Chapter 11: Cyberpunk
-...Damn it, my head? What happened? – lying on the sofa, I rubbed my head, feeling empty in my memories.
Just as I was planning to grab a can of Cherry Nico-Cola to relieve my dry mouth, a sharp pain pierced my brain.
I managed to let out a half-second wheeze before falling onto the side of the sofa. The pain was unbearable, as if someone had stuck a harpoon into me from below of my chin right into the center of my brain, but at the same time it was tolerable, as if it was not my body.
After five minutes, during which I lay motionless and looked at one point, I finally came to my senses.
- Crap! They could have warned me that it would be so painful! – I started complaining about the system.
She asked if I wanted to get memories and merge with the character, but she forgot to mention the process.
However, it's my own fault. As long as there are no side effects, the system doesn't care, now I know that.
"An interesting situation..." I said, clenching and unclenching my fingers.
Now Me and David are one. But at the same time, I am just an artificial identity – clone of original mind, and the real me is still watching from the fourth wall. After finishing the story, I will add it back as memories so as not to greatly affect the original.
Now I'm a fusion - like the perfect scenario of the main character and Johnny Silverhand - I'm a new person.
And of course, I didn't choose to merge just for David's memory.
– Character window. – after my words, a holographic table appeared in front of me.
| David Martinez
| Age: 13
| Year: 2072
| Health: Perfect
| ...
Mostly, I said this out loud to make the original bite his elbows with envy, because he certainly won't have something like this any time soon.
As I thought, David's original stats, like any Main Character, are incredible. It is not surprising that he was accepted into the Academy, especially into the elite class.
Excellent physique, brilliant intellect, strong will and, I would add from myself, a pure heart. Only one drawback - he was born at the wrong time, in the wrong place.
- Rewards. – an icon for a task with a merger appeared in front of me, glowing green and waiting for it to be opened.
By pressing it, it opened and released a bright light that absorbed my body.
As soon as he disappeared, I was dizzy for a couple of seconds, fortunately it passed quickly, because all the features of the original's body were transferred to me.
I grew a little and became wider, a little fat went away on my face, but my eyes changed a lot visually - a pink mist began to flow into them. Although maybe I was the only one who saw it.
The chakra source turned out to be much larger than I expected, apparently this world simply adores David.
The situation with the eyes is not easy, fortunately I can switch them with normal ones. Still, my eyes come with an unpleasant debuff.
"Well, I'm just here to learn how to use my eyes, just a teenage body with hormones as mine, so I'll get through somehow."
I got here just before entering Arasaka Academy.
To enter, it was necessary to install a neural implant, which is the minimum requirement for any corporations.
Instead of some random under-ripperdoc that my mother could find, or, on the contrary, an expensive one, I recommended her a trusted friend from the game - Victor Vector.
I was confident in whom, but in his personality and skills.
I was not mistaken and he even gave a discount, but the price was still huge. Mom was already thinking about taking out a loan.
When she left, I asked Victor to make it on credit and after persistent requests, he agreed with a sigh.
Mom didn't know how to thank him and it seems she started selling cyber implants through him.
For the next two years, I studied and trained hard to reach the peak of my height and physique.
Communication with my peers from Arasaka was surprisingly smooth and pleasant, due to the experience of communication and common hobbies, although their parents did not approve of me.
Fortunately, this was limited only to the refusal to come to visit their house, and holidays like birthdays passed normally.
But there was no doubt that they would become assholes later. But given my appearance, or as they like to say here – aura, they certainly won't joke with me. At least without mercenaries or gangsters.
Already at the age of 15, I looked at all 25. 190 cm, seasoned with 95 kg of pure muscles. Whoever sees it will immediately think that I am one of the Animals.
But this is my real body, using the transformation technique I reduce myself. I'm still powerfully built in this form, but nothing beyond the confines of a teenage boy.
In general, the merger consisted only of advantages, although there were some disadvantages.
The local meat substitutes just suck, making either crickets or worms out of protein. Unfortunately, there is an old law in force in which all animals in the city and beyond of a radius of 30 km were exterminated and is still supported, including domestic animals and livestock.
Now I'm drooling over beef patties and chicken nuggets in my dreams.
And what a culture shock I got when I found out how and why three seashells that replaced toilet paper are used!
Over these two years, nothing much has changed for just a resident of Night City. The same gang atrocities, gang wars, promotion of laws in favor of corporations, negligence of city authorities, etc.
Right now I was taking treasure from the last cache that I remembered in the game. Most of the caches from the game didn't exist or were guarded, so I didn't get a lot of money.
I planned to install cyber implants on myself, so I also had to clean out the safes of many gang locations, especially the Tiger Claws.
Why? Because it's damn cool! With an ideal body with no threat of rejection of cybernetics and cyberpsychosis is no more scary thanks to fusion and eyes. What should I be afraid of?
The cyber implants themselves are quite expensive, but I only need the crop of the cream, and the prices for the installations are also outrageous. Unfortunately, I won't be able to go to Uncle Vic with such a request.
I found a trusted ripperdoc who often performed operations on Animals. Having paid him for the implants and installation, I added 20 thousand eurodollars on top for his bad memory.
How do I know that he won't cheat me and dispose of me in the process? This is thanks to the eye upgrade - I can see people's intentions, attitudes and emotions.
This happened when I was looking at a new collection of eye implants and my eyes themselves activated starting to scanning them all.
