Devil in Night City (Cyberpunk) (Patreon)

Chapter 5: Never Uneventful

I looked at the short girl who had literally run me over a while back and did my best to keep my expression blank. I just barely succeeded, taking a sip of my drink to disguise the curse that wanted to come out of my lips.

‘I knew drinking was a bad idea.’ I cursed silently.

Swallowing the bitter drink, I let out a sigh as I got my thoughts together, then finally answered the girl who was still looking at me in surprise.

“…Yes. That’s me.” I said in the calmest tone I could muster, which said a lot, because I wanted to bend the clearly unrepentant girl over my lap and turn those cheeks red with a good spanking.

‘Shit. I really need to get laid soon. I can’t let my dick lead me around.’ I thought, willing my dirty thoughts to disappear with some difficulty.

“Nova. You must be packing some pretty preem chrome then, huh? If you’re sitting here like nothing happened.” Rebecca said in an impressed tone, not even sounding the slightest bit sorry for what she had done as she leaned in closer, trying to see said chrome.

‘Then again, this was Night City, as I keep having to remind myself. So what else was I expecting?’ I thought, slightly rolling my eyes as the urge to spank this brat renewed itself.

“Sorry to break it to you, choom, but I’m all squishy flesh here.” I said with a snort, inwardly cringing at using the slang of this city. I still wasn’t used to it at all.

“I was just lucky that you only managed to graze me back then.” I continued, then took another sip of my drink, already inwardly planning to leave as soon as possible.

“Shut up! You telling me you’re not chipped!?” the girl, whose name I still didn’t know, exclaimed in surprise before suddenly grabbing my arm without any shame and pulling back my sleeve to reveal smooth skin underneath.

“Shit, you ain’t kidding! Wait… you don’t have any chrome on ya at all!?” Her eyes then glowed as she examined me more closely before blinking and returning to normal. Well, normal if you considered neon green eyes with a red pupil and red sclera normal.

“Holy shit, choom! How do you even function in Night City without any chrome at all?” the girl asked in genuine surprise and curiosity.

“I get by.” I shrugged calmly, then pulled out my Agent and waved it at her for a moment, causing her eyes to widen a bit in realization.

“Anyway, while it has been pleasant to talk to you…” I lied with a straight face as I got up from my seat and quickly paid for the drink.

I then turned to the short turquoise-haired girl and gave her a nod. “I must be leaving. Something came up.” I explained, already in the process of walking away, not wanting to deal with her for a second longer.

The urge to spank her had only grown since my short talk with her, so it was best I made my way out. I wasn’t a heavy drinker anyway, and a few drinks was already enough for me.

“Leaving already, choom? Well, later I guess… and sorry about almost killing you. Name’s Rebecca, by the way.” The now-named Rebecca called out behind me.

‘Huh. What do you know? She actually apologized, even if it was said as an afterthought.’ I thought, pleasantly surprised as she jumped up a couple of notches in my book from the negatives she had been in before.

Waving a hand over my shoulder, I didn’t even turn back as I continued walking away. “Lucius.” Was all I answered, returning her gesture before I made my way out, passing a pretty girl with short white hair and red-purple eyes.

The girl gave me a brief glance as we crossed paths but didn’t say anything, and the next moment I was outside.

“Hoh, leaving already?” the girl of Asian descent asked me curiously.

“Afraid so. Something came up. You know how it is.” I said with a smile and a small shrug. “I’ll definitely be returning though. The drinks were alright.” I added with a wave over my shoulder.

“Huhuhu. Take care of yourself then, handsome~ Until next time.” She called back in a flirtatious tone.

Deciding to walk back home, I kept a hand on my revolver inside my shirt, wary of anything that might happen since crime activity increased in the evening.

To my surprise, though, nothing happened, and I was able to make my way back to my apartment without any problems.

As I laid down in my bed, I looked down at my boner that wouldn’t go down and sighed in frustration.

“Definitely need to get laid soon.” I thought with a roll of my eyes as I ignored it and closed my eyes, hoping for a better day tomorrow.

That night I was plagued with dreams of me disciplining Rebecca in all sorts of ways.

