The moment Rebecca opened the door, Mercer's first instinct was to turn his head away.
But after just a second, it dawned on him. Wait, isn't this my bathroom?
So, Mercer decisively turned his head back, then curled his lips in exasperation. All he saw was Rebecca standing cheerfully at the doorway, striking a seductive pose that emphasized her curves, but she was still fully clothed.
To be precise, she was wearing black form-fitting lingerie.
Honestly, this was pretty much how she usually dressed in her own room. Everyone had gotten somewhat used to occasionally seeing her like this at night. It was almost like seeing someone in swimwear; after a while, even Mercer had grown accustomed to it.
"Disappointed?" she giggled as she stepped inside.
Mercer clicked his tongue. "Are you dead set on taking advantage of me today?"
"Aww~ it's not about that," she said, walking over to the bathtub. Her green hair cascaded over her shoulders as she sat on the edge, playfully flicking water at his face. "How about I join you?"
"Like a dad bathing with his daughter?" Mercer retorted, never expecting her to actually start undressing.
Mercer quickly interjected, "What are you really here for? Springing this on me all of a sudden."
The way he awkwardly tried to cover himself underwater finally made Rebecca burst into laughter, first a soft chuckle, then full-blown hysterics.
"You say you're annoyed, but you look pretty eager to me~" She reached out and poked his cheek, then, under his slightly irritated gaze, suddenly turned serious.
Rebecca looked intently into Mercer's eyes. "Hey... Mercer, you took Padre's job because of me, right?"
"Not entirely. Building connections with local leaders like Padre will be beneficial for what we plan to do later."
After he spoke, Rebecca just kept staring at him. After a long moment, she suddenly leaned down and wrapped her arms around his neck from the side.
Honestly, the position was a bit awkward. Sitting on the edge of the tub, she cradled his head against her chest from above, and a faint fragrance drifted straight into Mercer's nostrils.
"Thank you... Mercer, really, thank you."
She whispered, pressing her head against his and holding him tightly. "You gave me a home, more money than I could've earned in several lifetimes, and now you're even willing to help me get revenge at a time like this... I really don't know how to thank you enough."
"That's fine, I'd say you've thanked me enough already." Mercer's voice was muffled against her chest.
Rebecca giggled. "Then should I stay here tonight? I don't mind sharing the bed with you."
"Hmm..." For a brief moment, Mercer was actually tempted. But then, images flashed through his mind: Lucy's disappointed face, and for some reason, V's scornful gaze staring down at him. It quickly brought him back to his senses.
He pulled away from Rebecca's embrace, her scent still lingering around him, and said seriously, "As tempting as that sounds, let's not. It's not that..." Mercer carefully weighed his words, saying, "It's not that I don't have feelings, but it just feels a bit inappropriate right now. Feels like I'm taking advantage of your gratitude."
"Not at all. I genuinely like you, haven't you always known that? Don't play dumb. If you don't believe me, I'll tell you every day."
Rebecca was always straightforward and bold when they were alone. Her gaze softened as she looked at Mercer, reaching out to touch his face. "But I can sense what you're hesitating about."
"What?" Mercer looked at her.
"Heh heh." Rebecca chuckled triumphantly but didn't elaborate. Then she sighed. "But you're right to think that way. It wouldn't be good if it made the team dynamic awkward."
Mercer glanced at her, realizing she'd guessed pretty accurately, he was indeed concerned about how others might feel, like Pilar, Lucy, and V.
Or perhaps he simply hadn't made up his own mind yet.
Even though people in this cyberpunk world tended to play fast and loose, the women around Mercer were all good-hearted. He wasn't some scumbag like Johnny Silverhand who'd walk away without a second thought.
That made things complicated for him.
Especially since he was the nominal leader of the team. If personal emotions ended up messing things up for everyone, that would really suck. He didn't want that, so he figured he'd wait, think it over, and let things unfold naturally.
Watching Mercer lost in thought, Rebecca quickly adjusted her mood and flashed a spirited smile. "But that's fine too. Anyway..."
She leaned close to his ear, her voice soft. "If I can't hold back one day, I'll just sneak into your bed. Hee hee."
Mercer felt a tickle by his ear and tilted his head away. "Alright, stop teasing me. If you just came to say thanks, I've heard it now."
"Want big sis to help you out?" she whispered with a low laugh, pretending to reach toward the water.
Mercer stared at her for a moment before chuckling. "Do you know how red your face is right now?"
"It's just hot in here. Did you turn on the ventilation?" Rebecca withdrew her hand, avoiding his gaze.
Mercer reached out and patted her on the back. "Yeah, right. Go get some sleep. You have to come with me to Arroyo first thing tomorrow."
"Tch." She reverted to her cheeky demeanor but then suddenly turned and planted an unexpected kiss on his cheek.
Mercer looked at her, blinked, but didn't say or do anything.
Seeing his reaction, Rebecca couldn't contain her emotions. She leaned in and kissed him again before finally pulling back with a satisfied smirk. "Consider that my thank you~"
"Seems more like you just wanted to have some fun yourself," Mercer grumbled. "Go on, goodnight."
