Cyberpunk: I'm Not a Scavenger - Chapter 73: The Mox (Patreon)

Now that he'd decided to take on a corporation, Pantheon had no reason to keep hoarding his Essence.

Unfortunately, drawing [Minovsky Physics Theory] seemed to have exhausted all his luck. The other rewards were an odd assortment of things.

[Witcher Senses] (Blue)

Description: Fancy a game of Gwent?

Abilities: Enhances smell and hearing and grants a special sense for detecting enemy trails and hidden clues.

[Jetpack] (Blue)

Description: The skies belong to Valkyrie.

Abilities: A jetpack fashioned from a damaged Titan core, granting agile flight and the ability to use Missile Swarm to inflict EMP damage over an area.

Well, neither reward was bad.

The jetpack's mobility was certainly impressive, but Pantheon was far more interested in the remains of the Titan core inside it.

He wondered how Viper would react if he found out his daughter had dismantled a Titan just to make herself a jetpack.

Amused by the thought, Pantheon turned his attention to The Witcher world, which was connected to the setting of his other reward.

Would he ever get the chance to visit that world and have some fun?

A commotion sounded outside the tent, followed by the rumble of an engine shutting down. Saul and the others must have returned from their search.

"Well, Saul? Find anyone from the Red Ocher clan?"

Dust-covered from the journey, Saul brushed sand from his clothes and shook his head wearily.

"I checked several of their old campsites. Nothing. Not a trace."

Pantheon frowned. Had Biotechnica moved the Red Ocher clan somewhere else after the attack?

"Don't worry. We're not giving up."

Saul sounded dejected, as though the fruitless search had taken something out of him.

Panam, standing beside him, was full of energy.

"Fuck! I've been telling you for ages that we can't trust the corpos! We've got to look out for ourselves!"

The disagreement between her and Saul had been building for some time.

Saul had always hoped to establish ties with a corporation and secure a better life for the Aldecaldos.

Panam saw things very differently.

She believed corporations couldn't be trusted and regarded Saul's approach as little better than surrender.

Until recently, most of the family had supported Saul. After all, they'd come to Night City because they were tired of living from one uncertain day to the next.

But since Pantheon had arrived and told the Aldecaldos some of what had happened to the Red Ocher clan, many had begun reconsidering.

Even Saul, previously the staunchest defender of his approach, was wavering.

They'd tried every way they could think of to locate the missing nomads, and every failure only deepened their suspicions of the corporation.

"Put the search on hold for now. I'll see what I can do."

The Badlands were enormous. Finding a hidden tribe through manpower alone would be nearly impossible without satellites or high-altitude reconnaissance balloons.

Pantheon considered the information he'd extracted from Biotechnica Tower. It looked as though he'd have to make use of those files after all.

"Hey, King. How are things going between you and Sasha?"

Maine, who'd grown bored of camp life and gone along with Saul's group, suddenly slung an arm around Pantheon's shoulders and leaned in with a filthy grin.

"So? Did you two do it?"

"Heh. Heh. Heh."

Pantheon's smile didn't reach his eyes. He still remembered how Maine had set him up a few days earlier.

Maine felt a chill under that stare. Scratching his head, he began looking for an excuse to leave.

"Hey, Maine. As it happens, there's something I'd like your help with."

"Uh, I just remembered Dorio wanted something. Better call her back."

Maine was plainly reluctant to help, but Pantheon didn't give him a chance to refuse. He caught hold of the big man and dragged him toward the boxing ring.

"Don't worry. I'll talk to Dorio for you."

...

The Mox were Night City's youngest gang, their origins dating back to 2067.

That year, a sex worker had been brutally murdered by the Tyger Claws.

Countless sex workers banded together to defend their common interests and resist the Tyger Claws' violent rule.

After a long struggle, they drove the Tyger Claws out and formed their own gang, the Mox.

Most of their income came from Lizzie's Bar, a braindance experience club.

One of Night City's finest Braindance editors worked there, and she was exactly whom Pantheon had come to see.

"Hey, Milani. Long time no see."

Milani was leaning against the entrance to Lizzie's Bar, looking bored, with the tip of her baseball bat resting on the ground.

The familiar voice made her straighten in surprise.

"King?!"

Pantheon reached out to give her a high five. Instead, Milani threw her arms around him.

"Whoa! So you're the famous King?"

A pink-haired girl standing nearby had balanced her baseball bat across her back like a monkey carrying a pole, with both hands hooked over it.

"Milani's been talking about you nonstop! All day it's 'When's King coming back?' and 'Why hasn't King visited yet?'"

"Rita, you little bitch! What the hell are you talking about?!"

Milani released Pantheon and made as if to go after Rita.

Pantheon stood aside, grinning as he watched the two beautiful women squabble.

You didn't get to see that every day. Naturally, he was observing the situation from a purely critical perspective.

"Oh, forget it. I'm not wasting my time arguing with a little alley cat in heat!"

Milani shoved Rita away with an irritated huff.

When she turned back to Pantheon, her joking expression softened into the direct, carefree confidence of a girl who knew how the streets worked.

Despite Rita's teasing, she didn't have any special romantic feelings for Pantheon.

Night City was too cruel a place to waste much time on that sort of thing.

To Milani, he was the man who had saved her and her sisters, and, even more importantly, a powerful, reliable ally they could count on.

That mattered far more than anything else.

"Well, well. The famous Mr. King finally found time to visit Lizzie's?"

She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall painted with the Mox's emblem.

"Want me to introduce you to a few hot girls? I guarantee they'll show you a good time. Or maybe you'd rather see the latest, most popular Braindances? They'll really open your eyes."

Pantheon couldn't help laughing at the speed with which her jokes turned dirty. Now this was the Milani he remembered.

"I heard Lizzie's Bar has the best Braindance editor in Night City. That's who I came to see."

Milani blinked, genuinely surprised.

"You're looking for Judy?"

She raised an eyebrow, trying to work out what he was after.

In Night City, people who specifically sought out Braindance editors were usually either obsessive enthusiasts of the art form or degenerates producing illegal black-market Braindances.

Pantheon didn't strike her as either.

"That's right."

He nodded without offering an explanation.

He'd stolen an enormous amount of information from Biotechnica, including experimental procedures recorded through Braindance.

If he could get those recordings analyzed, he might finally uncover a clue to where the Red Ocher clan was being held.