บท 29: Wanting
Bats gets home with a groan, stepping into the apartment with his body aching all over. It'd been a long day, pawning off the trash that Ori had collected on his recent job after finishing his shift at a shady tech-repair shop.
Things wouldn't be that bad if that was all, but he'd gotten jumped by someone as he made his way to his apartment, losing basically the entire days work, including the goodies Ori had found... God he hated this fucking city.
He wished he could just go back in time and tell Eman they'd be better off driving into a volcano than settling in this place... Alas, even if such technology existed, it was way out of his hands.
He pops a couple pain killers and downs them with some immuno-blockers, pills designed to prevent the body from rejecting Cyberware, of which he had more than the average person due to his chosen profession as a Ripperdoc. Then dropping into the dilapidated couch with a tired sigh, turning the TV on just so he wouldn't be stuck there alone in silence.
The more he had to think about his and Ori's current situation, the more depressed he'd become... His nephew's mood and attitude worried him since it reminded him of some of his old clients, guys with clear mental illnesses that decided that gettin' more chrome would be a good substitute for therapy... He only saw them months later, a police report of recent Cyberpsycho attacks.
He dearly hoped it was just Ori grieving, but the presence of those nanites put him on edge. There weren't any known studies linking nanites to Cyberpsychosis since the body couldn't really detect them as it would an altered organ or body part.
Bats honestly felt pretty useless, his inability to do anything to help Ori with the nanites, or even with Eddies considering he'd just gotten robbed. If Ori didn't need someone to keep him company, watch his back, and provide advice, he'd have either left Night City already, or jumped from the nearest bridge...
Ori couldn't use another Ripperdoc either since they'd probably drug him into a coma and try to sell his body in its entirety with the nanites... If any Corporation found out about them there was no doubt in his mind that they'd hunt him down with full force.
"One day at a time..." he mutters to himself, "It will get better..."
...
*Click*
The door to the apartment opens and Bats stands and reaches for the nearby pistol, just in case the thief had decided to follow him... Thankfully, it was just Ori, his nephew looking at him with weary, eyes that matched the exhaustion of Bats' own.
Ori hadn't stopped since Casinha had been destroyed, the only breaks the kid had taken were when he was getting operated on or reluctantly sleeping...
"Ori, you alright?" he questions, seeing the reflective expression on his face.
"Y-yeah... Bats-, I'm sorry..." Ori quietly offers, stepping forward and wrapping the stunned Ripperdock in a hug.
"W-what's this for, kid...?"
"Nothin'. Just felt like sayin' it... Thanks for being here, Bats."
The Ripperdoc lets out a restrained breath and slowly nods, reciprocating the hug, "Yeah. No problem..."
"We're good...?" Ori almost whispers.
"We're good... Everything's good. Everything'll be fine..."
-------------------------
Later, once Ori had calmed down Bats glances over at him from the other side of the couch, "You alright kid? I mean, we haven't really talked about it, Casinha..."
Ori shakes his head, "We'll talk about it when we get Cat back..."
"Then just now...?"
"Just finished a-... Difficult job. Had to let some things out."
Ori, Max, and Six had to leave Quentin in the carpark, tied to a chair next to the corpse his dad, they'd made the whole thing look like a kidnapping gone wrong, which should hopefully stop Quentin from being seen as complicit.
He'd had a chat with the guy, and while he didn't regret it, he felt far, far worse after everything he'd done. Quentin's suffering was almost wholly at Ori's hands, yet the guy didn't even know about it, and was confiding in him, the murderer.
Bats slowly nods, he wasn't an Edgerunner, but most folks in Night City knew generally what they were about... He decides to not worry the kid about him getting jumped earlier, he definitely didn't need the stress. Instead, he tosses a shard over at him, "Klepped this from the tech-repair shop, got 'anti-privacy' software on it, basically means your face'll be blurred to most cameras... Thing's a little faulty though, so a good Netrunner may be able to get through it... I'd keep that Scav mask of yours on if I were you."
"Thanks... You checked it for viruses?"
"Obviously." Bats shrugs.
Ori nod and slots it in behind his ear, his vision buzzing as it shows a filling bar indicating the software download. "Got it."
"You got any more jobs? How much your last one pay anyway?" Bats inquires.
"Fifteen thousand. I ain't got it yet but it should be coming soon enough." Ori states.
"F-fifteen K!?" Bats stutters out, "What the fuck did you do that was worth that much!?"
"You don't wanna know." Ori sharply answers, unwilling to talk about it.
"That's a lot... I mean big time. Do all Mercs make that amount!?"
Ori shrugs, "Dunno... Just know that I'm not doin' a job like that again in a while, if I can help it. With all that I should have... Twenty-three thousand? Think that's enough to hire someone to find Cat?"
"With how little info we have on her? I doubt it... I don't know much about this kinda thing though, so maybe it is?"
"Hm... I'll talk to some people, see what the 'rates' are... As for if I've got any more jobs? Not right now, my Fixer... Got in over his head..." Ori pauses, "Hey, can we do some more checks? Youknow, about the nanites." he asks, wanting to double-check if there was a possibility of them completely taking him over.
Bats nods, "Sure, we can make it a weekly thing if you want, to be certain."
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
Niggross
Niggross Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
ShinAmazake
Kingsprovince
Faruk Ereng
VidDav FerDeL
บท 30: Anatomical Arrangements
A week passes with little happening. With Speks out of the picture Ori was forced to ask Judy for another Fixer, which was pretty difficult considering what happened to his last one. Even if the crime was never pinned on him, the mere fact that he was Speks' last contact was a big red flag for most.