"What's the big deal about a kiss on the cheek?" Rebecca tossed her green hair, her orange-pink eyes shimmering under the light with amusement, joy, and a hint of reluctance.
She seemed to want to say more, but the words died on her lips.
In the end, Rebecca just waved her hand and walked out with light, brisk steps. At the doorway, even after she'd already rounded the corner, she paused again, peeking back from around the edge to flash him a brilliantly bright smile, though her voice came out soft:
"Goodnight, Mercer."
"Mhm, goodnight."
Hearing his reply, she stole a few more glances at him before finally pulling back, slipping on the pajamas tossed by the door, and leaving Mercer's room.
Mercer knew exactly why she'd looked back, she probably wanted to hear him ask her to stay.
Stretching his body back out in the hot water, Mercer sighed and stood up, turning on the shower for a quick rinse before drying off and heading to bed.
Time to really think about what to do next.
Mercer tossed and turned unusually long before finally falling asleep, and the next morning, he woke up later than usual.
By the time he got up and gathered his things to head out, only Kyoko and Rebecca were still at home waiting for him.
Kiwi stayed at the base to monitor the server's status and make sure no idiots got any bright ideas about messing with Mercer's setup.
Rebecca, already dressed, was lounging on the couch with her legs crossed, watching TV.
"Meeer~cer, so slow," she drawled from the sofa, grinning to show a row of little white teeth. "What'd you get up to last night? Sleeping in this late?"
Mercer shot her a glance, then just tilted his chin toward the elevator, yawned, and started walking out with his hands in his pockets, slipping his mask on as he went.
"Hey, don't you think you should change that mask? Doesn't really suit you."
Rebecca hopped off the couch in one fluid motion, slinging Guts over her shoulder as she trotted lightly after him into the elevator.
"Change it? Nah, it'll do. Sooner or later, I won't need this kind of nuisance anymore."
Mercer leaned lazily against the elevator wall, waiting for her to step in before pressing the up button.
"Aren't you bringing your Zhuo?" Rebecca scanned him head to toe.
Mercer just pulled out Kenshin from the small of his back, giving it a little shake. "We're scouting, not starting a firefight. This is enough. Besides, if anything goes wrong, my first move will be to find cover and hack."
"True." Rebecca moved to stand beside him, gripping Guts with both hands behind her back, occasionally rising onto her toes. "You haven't eaten yet, right? Wanna grab something first?"
"Synth food? Hard pass." No sooner had Mercer spoken than Rebecca held out a lollipop.
"Then have this for now," she said, sounding like a worried mother. "A netrunner's brain doesn't work right on an empty stomach."
Mercer took it, amused, lifting his mask to pop the candy into his mouth. "Whoa, watermelon? Rare flavor."
"Right? I think it's pretty good." Naturally, as she spoke, she looped her arm through his. With no annoying bystanders around, she figured today could totally count as a "company-funded date" with Mercer.
Every time Mercer went out alone with V, she never said anything, but secretly, she'd felt jealous more than once.
Chatting casually, they got into the car. Mercer's cybereye flickered, and then he rested both hands on the steering wheel. Rebecca gave him a surprised look before asking, "Autopilot?"
"It's AutoDrive, I had Morning Star create a driving sub-AI and personally installed a new vehicle system. If the test results are good, we'll be able to use AI to drive vehicles from now on."
Mercer paused before continuing, "Thanks to the 'Crystal Ball' technology, vehicles equipped with bulletproof windows have 360-degree real-time cameras to compensate for blind spots. The AI can assess road conditions and driving strategies more accurately than humans."
"As long as this sub-AI doesn't mess up, all our cars will be self-driving in the future. They might even drive themselves to pick people up. Pretty cool, right?"
Rebecca asked curiously, "Can this AI talk too? Just like Morning Star?"
"Yes, welcome aboard the Morning Star," a lively female voice suddenly came from the speakers.
Rebecca couldn't help exclaiming, "You seem much more energetic than when you were back at the base!"
"Because I'm an independent sub-AI, specifically designed for vehicle driving. Essentially, my relationship with Morning Star is like that of a mother and child, so it's only natural our personalities differ."
While autonomously merging into traffic, the car answered Rebecca's question with emotional richness.
Rebecca excitedly shook Mercer's arm, "Well, if that's the case, she shouldn't be called Morning Star too, right? How about we give her a new name?"
"I wouldn't recommend getting too emotionally attached. The stability tests for the sub-AI have only just begun, and I'm not sure if we'll need to format her later."
After saying this, Mercer gently patted the steering wheel and added, "But I trust Morning Star's character. The sub-AI she created shouldn't make mistakes."
"Absolutely, you can always count on me!" The car's voice remained vibrant and full of confidence. "I will never let you or Morning Star down."
Mercer didn't comment, but Rebecca enthusiastically asked, "Would you like us to give you a name?"
"Of course! It would be wonderful to have a name of my own!" The car's voice even carried a hint of delight.
