana was not alone "You two uh... know each other?"
"We are related." Magos deadpanned.
"That explains so much..." Lily muttered before remembering she was currently being stared down by the two of the most terrifying people in the whole megabuilding "So how can I help you today?"
When in doubt, fall back to braindead customer service!
"Lane 5" The full cyborg droned "Open a tab for the bullets."
"Sure thing" She nodded and typed rapidly on her computer "Need anything else?"
"Don't bother us." Magos answered bluntly and was already walking away.
But Svetlana stayed behind for a second, looking over the smart weapons on display with visible annoyance.
Long enough for Lily Adams' brain to catch up to her as she gaped after the cyborg "Hold on, is that your kid!?" She hissed.
Svetlana beamed a sunny smile "Isn't he just great?"
Lily stared.
"Isn't." Svetlana leaned in against the counter, eyes utterly cold "He. Just. Great?"
"Of course he is!" Lily leaned away with an awkward chuckle "The greatest!"
Svetlana nodded in satisfaction and pointed at one of the displays holding a bulky stockless automatic shotgun "That Crusher in good condition?"
"Fresh off the factory line." Lily answered quickly, thankful for the distraction "I only have the basic model though, comes up to 1800 eddies with 3 complementary mags."
The mercenary needed only a second to decide "Get me six and you have a deal."
All Lily could do was nod rapidly and flee to the back to pack the gun.
She just wanted to enjoy her nova videos without people bothering her damn it!
-
Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
"Had your fun?" I looked up from my half-reassembled copperhead as mom finally joined me at the shooting range, my hands moving automatically as I put the rest back together.
Instead of answering, she plopped a Crusher on the counter and smiled "I got you a gift."
I looked down at the Igla I had just cleaned and back to the Crusher before mentally cursing at myself "Right, I can't be using your weapons forever."
She just rolled her eyes at that "Don't be silly. Just because you can walk around now doesn't mean you need to show off how grown up you are."
"Right" I nodded, embarrassed and reached for the Crusher, giving it a quick look over "Thanks."
"It is a better shotgun than the break-action ones when you have Cyberarms" She explained as I took out the magazine and began loading it with shells "The recoil is a much smaller problem."
"Then why didn't you get one?" I asked.
"Because I got attached" She smiled as she picked up her Igla, almost caressing the weapon as she looked it over and muttered "Kill enough people with something and you start feeling like it is a part of you."
Something told me I wasn't supposed to hear that and I wisely decided to change topics "I uh... broke your backup one."
"That old thing?" She blinked "How did you manage that?"
"Snapped it against a Scav's neck." I shrugged, looking away.
A light creaking noise came from her weapon as she gripped it "Good."
Deciding it was wise to stop talking, I activated the holographic gun range, and readied my new Crusher.
I waited for mom to see me doing it and take a step back, and then fired.
The gun barely twitched as the moving targets were hit all over, the heavy report of the weapon doing little to move my Cyberarms as I simply scythed everything in close proximity down.
The gun clicked empty as the twelfth shell left the barrel and I immediately regretted I didn't just load all six magazines immediately.
Automatic shotguns were great!
"Amazing" I said and turned back to my mother.
Only to find her giving me a thoroughly unimpressed look.
"What exactly are you doing?" She asked.
"Uhm" I shuffled on my still unclad feet awkwardly "Testing the gun?"
"That isn't how you hold a shotgun!" Her expression turned near insulted "You might not feel the recoil but you still need to grip it properly or you won't hit anything!"
"But I hit every target!" I pointed at the range in outrage.
"At twenty feet distance." She unhelpfully pointed out.
"Shotguns are meant for that range though?" I asked.
Quite the gonk move it appeared as her irritation overflowed.
"You watch far too many movies." She said after a moment, tone exaggeratedly indulgent "Reload the mag, I will show you how to shoot. Do it for all your weapons for that matter."
We did not leave the range for hours as she proceeded to drill me with every single detail that came with using a gun of any classification, anything from grip, to quick reloads, to optimal ranges, my brain was practically bursting with seemingly useless minutiae by the end of it.
She even made me do quickdraw practice with her Liberty for twenty minutes without end.
Jokes on her though, I enjoyed every moment!
---
"Have fun at work!" Mom yelled as the door shut behind me.
"I will." I said to myself and began scrolling through Ms. Jones' information packet.
The call came some four hours after we came back from the gun range, after I got thoroughly scolded about eating SCOP like a maniac and got myself into another lesson, this one about impromptu basic cooking.
Ms. Jones got a request for backup from one of the Mox who was doing some solo investigating and I was the first choice to go and be her hustle.
Being the heaviest weight in the lower price range made throwing jobs at me surprisingly flexible for the Fixer, even if she would have to inevitably increase their level as my rep and skillset grew.
Thankfully, she wasn't idiotic enough to abuse my willingness to work my way up.
The Mox member calling for outside backup and not just taking a few other members with them immediately made me suspicious but Jones was quick to explain it was not 'officially sanctioned' by their leader so to the Fixer they went.
Hopefully I won't end up making an enemy out of the owner of Lizzie's but 10k is 10k.
Before I could reach the lift however, I saw the old noodle stall owner waving me over, looking around suspiciously as he did.
"Old Chu." I nodded in greeting.
"Magos." He returned, sounding serious "My wife works at the laundromat down in the basement" He once more did a lookover and finding no one looking or listening, whispered "A few of the Tygers have been asking around about the floor and why it was so quiet. Thought I might warn you."
'Later than predicted.' I noted internally "Thanks for the info, Chu."
"Of course, of course." He nodded rapidly "Always happy to help."