=====

Back at Lizzie’s Bar

Lucyna Kushinada, or Lucy as she was known to those close to her, made her way to the bar, where she could spot her crewmate Rebecca drinking like there was no tomorrow.

Lucy usually didn’t join the crew when they relaxed after a job, but today she had decided to come along on a whim, to her crew’s surprise and joy.

With her cautious nature, always looking out for any corporate spy that might be working for Arasaka and might recognize her due to her past with the corp, Lucy was always careful about who she interacted with.

That was why, when an impossibly handsome man with black hair and green eyes walked into the bar dressed in a smart and probably extremely expensive set of clothes, several red flags went up in her head.

There was no visible chrome on his person, but that only made him more suspicious in Lucy’s eyes. The best chrome, after all, was hardly noticeable from real skin.

It didn’t help that the man practically screamed that he was new to the city. It wasn’t something easily noticeable, but anyone who had lived in Night City long enough could immediately spot a newcomer from a mile away, even in a crowd.

It was the eyes.

The way he took everything in like he was seeing it for the first time was hard to fake. Everyone here was already used to the particular aesthetic of Night City. If you had seen one bar, you had practically seen them all with how similar they were.

As he sat down at the bar and ordered a drink, she made sure she had him within her sight at all times and took note of whether he talked to anybody.

That was why it was so suspicious when none other than her crewmate, and somewhat friend, Rebecca chose to sit next to him and then strike up a conversation.

Thankfully they only talked for a couple of minutes before the guy got up and left. Lucy managed to hear the name he gave Rebecca as they said their goodbyes.

‘Lucius. Definitely a foreigner.’ Lucy thought, then decided to risk it and see if she could find anything about him. She walked in his direction while using her cyber-optic implants to do a brief surface scan.

When the scan came up blank, she kept her expression empty as she crossed paths with him. She was only slightly relieved when he didn’t seem to recognize her. Then she made her way to Rebecca to see if she could find out more about him.

Taking the seat Lucius, if that was even his real name, had just vacated, she turned to Rebecca and found her chugging down a beer like it was water.

“Phaa. What’s up, choomba? Want a drink?” Rebecca asked as she opened another one and started drinking it.

“No.” Lucy shook her head as she pulled out a smoke, lit it, took a drag, and let it out. “Who were you talking to just now? You seemed to know him.” she asked casually.

“Nah, not really. Even though I wish I did. Did you see him? He’s definitely my type.” Rebecca said dismissively with a shrug as she took a drink. “I was actually surprised to see him alive, to be honest, after our first meeting.” She revealed, a little surprise entering her tone.

Raising an eyebrow, Lucy immediately gave Rebecca all her attention even if she didn’t outwardly show it. “And why is that?”

“Well, that’s ’cause I ran him over a while back, of course.” Rebecca said calmly, causing Lucy to blink, not sure she had heard correctly. “It surprised the hell outta me when I saw him today like nothing had happened. I thought he would be rotting in a ditch by now.”

“…You ran him over?” Lucy asked slowly as more flags were silently raised. “He must have some good chrome then.” she deduced, since she knew from personal experience that Rebecca and slow didn’t match at all.

If Rebecca hit someone, that someone would be red paste, or at least somewhat injured if they had good enough chrome and a good ripperdoc.

“That’s just the thing, Luce!” Rebecca exclaimed as she turned to her and pointed with the beer bottle. “Choom’s actually a genuine ganic! I even checked! No implants at all, and he was even carrying one of those old-fashioned Agents.” Rebecca explained animatedly.

“…What?” That was the only response Lucy could give. Most people at least had a neural implant. It was almost impossible to do anything nowadays with no chrome.

“I’m sure he just had some really good chrome. The really expensive stuff is extremely difficult to tell apart from real skin.” she reasoned, figuring there was no way anyone would be crazy enough to inconvenience themselves like that. Otherwise, him surviving being hit by Rebecca made no sense.

“That’s what I thought too, so I touched his skin. Real soft, by the way, even if there was some decent muscle to it. But it was all genuine skin.” Rebecca said, throwing her hands into the air, just as puzzled as Lucy was about the situation.