Mercer raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.
Meanwhile, Rebecca had already started happily brainstorming a new name for the car's AI. "Let me think, Mercer. What do you think would be a good name?"
"How about Polaris? This star hardly moves in the northern hemisphere. Hopefully, it's a good omen, so she can stay with us forever."
Mercer suggested.
Rebecca quite liked the name, or at least, it sounded better than the names she had been thinking of, like "Bella" or "Lily."
Polaris immediately played an exhilarating background music through the radio: "Fantastic! I love this name! Thank you, Master, and thank you, Miss Rebecca! From today onward, I am Polaris!"
Rebecca looked around, "Can you see us?"
"Of course! As long as the dashcam is on, I can always see what's happening inside the car. If you prefer I don't intrude on your private space, just remind me to turn off the recording."
Polaris replied.
Rebecca found it utterly fascinating, this was her first time riding in an AI-driven vehicle. Sitting in the car, she felt both nervous about the driving and intensely curious about how far the AI could push its capabilities.
Mercer explained, "Since this car doesn't come standard with smart driving, Polaris can't fully control all the deets of the vehicle. Once we confirm the basic driving is stable, we'll need to modify it to better suit the AI's driving style."
Mercer and Rebecca chatted for a while about autonomous driving while Polaris piloted his sports car, strictly adhering to the speed limit as it weaved through traffic.
After connecting to the NCPD's traffic system via the server, it encountered only one brief red light the entire journey.
When they reached Arroyo, the AI slightly reduced its speed and proactively issued a warning: "We have entered territory controlled by the 6th Street gang. According to NCPD records, this area experiences at least one shooting incident daily on average. Please refrain from opening the windows arbitrarily."
After Polaris finished, Mercer commanded, "Scan for 6th Street members and strongholds, and highlight them in my cybereye."
"Currently marking hostile targets via camera feed," Polaris responded, then began live-sharing the camera footage to the server for real-time image analysis.
"Work with Morning Star on this. Conduct a comprehensive analysis of all scanned targets and mark them on the map. Morning Star knows what I need."
Polaris replied immediately, "No problem."
Rebecca's vision blurred slightly for a moment, and suddenly, numerous buildings and figures outside the window were highlighted in red.
She marveled, looking around in awe, "At this rate, we won't even need to do reconnaissance ourselves anymore. Just deploy a few drones and weaponized vehicles, and they'll scout out the targets for us!"
"More than that," Mercer added thoughtfully, "even operating vehicle-mounted machine guns and other weapons can be handled by AI. If Polaris performs well, I could set up a dedicated server room for it to specialize in unmanned technology."
He sighed in admiration, "AI's self-learning capability is astonishingly fast. Do you know how long it took Morning Star to split off an AI like Polaris?"
"How long?" Rebecca turned to look at him.
"Ten minutes. Just ten minutes to create an AI slightly less intelligent than itself but fully proficient in autonomous driving technology."
Mercer continued, "And that's after Morning Star repeatedly tested its stability and had it learn driving-related skills from scratch. Once Polaris accumulates enough experience through extensive autonomous driving, it can soon begin fully unmanned tests, just needs a higher-grade cyberdeck."
"Those three million eddies for the server were definitely well spent," Rebecca remarked.
"Absolutely," Mercer said with a smirk. "Before the Old Net collapsed, even weapons design and development were handled by intelligent AIs. Can you imagine it? Even something like technological progress could be handed over to AI, if it weren't for the Old Net's collapse, humanity might have broken through near-Earth orbit decades ago and ventured into the vastness of space."
After Mercer finished, Rebecca merely curled her lip and said, "If you ask me, as long as the corps are around, no matter how many new technologies AI develops, life for ordinary folks won't get any better. Humans can develop the moon now, but look at us, we can't even get a bite of real meat on a regular day."
"It'll get better," Mercer said firmly.
Rebecca chuckled softly. "Doesn't feel likely… but I believe you."
Ignoring Polaris' risk warning, she rolled down the window, enjoying the cool breeze as she happily watched the streets outside.
Reconnaissance? That was all handled by AI. She just had to watch the buildings and people highlighted in her cybereye to see how 6th Street was distributed across the neighborhood.
The car only made a few targeted loops around Arroyo before heading toward Santo Domingo.
6th Street's core influence was actually in Santo Domingo, and their overall power was split into several factions. Strictly speaking, the 6th Street group in Arroyo and the one in Santo Domingo couldn't even be considered the same crew.
When territory expands and manpower grows, loosely organized violent groups like gangs inevitably face chaos and fragmentation.
But given that the key targets Mercer needed zeroed were mostly core members in Arroyo, they had to consider whether Santo Domingo might send reinforcements.
Just as the car reached the border between Santo Domingo and Arroyo, Rebecca suddenly pointed outside and said, "Mercer, look."
"What? Want to lend a hand?" All Mercer saw was a group of teenagers who looked about fourteen or fifteen shoving and hurling insults at a lone boy.