'Happy to pay less, you mean.'
"That order waiting for someone?" I asked, looking at a steaming cup of noodles.
"Just take it." He waved it off "I can just make another before they come back."
"Cheers." I sent him the money and grabbed the food, quickly chewing it down as I went down to the garage.
---
I parked the van in a side alley as I reached my destination of canal-side Little China.
A few bums looked surprised but utterly apathetic at seeing a heavily armed cyborg, so instead of threatening them away, I wired them 50 eddies each and said "Keep my van safe, yeah?"
"Sure thing, boss!" A toothless old man cheered, the other one already moving to a nearby vending machine and ordering them beers.
Shaking my head I left the alley and began scanning the street for my client.
And to my surprise, I saw a familiar face.
'Rita, was it?" I hummed and approached her as silently as I could.
Of course, putting myself and stealth in the same sentence was the height of futility, and so she noticed me long before I reached her, rounding on me with her Cyberarms already moving to her Ajax but pausing as she saw me.
"Borg boy." She said, eyebrows raised.
"Joytoy." I waved back dryly.
She huffed "No Welles to show you around today?"
"He is... busy." I settled on after a split second of thought, quickly redirecting the conversation "Now what is it that you are hiding from Suzie that you need little old me for?"
Her relaxed expression was gone in an instant "The fuck is it to you?"
"You are paying me for this." I shrugged, waving at her as if to say 'It is your choice' "You'd think informing me about the situation would be the smart thing to do."
She glared for a moment but then sighed "Right. A pair of our girls disappeared while going home this morning." She said quietly "Everyone knows it is the Tygers. One of their chooms even came to Lizzie's and bragged about it."
"He didn't get shot?" I blinked.
"I crushed the little shit's balls." She rolled her eyes, patting her spiked bat, one that had traces of blood on it now that I looked at it, fresh blood.
"But I couldn't kill him." She finished.
"Ah." I voiced in realization "Susie Q doesn't want to stir the pot for a pair of nobodies, does she?"
"I want to call bullshit but yeah." She shook her head in disappointment "One of my chooms managed to track them down to a building near here but I don't know if I can take all of them."
"And so comes in the slab of chrome." I concluded with a hum "You know how many of them are in there?"
"Not many" She shrugged "But I've got no idea."
"Guess we will have to see then." I muttered, firing up my Cyberdeck "What is the end objective?"
"Find the girls." She answered immediately.
The Bouncer
Borg Boy stared at her blankly for a long moment, almost long enough for her to ask him if he saw something he liked, but then his golden eyes flashed.
"Found them." He said suddenly "Seven Tygers hiding out in a nearby apartment on the first floor."
'A 'runner'?' She thought for a moment but another thought quickly took all her focus.
"And the girls?" She demanded immediately "Did you see them?"
He frowned "No trace of them. You a hundred percent they were being held here?"
Rita Wheeler stepped away, thoughts racing 'Judy said they were seen by a bunch of people getting dragged in here, she was sure...' She looked back up "They could have been moved?"
"Depends on the Tygers' end goal." The cyborg shrugged "Only one way to find out quickly."
"Yeah" Rita nodded mostly to herself, hefting her bat over her shoulder and looking up at the borg with a bloodthirsty grin "Let's cruck the fuckers' skulls."
The borg grinned back, and was already moving.
She shook the sight of the rows of teeth from her mind and jogged after him as they passed a bunch of the cameras that were now offline.
The doors of the building opening on their own as 'Magos' simply walked in like he owned the place, surprising the shit out of the Tygers' lookout and backhanding him against the wall.
He didn't get up.
"Two sitting on a couch to the left, one on the terrace, another in the bathroom, and the rest are in the other room fucking. I'm taking the left." He informed her in a clipped tone, and without waiting for her answer simply kicked the door in, his Crusher belching out shotgun shells before the Tygers even realized what was going on.
But Rita was not some newbie to get stunned by some cocky gonk, quickly rushing in after him on her Lynx Paw implants, dodging out of the way as the wall to the bathroom was ripped apart by the auto-shotgun and gunning down the panicking Tyger on the terrace, making him scream as he fell over.
She let the assault rifle hang off her shoulder and hefted the bat, rushing into the bedroom and finding a pair of Tygers scrambling to get up.
The woman of the pair reached for an SMG but Rita quickly reacted, crushing bone and making her drop it before pointing the deadly piece of metal at the both of them and ordering "Sit."
The man began cursing in Japanese but his voice quickly died down as Rita's hustle walked in behind her, Crusher letting out a loud click as he finished reloading it.
"Where are they?!" Rita demanded.
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" The man demanded "Who the fuck are you people!?"
"The Mox girls you kidnapped." Rita repeated harshly "Where. Are. They?"
The man looked at her in realization and his eyes flashed.
And then, in less than a blink his head disappeared as a Crusher shell turned it to mush.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Rita rounded on the cyborg with a glare.
"He was reaching for a grenade. Was going to kill both of them." He answered simply, face still failing to show even a hint of emotion as he looked to the now completely terrified Tyger Claw woman "Don't worry though, we have one left over."
He grinned at the barely in her twenties Asian "Because you aren't going to be dumb enough and try something like your boytoy over here, are you?"
She gulped and began nodding rapidly.
"I am glad we have reached an understanding" Magos droned but then her eyes went completely blank and she let out a confused scream "You won't be needing your Optics or Neural Link to talk though."
As her excitement died down and she finally began taking in her surroundings while the borg ironically tried calming the Tyger down, a small part of Rita wondered if Regina Jones made a mistake.
10k was way too little for this guy.
-----
Bring forth all of your stones!
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