Cyberpunk: I'm Not a Scavenger - Chapter 21: Redwood Street Psychiatric Hospital (Patreon)

Midday sunlight slipped through the gaps in the blinds, brightening the dim bedroom. Pantheon was catching up on sleep with Lucy nestled in his arms.

With Body at fourteen and three lungs and two hearts, he was naturally unbeatable. He'd made short work of poor Lucy. She wasn't ready to admit defeat, but Pantheon took pity on the inexperienced girl and held her close until she fell asleep.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

A shrill ringtone jolted him awake. Carefully slipping his arm out from beneath Lucy, he threw on some clothes and went to the window.

"Good afternoon, King. Sleep well last night? Or should I call you Pantheon?"

Wakako Okada sat in a tea room in the holographic display, an exquisite tea set arranged before her.

Wakako, known as the Lady of Westbrook, had once been a doctor. Her husband's connections had dragged her into the Tyger Claws. All five of her husbands had died, and her nine sons had risen to senior positions within the gang. According to street rumors, her grandson had died at Arasaka's hands, leaving her with a deep hatred of the corporation.

"Ms. Wakako, I hope you're calling with a chance to make some serious money. Otherwise, you really don't want to deal with me when I've just woken up."

Pantheon could hear the faint suggestion in Wakako's voice that refusing her wasn't an option. But he wasn't Soldier Boy, and that sort of mature charm did nothing for him. Even a woman born in the 2000s was too old for his tastes.

His rude response displeased Wakako, though she didn't show it.

"Of course it's good news." She lifted her cup and took an unhurried sip. "The radicals among the Tyger Claws heard you were in Japantown and wanted revenge. I stopped them. Otherwise, you wouldn't have enjoyed such a peaceful night's sleep."

Even someone as shameless as Pantheon felt a little embarrassed. He coughed twice, reached into his pocket for a cigarette, and discovered he'd run out.

At that moment, a soft body pressed against his back. An arm curled over his shoulder, bringing a cigarette with a faint mint scent to his lips.

"Then I owe you a favor."

"I'd love to take you up on that, but I happen to have a job for you. Complete it, and you'll receive two hundred thousand eddies. I'll also keep the Tyger Claws from coming after you."

Pantheon wasn't surprised. What else would a fixer call him about, if not a gig? Surely she hadn't contacted him simply to make friends.

"Let's hear it."

"You've heard of Clouds, haven't you? One of their poor dolls suffered a sudden mental breakdown after entertaining a senior member of the Tyger Claws' hawkish faction. They sent him to Redwood Street Psychiatric Hospital."

As she spoke, Wakako sent him an encrypted file.

"I need you to bring him out alive. And remember, don't trigger the hospital's alarms or attract too much attention."

"Two hundred thousand eddies just to rescue one doll who's lost his mind?"

Pantheon chuckled. He couldn't be bothered to unravel whatever conspiracy lay behind the job.

"He may have learned a secret that particular executive would rather keep buried," Wakako said, giving him a meaningful look. She wasn't trying to hide her motives. "Well, King? What do you think?"

"Whatever the secret is, it's none of my business. I'll get your guy out."

"I look forward to hearing good news."

The call ended, and Pantheon blew a smoke ring.

His performance in the shooting contest a few days earlier had finally begun to pay off. The Valentinos and 6th Street were spending their own money spreading his name, and his reputation had grown enough for a top fixer like Wakako to approach him directly.

Of course, it wasn't out of generosity. Both gangs were mainly trying to explain away their own defeats.

Tell someone your name is Kakuzu, and they might not recognize you. Tell them you fought Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, and survived, and they'll certainly remember you. Even if all you actually did was throw a shuriken from several kilometers away.

"What's wrong?"

Lucy breathed the question beside his ear. Her warm breath tickled his neck, making his heart stir.

He turned around and swept her into his arms.

Lucy gave a startled cry. "We haven't even eaten yet!"

"I'll eat you first."

...

Three hours later, in the operations room on the second floor of the base, Jackie stood with a french fry between his teeth, staring at a projected three-dimensional layout of Redwood Street Psychiatric Hospital. His brow was tightly furrowed.

"This place is a nightmare." He pointed to the projection. "Looks like an ordinary psychiatric hospital from outside, but security's tight inside. Every room has its own access controls, armed guards patrol around the clock, and the cameras barely leave any blind spots. Force our way in, and we're guaranteed to set off an alarm."

"And the wards upstairs are full," Pantheon added. "They've put our target underground."

The more they talked, the more his head ached. If all he needed to do was rescue someone, he could shoot his way through. Sneaking in without causing a commotion was another matter entirely.

"Hold on. If that Tyger Claws big shot knew the doll had learned something, why not just kill him? Why go to the trouble of driving him mad and dumping him in a psychiatric hospital?" Jackie asked.

It was a good question.

"When dolls are working, a program takes control of their personalities. Their bodies are essentially the chip's wetware."

Lucy emerged from the neighboring deep-dive room wrapped in a bath towel. Pantheon immediately grabbed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

"Normally, the chip erases the doll's memories of the session afterward," Lucy continued as she sat down. "And repeated memory wipes really can cause a doll to suffer a mental breakdown."

"So nothing suspicious happened?" Jackie scratched his head.

"I think the executive noticed the doll acting strangely after the session but couldn't prove he'd remembered anything, so he arranged for the doll to 'go crazy.'"

"But that still leaves the same question. Why not just kill him and be done with it?"

Both men turned to Lucy.

"Kid Willow. One of Clouds' top dolls. Among his many boyfriends are senior government officials and corporate executives. Killing him would cause all sorts of trouble."

Lucy displayed his profile, perfectly calm.

"Tsk." "Tsk."

Pantheon and Jackie were both rather traditional men. This sort of postmodern relationship was more than either cared to contemplate.

"I just broke into the hospital's internal network and found something interesting in the staff chats. One of the attending physicians, Shinya Suzuki, got his job through family connections."

She tapped several times, bringing up photographs of Suzuki's private life and records of his daily movements.

"I found his social media accounts and spending history. His personal life is a mess, and he's incredibly arrogant. He's related to the hospital director, so he doesn't even bother following basic security procedures. Hospital rules say access cards aren't allowed outside work areas, but he's often too lazy to change out of his uniform and takes his card home with him. As an attending physician, his card just happens to open the doors to the underground ward."

Jackie's eyes lit up. He slapped his hands together.

"Well, that's a gift! Why don't we just go 'borrow' his card?"