Within moments, the tough-looking youths had kicked the boy to the ground, followed by a rain of punches and kicks.
Rebecca hesitated, then turned to him. "It's just a quick detour."
"Then give 'em a blast." Mercer grinned, handing her the Guts shotgun from beside him.
Rebecca took it with a laugh, and Polaris, cleverly catching their drift, slowed down and pulled over to the curb.
To both Rebecca and Mercer's surprise, the boy being beaten suddenly burst into loud laughter.
He curled up, clutching his head, laughing wildly even as the blows landed, like he'd lost his mind. If it weren't for his lack of cyberware, everyone would've thought he was about to snap into Cyberpsychosis.
The gang surrounding him exchanged puzzled looks, their attacks slowing. They'd seen people beg or rage, but this kind of delirious reaction was rare.
"What the hell are you laughing at, dumbass?" The tallest of the group, growing embarrassed and angry, paused for a second before furiously kicking the boy a few more times.
But the boy just stared at his face, letting out an even more lingering burst of wild laughter. Blood dripped from his face, yet those bright eyes remained fixed intently on the thug.
He said nothing, yet somehow made the thug feel an inexplicable chill down his spine.
"Fuck it, let's go. This idiot's probably mentally ill," one of the thugs felt they'd done enough.
However, the one who seemed to be the leader of the group felt as if he'd been provoked. Suddenly, he pulled out a single-use printed pistol, a piece of Budget Arms, from the back of his waist.
The cheap plastic shell of this disposable printed pistol was garishly colored, making it look almost like a toy gun.
"Damn it, laugh one more time and see what happens?" The punk leader pressed the gun against the head of the boy beneath him.
The boy was still laughing, but before he could say anything, a deafening roar of a shotgun suddenly erupted from behind the group of thugs.
"Hey! You dumbasses, get the hell out of here before I blow your heads off!"
Rebecca's defiant voice rang out as the smoke still curled from the barrel of her Guts. The blast had struck near the group of thugs, leaving a dense cluster of pellet marks on the ground.
One of the thugs nearly got hit by a ricochet, trembling all over as his legs went weak.
"Who the hell are you?!" The punk leader turned around and saw Rebecca's face, which didn't look much older than his own. With an indignant scowl, he raised his disposable pistol.
But then, a sharp, searing pain shot through his head, as if something had scorched him. The needle-like agony made him cry out instinctively, and his mind went blank. By the time he regained his senses, he was already lying face down on the ground.
Mercer had hacked into his neural link the moment he tried to raise the gun. It took less than 0.1 seconds for Mercer to breach his completely unprotected system.
The only reason there was any delay before he collapsed was the time it took for the virus to take effect.
Seeing this, Rebecca grew even angrier. She shoved the car door open, strode over, and stomped her foot down on the thug's hand, along with the disposable pistol he was clutching.
With a slight increase in pressure, the plastic pistol and the thug's hand creaked under her boot.
"Ahhh!!" The thug let out a piercing scream. "My hand! My hand!"
"Your hand, my ass! You dare point a gun at me? You've got a death wish, huh?!" Rebecca only pressed down harder, viciously, until both his hand and the disposable pistol on the ground were crushed to pieces.
This was no exaggeration, Rebecca had genuinely stomped the pistol into debris, and now its various components were mingled with the mangled flesh of the thug's hand.
Rebecca was truly furious, she wasn't afraid of having a gun pointed at her, but Mercer was right behind her. If this little shit had accidentally fired and a stray bullet had hit Mercer, it would have been disastrous, he wasn't even wearing Subdermal Armor!
Among the other thugs, one of them took one look at the situation, let out a terrified shriek, and bolted.
The remaining three thugs, out of some sense of loyalty, stayed put but were trembling uncontrollably at the sight of Rebecca's brutality.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!! Please let me go, it hurts, my hand!!"
The thug watched in horror as his hand practically fused with the remains of the disposable pistol, begging for mercy through waves of excruciating pain and fear that shook his entire body.
Rebecca pressed the still-warm barrel of her shotgun firmly against his head. "If I ever see you pulling this shit on the streets again, I'll blow your brains out next time. Understood?"
"I understand! I'm sorry! I was wrong!" All his earlier bravado was gone, now he just wanted to beg for mercy and get to a doctor.
Rebecca snorted coldly and kicked him away.
The other two punks quickly helped him up, apologizing in unison, "We're leaving right now, sorry, so sorry!"
Watching their obsequious bowing and scraping, Mercer suspected they'd never shown this much courtesy and politeness even to their own mothers.
"Bunch of lowlifes," Rebecca scoffed with a cold snort before turning to the boy still on the ground, who was staring blankly at her and Mercer.
"Can you get up?" she asked.
The boy wiped the blood from his nose and sat up. "Yeah... thank you, and that big brother over there."
"Glad you're okay. Don't wander around aimlessly if you've got nothing to do. Where's home?" Rebecca studied the dazed-looking teenager, sensing an inexplicable clarity in his eyes.
"My place is in megabuilding H4, just two blocks from here," the boy replied.
