Get comfortable, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🔥 ✦ “Morning, old man.” V greeted him as he entered the shop to start the day’s business.
Viktor set his coat down first, then pointed at the back of the ripperdoc chair behind Cade.
“Lie back down.
I’ll check the programs again.
I’m old.
My hands still work, but I keep forgetting little things.” Cade obediently lay back in the chair.
V stretched, yawning hard.
“Vik, this one is paying you for the operation.
If he tries to dodge the bill, come to me.
I still have work.” Viktor had just plugged diagnostic leads into Cade’s neural port.
“V, you need rest.
The corps don’t treat your lives like they matter, but you should.” V gave a dry laugh, waved, and left the shop.
Cade’s gaze darkened a little.
In the strictest sense, old Vik was closer to V’s real family than almost anyone else.
“Arasaka will squeeze the last value out of you,” Viktor muttered, shaking his head.
Then he began carefully checking Cade’s vitals and cyberware data.
“Uh, Vik…
Doctor Vector.
About this surgery…” Cade scratched his head.
Viktor’s voice and manner made people feel safe, but Cade still worried about the bill.
He had not forgotten that the old ripper had once been a gang-connected boxer who could send a “I’ll kill you” message without blinking.
A ranked fighter in his day.
Cade kept his tone soft because, beneath the worry, he respected the old man who still had loyalty in Night City.
“V was afraid you were broke, so she put down ten thousand toward the operation.
If you have money, add another ten.
Discounted rate.
Give it to V.
She’ll pass it to me.” Cade’s money was still enough.
His eyes brightened.
“No need to worry.
I trust you.
Transferred.
Great work.
Please pass V’s share back to her.” Viktor liked customers who appreciated his craft, but he also knew young people burned through money too fast.
“You kids always want to do something big.
Install the city’s newest chrome, run with a pack of bad friends, scream down the roads.
But cyberware has limits.
Push too far, and you become a full-blown psycho.” “So I installed good pieces.
Body-friendly.
Suitable for kids who insist on doing things the hard, bloody way.” “Also, you paid too much.” Cade shook his head.
“I want you to change my face.
Completely.” “Made trouble, huh?
Fine.
But changing surface features is not much of a solution.
Any database adapted to high-grade Kiroshi hardware can still dig you out.” Cade understood.
Even the worst ripperdoc could alter a face.
The problem was that it treated the symptom, not the identity underneath.
The real file could expose him at any time.
“Dogtown has some black-route tech.
Behavioral Imprint-Synced Faceplate, or so I hear.
Good hardware.
It can turn you into someone else from top to bottom.
Skin and muscle adjustment, voice simulation, full target behavioral sampling.
Needs a lot of pieces.” “Truth?” Viktor smiled, almost embarrassed.
“I want to see what the tech looks like too.
It should be valuable research.” “Behavioral Imprint-Synced Faceplate?” Cade remembered.
Dogtown’s V used that black tech to become Aguilar and threaten Hansen’s people.
Hearing Viktor explain it made the complexity sound far beyond what he had imagined.
He had to enter Dogtown first.
He could look for that cyberware later.
In the end, Cade still had Viktor alter his facial features.
After leaving the clinic, he slipped out through the back of Misty’s shop.
He even gave Misty a polite nod on the way.
Now he had to think about how to return to Dogtown.
That broken place held Mr.
Hands and the colonel, both of whom probably wanted to grind him into ash.
His performance had earned him V’s opportunity.
Now he had to turn that opportunity into something of his own.
V could help him, of course.
But Cade could not open his mouth and ask her to deliver him into Dogtown.
If he did, his value would shrink to almost nothing.
Arasaka might as well send a competent agent instead.
He had borrowed a tiger’s skin and waved it like a flag.
The bluff had been made.
What Cade wanted was temporary access to corporate resources.
Exactly.
His first idea was to take a slice of Mr.
Hands’s work.
That was step one.
Cade would not announce Hands’s corpo-dog past to the whole district.
If someone with more strength learned that Mr.
Hands was vulnerable, Cade would never get a turn.
Pacifica and Dogtown’s business would be carved clean before he could put a hand on it.
Besides, if he suddenly threatened Hands into handing over contracts, there was no guarantee the fixer would not snap.
Clients would not trust a random new fixer who appeared out of nowhere either.
The first step was always hard.
Cade had never thought the beginning itself was the problem.
Not knowing where to go was the terrifying part.
[Incoming Call: V] Cade sat beside a food cart on Jig-Jig Street, eating Japanese food that Takemura would have called trash.
Sometimes Cade thought maybe he lacked taste.
Takemura might say the chicken balls and ramen were garbage, but aside from poor texture and questionable hygiene, he found them edible.
Whether the meat was honest was another question.
It definitely was not real meat.
Synthetic protein?
High-protein insects?
“Your file is ready, Rook.” V’s efficiency matched her promotion speed.
Her form of address had changed too.
Strong execution.
Respect.
Cade nodded.
“Understood, boss.” “You should head to Dogtown as soon as possible.
I have plenty waiting for you to investigate.
Corporate work is busy, and I cannot keep showing my face there.” “That place smells a corp the second one walks in.” Cade’s mind moved.
“Boss, did you investigate Mr.
Hands?” On the other end, V made a wait gesture.
After a while she replied, “We did.
His wife is German.
Likes speaking French.” “Emma.
Old Germanic name.” “Hands hired a private security company to protect her all day.” “Why?
Interested in someone else’s wife?” ✦ ✦ ✦ Ready for more?
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS EmberHollow Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you deeper into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.