Thankfully, Max and Six allowed him to continue working with them, for the time being at least. He'd take a smaller cut, but that was fair considering his lack of experience compared to the two, along with his lesser capabilities.
Their jobs mainly consisted of protection for drug deals, clearing out Scavs and squatters for property owners, even providing makeshift security guards for clubs or VIP's who'd required it at the last minute.
He'd only been in one shootout, even taking no injuries in the process, which was a plus, the rest went ahead as usual. No inconveniences like hat Speks had tossed at him. This, allowed him to build up enough of his dense fat, vitamin, protein, and mineral reserves for the nanites to finally make their first significant upgrade to his body.
The first was to his bonemarrow, he didn't really understand the 'technical-babble' the nanites or even Bats tried to explain to him. But basically, they'd increased the production of red blood cells while decreasing the production of white blood cells.
This wasn't really a problem given that the nanites could target and eradicate any bacteria, virus, parasite, etc, that tried to invade his body. His immune system was of little use when they were present, especially now that they'd vastly increased their own numbers via self-replication.
The billions of nanites had turned into trillions, this may have started to obstruct his bodily systems if they weren't each individually microscopic, smaller than blood cells actually. Their increased numbers massive enhanced Ori's healing capabilities. A small cut was almost instantly healed, while a bullet wound took seconds or minutes depending on its severity.
Ori's only real worry now was getting shot in the head, or his heart... Speaking of which, due to the increased number of red blood cells, his blood had become much thicker, almost viscous in fact. Which leads to the next upgrade the nanites had to make.
His heart, arteries, veins, and capillaries. Each needed to be strengthened to handle the increased blood pressure caused by the thickened blood. Bats was surprised by the sheer efficiency of it all, the nanites had expertly planned the entire thing out and did so categorically, without issue.
If someone were to make an incision into one of Ori's arteries now, only a few spurts of high-pressure blood would make it out before coagulants sealed the wound back up, all without the nanite's intervention... It was a medical marvel, something that could only be matched by quality Cyberware.
With these upgrades Ori's endurance had been massively enhanced, while his muscles weren't yet at that level, he'd almost never get breath again. His resting heart rate was 10bpm, something that was only really matched by creatures in the animal kingdom. It could even go lower, but that was only when Ori's lungs were upgraded, which were planned to be the next thing to receive an upgrade.
It was actually kind of weird for Ori, to feel his new powerful heart beating in his chest like a drum. It felt almost out of place, like someone had taken it out, forced it to benchpress for a year straight then shoved it back in. When Bats checked his heart rate his hand was visibly moving with each pulse...
Of course, all of this came at a cost, his dietary requirements had increased rather drastically, requiring far more vitamins, minerals, and protein than before. The blood production of his bone marrow doubled his required iron intake.
Bats suggested getting various Cyberware to assist with this, but it was actually the nanites who objected. The systems controlling the Cyberware may conflict with their own programming, since they were already 'malfunctioning' as it is, it might actually be dangerous to introduce anything else.
Thankfully, there was another option available to them. Acquiring the NMN Injector and using it to have the nanites assimilate various technology... Though, they'd first need to integrate some sort of tech that'd grant them the ability to break down and refine metals and other sturdy materials. As they are now they could only process the iron and other minerals that were digested by Ori's own body, which obviously wouldn't work externally.
Bats suggested various microscopic heat generators, conduction cores, and other things... But he and the Nanites eventually agreed on one thing... An attachment for the Gorilla Arms Cyberware called 'Thermal Knuckles' that had specialized micro capacitors and insulated conductors which the nanites may be able to integrate into their own design.
If this was actually the case, the nanites would be able to dissimilate actual materials, and when combined with the NMN Injector, deconstruct tech to integrate into Ori, all using the body's resources which would likely stave off any chance of him going Cyberpsycho.
That wasn't the only use however, if this was possible, Ori would literally possess a one-hit kill move by infecting an enemy with nanites, allowing the tiny robots to devour them completely, regardless of whatever defences that may have.
Bats also introduced another avenue of research... The animal kingdom. Did you know a fascinating fact? Chimps on average were four times stronger than a human with similar weight. This was mainly due to the type of muscles they had, which drastically lowered their general dexterity but massively enhanced their speed and strength.
There were other examples like exoskeletons that seemed to interest the nanites, but Ori outright refused anything that might alter his 'human' appearance. After all, he couldn't very well live in society looking like a giant insect person, even if he was made virtually indestructible.
He'd settle for carbon nanotube weaving under his skin for defence. Apparently, this material would make him bulletproof against all but the most powerful weapons...
The nanites also request permission to begin making upgrades to his brain, but he unilaterally refused. His loss of control against Ta'xin made him well aware of the dangers the nanites presented, should they choose, they could take him over with ease, and no one would be able to do anything about it...
For now though, he was satisfied with his current upgrades. Digestive System, Fat Energy Storage, Bone Marrow, Heart and Blood Vessels. Soon he'd be able to move onto bigger, better improvements...
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง
Niggross
Niggross
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to : https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.
Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
ShinAmazake
Kingsprovince
Faruk Ereng
VidDav FerDeL
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
200+ การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
0 หินพลัง 
ความคิดเห็นย่อย