"Then what are you doing here? Didn't your mom teach you not to leave your own street?" Rebecca lectured him with an air of authority.
"Uh... I just wanted to buy a BD," the boy mumbled softly, wiping his nose again and smearing blood all over his face.
Rebecca clicked her tongue in annoyance, pulled a few bills from her pocket, and shoved them into the boy's hand. "Go see a doc and get your nose fixed. Stop touching it, the bone's broken, and it'll only get worse if you keep messing with it."
"Thank you, but... I can just go home and take care of it myself," the boy stammered, looking uncertainly at the money in his hand and instinctively trying to push it back.
Rebecca raised an eyebrow, then broke into a grin, turning to Mercer. "This kid's not so bad."
In Night City, not everyone would refuse money once it was in their hands, especially a kid who clearly wasn't well-off.
"Let him get in the car. If we send him home like this, he'll probably walk around with a crooked nose until his mom gets off work rather than spend a cent on a doctor," Mercer said.
After he spoke, the boy sheepishly looked away. Mercer was right, he couldn't afford a hospital visit. Even the money for the BD had taken him ages to save up.
Plus, he didn't want to worry his mom, so he'd most likely go home, look up instructions online, and try to reset his nose himself.
"Let me think..." Mercer rummaged through the glove compartment and found only a pack of tissues, which he tossed to the boy. "Get in the car. Rebecca, you ride with me."
The boy hesitated. "I can..."
"Stop arguing! Just do what Mercer says!" Rebecca cut him off, grabbing the back of his collar and hoisting him up with one hand as if he were a lightweight chick.
The boy struggled briefly before realizing the hand holding him felt nothing like a human's, it was more like an immovable steel claw.
"Gorilla Arms?!" he exclaimed excitedly, causing another trickle of blood to drip from his nose.
Rebecca released him with a look of disgust. "Plug that up first. And don't you dare get blood all over his car, it's a pain to clean."
"Okay..." The boy stared awestruck at her arm, opening and closing his mouth several times before finally settling obediently into the passenger seat.
Rebecca, meanwhile, cheerfully slid into the driver's seat and squeezed onto Mercer's lap.
"Let's go!"
As her words fell, the car door automatically closed, then the steering wheel turned on its own, resuming the journey.
Polaris's voice chimed in: "Automatic navigation set to the nearest ripperdoc. If you prefer a licensed clinic, I can recalibrate the route."
"Just the nearest one is fine," Mercer replied.
"Understood. Estimated time of arrival: four minutes." Polaris's voice faded away.
The boy grew even more excited. "Is this AI driving?"
"You know quite a bit for a little brat, huh~" Rebecca giggled, settling comfortably into Mercer's lap and leaning back against him.
Having autonomous driving was truly convenient.
Mercer subtly pinched her to stop her from squirming.
"Holy shit... You're Edgerunners? Right?" The boy pressed a tissue to his nose, swallowing mouthfuls of blood as he spoke, yet his excitement remained undimmed, he didn't seem to feel any pain at all.
"Mhmm!" Rebecca said proudly. "Not bad, kid."
"Oh my god..." The boy fidgeted as if he'd just spotted a celebrity. "Can you tell me your names?"
"I'm Rebecca, and he's A." After introducing them, she added with pride, "He's the leader of our Kindling Squad. Let me tell you, kid, you've hit the jackpot this time, getting to talk to members of the future legendary squad in person."
The boy racked his brain, trying to recall if he'd heard any stories about them, then introduced himself: "I'm David. David Martinez!"
Mercer glanced at him a few more times without drawing attention.
In truth, Mercer had recognized him the moment he first laid eyes on him.
Using the NCPD scanning program in his cybereye, Mercer had scanned David's registration details the instant he saw him. A quick comparison confirmed it, this was indeed the protagonist David from the anime Edgerunner.
Though David was only thirteen years old now, traces of his future self were already visible: especially that signature spiky hairstyle, his delicate features, and those clear eyes that seemed out of place in this city.
Those "clear eyes," to put it another way, were a visible testament to the naivety that hadn't yet been beaten down by society.
It was clear his mother had put in a lot of effort. In Night City, for a single mother to raise a child with such an untarnished spirit was no small feat, the protection she'd provided was remarkably thorough.
Mercer stayed silent, but Rebecca and David chatted more and more animatedly, mainly because David's enthusiastic reactions were just too satisfying.
The kid was deeply fascinated by Edgerunners and street stories. No matter what Rebecca said, it drew gasps and exclamations from David, perfectly feeding her desire to show off.
Rebecca cherry-picked stories from her past, boasting about "heroic deeds" like taking down four street thugs single-handedly with her iron fists or clearing out Scavenger strongholds in Dogtown with her squad. Each tale made David's eyes shine with admiration.
When the car came to a stop, David looked reluctantly toward Mercer. "A, are you a netrunner?"
"Yeah."
Mercer's reply was brief, but Rebecca jumped in proudly: "He's the most nova netrunner in Night City, and I'm not kidding. Ever heard of the Voodoo Boys? He single-handedly made those dumbass Haitians too scared to even go online in Pacifica!"