Lucy dismissed the possibility that he had no chrome, though, as another flag went up in her mind.

‘Looks like I will have to look into who this Lucius really is.’ Lucy thought, already planning to see what she could dig up about him.

=====

Several Days Later

I feel like a fucking idiot.

All these days spent trying to find out how to reach a Fixer, so I could officially get jobs instead of just going on a killing spree and hoping for the best, and it turns out I could have gotten every known Fixer’s number with a quick look online.

You would think that for someone whose generation grew up using fucking Google for literally everything, it would be common sense to see if I could look up anyone’s number on the web. But it seems my brain might still be malfunctioning from the transition to this world or something, because the thought never even occurred to me.

It had to take me asking a fucking street food vendor at the base of Megabuilding H10, where I lived, if he knew the local Fixer’s number.

The guy had just looked at me funny for a moment, trying to see if I was fucking with him. After probably seeing my clueless face, he decided to take pity on me and explained that the main Fixers were listed online.

Feeling incredibly stupid, I said nothing more, but I decided to leave the man a nice tip for helping my dumbass self.

Moving on from that cringeworthy conversation, with the problem of a Fixer finally solved, I made the plunge and bought a Villefort Deleon Vindicator. Which is a car, obviously.

It was a nice coupe that netted me thirty-six thousand eddies and most of my savings, but it was worth it for the sole reason of no longer having to walk everywhere. There was also the detail of it being much safer to travel by car than jumping from building to building and catching the eye of some corpo.

The car was a nice dark blue with decent wheels that wouldn’t draw too much attention, still being on the cheaper side compared to some of the other cars listed on the website. I couldn’t wait until I had enough money to get my hands on a Rayfield Caliburn Murkmobile. That car looked sweet as hell from the images I had seen.

Things were finally starting to look up for me, it seemed. And based on the latest call with Regina Jones, the Fixer for this part of Night City, I even already had my first job laid out for me.

It was nothing special, just the standard take-a-package-from-point-A-to-point-B job, but it was still my first official gig. I had to make sure it went without any issues so I could keep getting work. The first job was the most important one for building up rep, after all.

Standing in front of my mirror, I checked myself one last time and nodded with a grin.

“Looking sharp.” I muttered, adding a wink before picking up the keys to my Vindicator and leaving my apartment.

It took a few minutes to get down to the garage, where I saw my new set of wheels parked. I got inside and drove north.

Used to driving in a big city, I quickly got used to the reckless driving of the denizens of NC. Before too long I reached my destination and already saw the car Regina had described waiting for me.

I parked, quickly got out while making sure my revolver was hidden under my shirt, and looked at the two dudes with a nod. I received one in return.

They didn’t look like anything special. Just your typical gangsters, with their guns clearly visible on their waists.

“I’m here for the package.” I said calmly, standing a good distance away.

I saw the guy in charge pause as his eyes glowed, no doubt having some kind of silent conversation, before he nodded and signaled his partner with his head.

Getting the signal, the other guy nodded, quickly opened the trunk, grabbed a package, and handed it to me.

I looked it over, confirmed that it matched the description, then nodded and slowly retreated back to my car. Once inside, I deposited it in my Inventory while keeping an eye on the two guys for any sign of betrayal or funny business. Couldn’t be too careful, after all.

With the package secured, I quickly pulled out of the parking lot and made my way to the drop-off site while dialing Regina.

“I got the package. I’m on my way to the drop-off.” I stated calmly as her image appeared in the corner of my glasses.

“Good job, kid. I just received the notice. I’ll be in touch for your payment when the package is delivered.” Regina said calmly before hanging up.

Not bothered by the short call, I continued driving. Thankfully nothing happened, and I let out a sigh of relief when the package was finally out of my hands minutes later.

I shot Regina a quick text, received a notification seconds later as money was deposited into my account, and smiled.

“Easy peasy. Heh. This shit is easy.” I smirked as I made my way back to my car,  only to pause as my smile died a painful death. A bunch of guys were surrounding my ride.

“…Never mind. Spoke too soon.” I muttered with a sigh as I pulled out my trusty Overture and got ready to bust some heads.

‘Never an uneventful day in NC, huh?’