As he relaxed on the comfy seat, he thought of something and decided to shoot his shot. There was no point in holding back or being worried about consequences. What could be worse than being hunted by raffens and being under back-breaking debt?
"Have you eaten, Misty?" he asked since it was nearing lunchtime. "I'm starving. Care to join your best card pulled in months?"
Misty let out a soft laugh and glanced at the clock. "Yeah, I can do that. Vik won't see you before he grabs a bite anyway. Lemme just order something. I hate going to the market here. Too loud and everything feels grimy."
"Couldn't agree more."
He waited, and once Misty had ordered whatever they were going to eat, she took the second reclining chair beside him and relaxed.
"How long have you been running this shop, Misty?" he asked. "I'm digging the vibe. You got soundproofing in here? Inside and outside don't even feel like the same world."
"Yeah, I opened this place a few years ago. My parents went back to Poland, but I just... I couldn't leave Night City. It's home. I grew up here, and found my heart pulled toward spiritualism. I kept feeling like someone had to make a spot where people could look inward. I wanted to be that someone... even if it sounds a little silly."
Cypher felt guilty for having those filthy thoughts about her. He turned his head and looked at her, finding her staring at the ceiling, smiling happily. Seeing that, he did the same and closed his eyes.
There was indeed some peace to be found in that little shop. A familiar face he knew he could trust not to fuck him over. A familiar voice that should've never been real but was now his reality.
"I don't know about others, but I sure find the place soothing. Night City just ain't it for me. Gunshots pop off, noise everywhere, and everything's loud and shiny like it's trying way too hard," he said, pondering over what he felt.
"Where do you live?" Misty asked.
"Not in the city. I stay out past all that noise. You know Lake Farm? By the dam? Yeah, I'm tucked right beside that reservoir in this pretty little lakehouse. Nobody out there but me. Gets all quiet and breezy."
"Isn't the lake toxic?"
"It is, but I ain't about to dive into all that. My job's just checking the toxicity, nothing wild. You should come over one of these days, it'd calm your nerves. We could hop on a boat in the reservoir; it's safe enough."
Misty sat up straight and looked at him. "Really? I'd love that. I'll think about it."
And right then, a knock came on the door. The food had finally arrived.
Cypher made some more small talk with Misty, just getting to know her more, about her childhood. She was very open about it. But he couldn't do the same. He only told her about raffens and the Trauma Team incident recently.
By the time they finished lunch and he paid for it, Misty received a call from Vik downstairs that he was free to see the next client.
"See you around, Misty." He waved at the spiritual lady and walked out of the back of the shop.
Crossing the alley, he went downstairs, opened the gate, and then slid open the accordion gate. Right there by the table sat the middle-aged doctor, wearing shades and a stethoscope over his shoulders, his one hand covered in surgery-specific equipment, a screen nearby playing a boxing match.
"Fresh face in my clinic, huh? Gotta admit, I was ready to turn you away. But Misty swore you gave off the right kind of energy." Viktor got up, an arm extended. "Welcome to my corner of the city. Viktor Vektor. So, what brings you in?"
Well, of course, the man wasn't friendly, Cypher thought. They were meeting for the first time, and it being Watson, he reckoned Vik received plenty of new faces, many not so amicable. But more than that, he looked around at the shop and noticed how huge it was. He saw a lot of big boxes.
"Name's Cypher Blackwell. Think you can rip out all the cyberware that needs an active net connection? Anything folks can hack or jack into, I want it gone."
There was silence for some time. An understandable one, because most folks go to a ripperdoc to get chipped. Or maybe get something fixed. And Cypher didn't have much going on to begin with. He only had a neural link connected to his brain and some shard slots on his neck. But even that was enough to fry him in the worst-case scenario.
"Ah, one of those? From what I can tell, it's just your neural link. Bare-bones stuff every street kid slots in by puberty. How you planning to grind through daily ops without it?"
"I don't know. Maybe I can snag one of those glasses with the augmented reality screens. Should be enough for texting, calling, and banking. That's all I need," he explained, and added more to erase any misunderstanding. "I ain't a monk or anything. I've just been in some stuff where I know some powerful people would kill to poke around inside my head."
Vik's brow visibly rose behind his glasses. But he didn't say anything about it. "Alright, nothing tricky here. Few minutes and that implant's out. The neck ports will need a couple of days to knit clean. Same for that personal link on your wrist."
"Great, let's do it."
It was going to be troublesome, Cypher knew it. But Judy's warning had reminded him of reality. In the world of Cyberpunk, anything could be hacked. Sure, he'd one day chrome up again, might even go extreme, but that'll be with stuff he can fully trust.
On the bench, he relaxed as Vik applied some local anesthesia and started working on his body. He watched everything with care and felt surprised by how easily he understood some of the tech. He knew how to make the exo-glove Vik was wearing by just looking.
Weird, I don't remember the dead Cypher being a techie.
Between the noises of machines, he looked around. Vik's shop was huge, and much of it wasn't even in use. It expanded far into the back, all the way to the twin sliding doors that held another large storage room. There was also room for private storage where he could see the shine of boxing trophies.
Misty's gotta be loaded. How'd she own this much space?
He knew that Vik rented the basement from Misty. The real question was, how did Misty get it? She was barely twenty-five.
How do I break the ice without sounding crazy?
His second goal was to get trash from Vik. Any discarded cyberware too damaged to be repaired. He wanted anything he could use to make the screwdriver.
It took Vik about thirty minutes to finish everything. From cutting to patching, using whatever modern things Night City offered. Finally, the handsome doctor moved his chair back. "All set. Welcome to the land of ganics."
"Hah, not for long, doc. I know I'll end up getting chipped again someday."
"You could slot in some bioware. No need for ports or links. Skin weave's a solid pick, but it all comes down to what kinda gigs you're running. If you're not a merc, you'll be just fine," Vik said, rolling his chair back to his desk. "Total's three hundred eddies. Pills come with it."
It wasn't expensive. But it wasn't cheap for him either. Still, he could afford that much. The real issue was how he was going to pay because he had no interface to work with yet.
"You got any of those glasses I was talking about, Vik?"
"Huh, nothing on hand right now. But I can scope the market. Old school tech, sure, but it still floats around. Won't bleed your eddies too hard. For now, you're stuck running it off a terminal or a regular rig." He jabbed a thumb at his screen. "Got one in the back you can use to hit your bank."
Nodding, he got off the bench and walked towards the screens just around the corner. He dragged a chair there and started tapping on the screen to access his bank. He was deliberately slow, eyeing all the tech around. All the trash, actually.
"Hey, Vik."
"Yeah?"
"So, do you have any cyberware that's too wrecked to bother fixing and you're just gonna dump it? If so, mind if I take it off your hands? I'm working on some stuff."
After a brief silence, Vik's chair rolled audibly, and the man came into his direct view. Vik stared at him for some time, as if trying to gauge his true intention.
"I can pay for it if you want m—"
"Take it, no price. Was gonna chuck it anyway."
"Just like that?" Cypher asked back. "I figured you were gonna shut me down."
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Check out Cypher X Panam, Cypher X Misty, Cypher X Gloria Martinez NSFW art, and advance chapters at [email protected]/MrPlotThickens Or Subsc-ribestar.adult/mrplotthickens
Advance chapters on [PATR-EON] are in long-form format. I have 6 long chapters of this story on Patr-eon. That's equal to 24-28 Webnovel chapters.