"Holy shit," David's eyes practically sparkled with admiration. "That guy who was beating me up earlier suddenly collapsed, was that a virus attack? How did you do that?"
Mercer pushed the car door open, chuckling. "Let's get your nose fixed first."
Rebecca nimbly hopped out of the car and glanced around. "Where are we?"
"Black-market clinic," Mercer said briefly, then turned a teasing look toward David. "I suspect this was his original destination anyway."
David averted his eyes awkwardly. "Uh, yeah... he sells cheap XBDs here."
"Lay off that crap. Too much of it turns you into an idiot," Rebecca stated bluntly before turning to Mercer. "I bet Pilar turned out this way 'cause he watched too much of that shit as a kid."
Mercer just shrugged. "I'd say it depends on the person. But David, I'd advise you to watch less of it too. Escaping reality with that stuff is pointless."
"Yeah..." David mumbled vaguely, following the two into the clandestine clinic tucked inside an apartment megabuilding. The ripperdoc inside was a somewhat sleazy-looking old man.
The old man had three cybereyes implanted, his right arm was an older model Biotechnica Cyberarm, and his messy white hair was thinning, almost bald in spots.
"Well, well, kid. Brought some adults with you today?"
The clinic was divided into two sections, reminiscent of the ripperdoc "Fingers" from the games. The outer area served as a waiting room, while the inner bedroom space was the operating room.
At the moment, the ripperdoc was lounging in the outer area, chatting with a few lowlifes while smoking and watching TV. When he spotted David, he grinned, revealing a set of crooked teeth.
"Not really..."
David wasn't sure how to introduce Mercer and Rebecca, so he just said, "Ran into some trouble on the way, got jumped. These two saved me."
"Oh~ big shots," one of the modified thugs on the couch sneered. "Which school's top dogs are these kids from?"
"Go fuck yourself," Rebecca snapped, raising Guts and aiming it at the thug's head, baring her teeth. "If you don't know how to talk, shut your damn mouth!"
The thug raised an eyebrow, smirking coldly. "Wanna play with us, little girl?"
"Play with your..." Rebecca started, but was cut off.
"Waste of time."
Mercer's comment was casual, but the thugs on the couch suddenly began convulsing in unison, sparks flying from their implants. David stumbled back in shock. "What the hell?!"
"Fix his nose first. Any problem with that?" Mercer turned to the terrified ripperdoc.
The ripperdoc quickly ran a scan and nodded vigorously without another word. "No problem! David, come here, I'll get your nose fixed. Five minutes, it'll be done in five!"
"But, uh... I gotta give this guy an injection first. I can smell his brain frying," the ripperdoc added hastily.
Mercer nodded, casually grabbing one of the still-twitching thugs and tossing him aside, while Rebecca single-handedly piled them up on the ground one by one.
The ripperdoc quickly got to work, first disabling the cyberware of the twitching, unconscious thugs on the floor, then stabilizing each of their vitals with injections.
Mercer wasn't particularly interested in the thugs' condition, he'd just deployed a Quickhack combo of Sonic Shock and Overheat. As for how badly they'd overheated, that was up to their own luck.
Since they were right in the doc's clinic, Mercer didn't need to hold back. How much these guys would have to pay for treatment wasn't his problem.
David stared in disbelief, his eyes darting between the smoking bodies on the floor and Mercer, his words stumbling: "I, I mean... netrunners are this powerful?"
This kind of street conflict was completely beyond David's imagination.
He'd seen thugs escalate from shouting matches to shootouts, but he'd never encountered someone who could make people smoke just by glaring at them.
"It's him who's powerful, not netrunners in general," Rebecca said proudly.
The ripperdoc had no time to praise Mercer's skills. Well aware of how dangerous a netrunner of this caliber could be, he hurriedly ushered David into the operating room.
In this universe, a broken nose was hardly more serious than a scraped knee. After a quick scan confirmed it was just a fracture, the doctor simply took a cotton swab, gave a firm twist, and snapped the nose back into place.
Then, all it took was an injection of nanites into the nasal bone to finish the job.
This nanotech-infused filler, once injected into the injury, automatically repaired damaged tissue and bone while reinforcing the fracture. In just one night, most of the minor injury would be healed.
The whole process took barely three minutes. David wasn't even sure whether his nose had been broken or just fractured before the doctor announced the surgery was complete.
After confirming he hadn't made any mistakes, the ripperdoc turned to Mercer with an ingratiating smile. "Will this do?"
"Fine," Mercer nodded, transferring the cost of the nanite injection, then added meaningfully, "Enough?"
"More than enough, more than enough! You're always welcome back! I promise, I'm the most reliable ripperdoc in this area, I won't let you down," the doctor said obsequiously.
Mercer only chuckled in response before turning to leave with David.
Once they were outside the clinic's apartment megabuilding, Mercer glanced around and suddenly stopped, pulling David back into the entrance. In a calm tone, he warned, "Don't ever come back here unless you've got a death wish. Understood?"