Now I have something like an Oracle with all the features of individual models of eye prostheses. This simplified the task of searching for people, enemies, equipment and robots.
So for this guy it's just a job, and his reputation comes right after quality.
To say that it was painful is like saying nothing at all. Even a huge dose of painkillers didn't help much, especially when the body quickly got used to its effects.
The most striking event I would say was the offer to replace the lungs while he was delving into my chest. I wanted to swear at him, but the special jaw tube allowed me to produce only an aggressive growl.
By the end I came out incredibly exhausted and with a few extra tens of kilograms.
Now I don't have to worry too much about getting shot in the back and catching the blade with the bend of my elbow.
I basically replaced the skeleton, a surprisingly weak part given my build. Unfortunately, the myth about bones that after a fracture they become stronger is not true. They really get stronger during restoration, but after that they come back to notmal and it's not a fact that they won't become more fragile.
Chakra can make me stronger, but it won't make my bones stronger much. After all, I wasn't born with it. Therefore, in serious fights close up, they could simply not withstand the pressure. Now I can pump as much as I want, but I'm unlikely to increase much in volume.
The rest of the improvements were minor, like implants on the palm for weapons or Self-Ice against netrunners so that I cannot be hacked.
I will fill the remaining weaknesses with training and external gadgets.
Leaving the clinic, I entered an alley and wandered around, constantly changing my appearance, until I disappeared into the crowd.
It's time to start working on my goals. There were only three of them: to become a professional cyberpunk, to develop into a fixer and to lead a gang. And these will be different people.
First of all, I need real experience, reputation and connections. Next I will go out under my advertisement as a fixer. Leading a gang is the main part, but you don't have to rush it.
From the next day, 5 rising stars were born. There is no information about them, they suddenly appeared and caused a real commotion.
A loner and a group called Bad Company.
A group of four people in black impenetrable masks organized a semi/legal company for the protection, security and personal requests of clients, repelling a full-fledged ambush on the Militech caravan from Maelström with only four of them without any complications.
The loner came to the Afterlife and asked for the most difficult task in exchange for connections from Bestia herself. He single-handedly destroyed one of Valentino's bases, leaving no one alive to tell the tale, turning the place into burning ruins.
Bestia agreed to fulfill his condition, but then demanded that he show his face. He took off his motorcycle helmet and she immediately agreed, at the same time declaring that he was under her protection.
People close to her immediately recognized this young short-haired guy as the spitting image of Johnny Silverhand himself.
In response to her proposal to throw a fixer, he sent her to fuck herself, saying that his twin brother was his fixer.
Amid all this noise, several people entered into each of the four large gangs: Valentino, Tiger Claws, Animals and Sixth Street, and quickly began to build connections and influence within.
The one who joined Sixth Street was me, because they were in my home area - Santo Domingo.
My other personalities weren't just any ordinary shadow clones. I personally sculpted each one from custom alloys to support the eyes.
Each of them has my will and is completely autonomous, although I can still inhabit them. The transfer of information also takes place through the connection of the eyes, providing them with the same bonuses, like Payne's puppets.
So no one can eliminate them so easily, but in Animals success is guaranteed.
I personally joined Sixth Street for many reasons that will allow me to lead it smoothly.
This won't work in Valentino and Tiger Claws due to the strict hierarchy and number of gang members.
In Animals, the strongest becomes the boss, but they are separated into "packs" and rarely unite into large gatherings. So reorganizing them into a single organization is still a hassle.
I need to join the team, find like-minded people in the old ideology among veterans and recruits who want to defend their native corner of the city.
Displacement is not a problem, but replenishing personnel after a clearing is still a pain in the ass. But I already have a couple of candidates from the police, and they will be able to offer them to familiar colleagues who care about the arbitrariness of the authorities and the top of the city.
We secretly made our way to the headquarters with my clones that I "hired" and we captured everyone alive.
Then a demonstration execution took place with a reading of all the sins, including the betrayal of the past leader who followed in the footsteps of his predecessors for the safety of the area and the deception of the participants about the refusal to conclude deals with corporations.
The first thing I did was clear the area of trash, that is, distributors of "shinies" drugs, Scavengers and Animals.
The Scavengers are complete scum who kidnap people and strip them for implants and organs, controlling the black market for internal organs.
The animals, led by my clone, peacefully left the area after agreeing on a favor.
But instead of Pacifica, they headed north, gathering everyone from Valentino and Tiger Claws' territories.
The next goal of the consolidation was the defeat of Maelstrom to attract the remaining Animals.
With the assistance of Sixth Street and the new loner - John Wick - there were no problems with the consistent destruction of Maelstrom's bases.
After complete subjugation, the 2 largest districts were under my control - Watson and Santo Domingo.
After the official union, the total number of gangs is about 4 thousand, which allows us to stand at the top under Valentino and Tiger Claws, which have more than 6 thousand each and a stable financial position.
We don't have much money... Not even a year has passed to return to earning money using previous methods, especially for the Animals, who are now settling down as spoils of gang wars. Not to mention the rest of the gangs that are in a state of heightened vigilance towards us.
It's not a problem to wipe out the gangs themselves, but they have connections with the top and support from the police if something happens...
"What a hassle for a two-year-old personality... And I still go to Arasaka to study..." I lay down on a chair and swayed from side to side.
– By the way, how's the original, system, isn't he bored with all of this?
[Owner woke up six months ago]
-...
-...
- Really?
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