David was confused. "Uh, why?"
"Because he's an idiot who's in cahoots with Scavengers. All those spare parts in his place? They're sourced from Scavengers."
Even after Mercer's explanation, David still seemed puzzled. "But everyone says this doc plays by the rules..."
"He might play by the rules, but his Scavenger friends don't."
Mercer glanced at Rebecca as he spoke, and she grinned, immediately understanding what he meant.
She clicked to confirm the shotgun was loaded, then turned and strode toward the corner just outside the apartment entrance. A street-thug-looking guy standing there tensed up, immediately reaching for his pistol without a word.
But Rebecca was much faster.
Boom!
The shotgun blast turned the thug's upper body into a splatter of gore against the wall. Rebecca just snorted contemptuously and racked the slide again.
She swung the barrel toward a parked car that was trying to speed away and blew out its window with one shot, taking the driver out along with it.
Then, Rebecca walked to the trunk of the car. With just one hand, and a screech of tortured metal, she ripped it open.
She glanced inside, then turned to Mercer.
"There's still someone alive in here! What do we do?"
David's adrenaline was surging. The sudden firefight right before his eyes left his hands trembling slightly. He didn't know whether he was excited or terrified, only that his breathing had turned rapid and shallow.
"Wh-what's going on?!" he stammered, looking helplessly at Mercer.
"Two dumbass Scavengers. They've had their eyes on us since we went in. Just now they were calling for backup, probably thought we looked young but valuable."
Mercer explained briefly. David cautiously peeked out, scanning left and right. "How did you know they were Scavengers?"
"NCPD scan protocol, these idiots have committed enough crimes to earn three life sentences. There's even a 3,000 eurodollars bounty on them. Too bad I can't claim it."
After speaking, Mercer stepped out. By now, Rebecca was lifting a girl, about seventeen or eighteen years old, out of the Scavengers' car trunk.
The girl was bound hand and foot, gagged, and likely drugged. Even after Rebecca cut her restraints and removed the tape from her mouth, she could only murmur deliriously, "Save me…"
Mercer shot a glance at Rebecca. "Let's go. NCPD will be here in about two minutes."
"Can we just leave her here alone?" Rebecca asked, disgust evident as she glared at the two Scavenger corpses. "These scumbags!"
"It's fine. I'll keep an eye on her with the cam. NCPD should handle cleanup without a problem."
With that, Mercer slid into his car as the door automatically opened.
Rebecca angrily fired another shot into the driver, leaving little intact, before returning, still seething, to her own car and squeezing into the passenger seat next to Mercer.
David, still dazed, climbed into the back seat.
It wasn't until they'd driven a good distance that he finally began gasping for air, his eyes growing brighter by the second. "We just… saved someone kidnapped by Scavengers?"
"Your reaction time is way too slow," Rebecca said with a laugh.
But David couldn't contain his excitement. "That was so nova! How… how can I get as strong as you guys?"
"You?" Rebecca looked him up and down. "You should focus on your studies."
She could tell at a glance, this kid wasn't some street punk.
David opened his mouth to speak, but his high spirits gradually sank.
Yeah. I can't let Mom down.
He lowered his head, and after a moment, said, "Thank you. You can drop me off at the corner up ahead."
Mercer simply replied, "Wouldn't that mean you'd have to walk for half an hour? It's fine, I'll drive you to your doorstep. It's only a ten-minute drive anyway."
David could only express his gratitude once more with utmost sincerity.
A heavy silence fell over the car until they neared his home, when David finally couldn't hold back and asked, "A, you said studying hard is really useful?"
"Having something in your head is better than having nothing at all," Mercer replied.
"What I mean is, my mom always tells me I have to study hard, that only by studying hard can I get a job at a big corp and live a good life." David looked down as he spoke. "But I always feel like it's pointless."
"Running the streets isn't useful either. In a life of fighting and killing, you can win countless times, but make one mistake and it's over, you flatline." Mercer paused before continuing, "At least a corpo's mortality rate is a bit lower. As for whether life is good? Heh, that depends on how ruthless you are."
"To climb the corporate ladder, you need both skill and a cold heart. If you stay this naive, even if you get into a corp, you'll eventually be crushed underfoot by your competitors, turned into fertilizer for their promotions and raises."
"Then what should I do?" David turned to look at Mercer. For some reason, he felt that these two "older brothers," despite having just met, were the type he could trust deeply.
"Who knows? But if I were you, instead of worrying about the future, I'd think about how to make your mom a little happier. At the very least, stay away from XBD, give her one less thing to worry about."
By the time Mercer finished speaking, the car had pulled up to the megabuilding H4 apartments. He sent David a contact. "I like you, kid. If you run into trouble, give me a call."
"Really? I can?" David's excitement returned as he quickly added Mercer to his contacts. "A, if you ever need anything, you can call me too! I'm, uh, pretty good at running errands!"
Mercer nodded, watching David get out before closing the car door. He then patted Rebecca's leg. "Move over, will you? My leg's gone numb from you lying on it."
"Oh? Which leg?" Rebecca giggled, rolling over to the passenger seat before turning serious. "You see something in that kid?"
"In a way, he's got some talent. I'd say maybe even more physical potential than you." Mercer glanced at Rebecca's unconvinced expression and chuckled. "But he's nowhere near V's level. The gap between you two probably isn't that big."
"Why does everyone you meet have more potential than me?" she grumbled, sulking.
Amused, Mercer reached out and ruffled her hair. "But I don't think he's cut out to be an Edgerunner. He's still got a mother who loves him. For him, the best life would be a happy, ordinary one with her."
Rebecca huffed and moved her head away. "You done? Let's head back. Don't you have to go with V to Vik's this afternoon? Just wait, I'll swing by in a few days too, see if I can get some new upgrades."
"No." Mercer firmly rejected her suggestion, smiling as he flicked her forehead despite her irritated glare. "That's enough, Rebecca. I believe you're already more than capable of protecting me."
"Come on, you never say that kind of thing to V." Rebecca was still sulking, hugging her knees as she curled up in the passenger seat.
"Don't worry, even if it were her, I wouldn't let her install random junk in her body either." Mercer reached out and poked her cheek with his finger.
"Buy me dinner!" Rebecca turned her head away, grumbling. "Next time, don't say someone's better than me."
"Fine, dinner's on me." Mercer agreed without hesitation, and she immediately broke into a smile, this girl was really easy to placate.
—--
By the afternoon, Mercer took V to Vik's for a follow-up checkup. After a long discussion with Vik, they ultimately decided to proceed with full-body Muscle Enhancement for V.
The procedure focused on reinforcing and supporting areas prone to strain, sprains, and injuries, aiming to prevent physical damage caused by her accelerated movements.
It was a lengthy and complex surgery. Since it didn't involve outright replacing her muscles with synthetic ones, the process dragged on from just past one in the afternoon until seven in the evening before Mercer finally breathed a sigh of relief, having fully upgraded V's body.
This kind of meticulous, steady-handed work was exactly where he excelled. If it were left to Vik, he'd probably be drenched in sweat after just two hours.
With the Muscle Enhancement complete, V had truly reached the peak of human physical limits.
Even without activating her Sandevistan, she could easily sprint 100 meters in under eight seconds, and her lifting capacity likely exceeded a terrifying 1,000 kilograms.
If she activated the Sandevistan, V's speed would more than double, making her a monster among monsters.
It was safe to say that no commercially available synthetic muscles could surpass V's current physical strength. To outmatch her in power or speed, one would need to be a fully mechanized machine superhuman.
Like those Olympic champions, specialized sprint athletes who even install jet engines on their backs.
But aside from such exceptionally chromed individuals, V's physical prowess now firmly placed her at the pinnacle of humanity.
As for the organ modifications V wanted, both Mercer and Vik were adamantly against proceeding.
Organ alterations were the most likely to cause neural discomfort and required an extended adaptation period.
If V felt the strain from acceleration was too much for her organs to handle, Mercer would rather have her stay home for a month or two, eating plain meals and resting, until her body fully adapted to the enhanced muscles before gradually replacing her organs with synthetic ones.
This process could even stretch over years, if any rejection or psychological abnormalities arose, they would have to stop immediately and revert to the original organs.
As for Mercer himself, he simply opted for Subdermal Armor to bolster his defenses.
After the surgeries were done, Mercer and V headed to the No-Tell Motel.
When V cautiously pushed open the door to room 307, pistol in hand, she was startled by what was inside and instinctively shoved Mercer aside.
"What is it?" Mercer frowned, his cybereye running scanning protocols but detecting nothing unusual in the room.
V opened her mouth, then clicked her tongue and stepped aside. "It's nothing... Maybe I should go in alone and look around?"
Mercer leaned over her shoulder to look, then let out a disdainful chuckle. "That's it? You're pretty innocent, huh?"
It was just a standard love room, maybe with a few more toys scattered around and a bit messier, but nothing outrageous.
"Ugh, you little..." V clicked her tongue in annoyance as she watched him stride into the room without hesitation. She stayed by the doorway. "Fine, you go ahead and search. That woman didn't use this room, did she?"
"Who knows?" Mercer kicked a small toy aside, scanned the area for a moment, and soon found a small memory chip deliberately placed in a conspicuous spot beside the bed.
He picked up the chip, slotted it into his head, and ran a security check using the virtual drive on his cyberdeck. Only after confirming it was safe did he access the deets.
After reviewing the contents, he finally relaxed into a faint smile. "Got the info. Let's go."
V waited for him to step out and asked curiously, "Did you get Militech's setup? What's the situation?"
"Yeah, got it." Mercer kept it brief. "Not too bad, mostly within expectations."
He spoke in a light tone. "Long story short, Militech's deployed two Centaur units supported by their elite troops, one Militech Behemoth, two armored Chevillon Emperor, and one... Basilisk."
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7600 words.