Devil in Night City (Cyberpunk) (Patreon)

Chapter 8: Winner Take All

Days Later

I’m an idiot.

I’m really such a fucking idiot.

For days now I had been a bit frustrated at getting less and less upgrades to my current abilities, let alone a new one altogether, and I had forgotten one important detail even though it was staring me straight in the face.

The asshole R.O.B. who had brought me here and given me my cheat power clearly wanted me to get into conflict. They had even encouraged it openly with the hidden achievement system and the main reward waiting for me after I completed the main mission.

Since I obviously wanted to escape this shitty world, that was a good incentive for me to keep pushing boundaries.

It was fucking obvious that in order to get a drink named after me in the Afterlife, I had to do something major. In this city, that involved getting into conflict with the megacorps.

So, obviously, if I wanted more abilities, I would need to target them eventually.

The megacorporations had all the best talent in this city, and thus it stood to reason that if I started targeting them, I would get some sweet rewards. Things like advanced engineering, science, knowledge of cyberware, and many other fields were there for the taking if I wanted them.

The one I was most interested in, however, was acquiring the knowledge of how to build AVs for myself.

Being a fan of Star Wars since I was a kid — old Star Wars, of course, and not the shit released by Disney — and watching Han, Luke, and Leia travel through the stars in a spaceship had made the kid inside me wish for that kind of experience.

If I one day got the knowledge to make my own flying vehicle, it would be a dream come true. And there were very few things I wasn’t willing to do to accomplish that dream, now that it was a real possibility in the future.

That’s precisely the reason I currently found myself breaking into the apartment of a high-end corpo working for Biotechnica in the middle of the night.

I clearly remembered a mission to take out a Biotechnica bigwig, some stupid bitch who liked to experiment on people and had more deaths to her name than some of the most brutal murderers Night City had known.

Since I didn’t have a neural link to quickhack the cameras to her place, I had to do the next best thing, and that was to be quick.

Kicking the door open with only a bit of effort, I quickly entered the apartment, already hearing some noise inside due to the camera I had shot on the way in.

Ignoring everything, I headed straight to the main room where I could sense my target. With another kick, the door came down with a thud, and I came face to face with a short black-haired woman with pale skin who was currently pressed against the wall, focused on me.

“W-Who sent you!? Do you know who I am!?” she exclaimed, attempting to intimidate me with false bravado.

“Dead.” Was all I responded before shooting her in the head and killing her. A smile graced my face as I saw a notification appear.

[Usurper Activated!]

[Choose ability to Usurp]

·         Advanced Science – Deep knowledge of several scientific fields like chemistry, biology, botany, genetics, and medicine. (Note: mathematics and engineering also included due to related fields.)

·         Torture – Adept knowledge of how to torture a human being.

“Jackpot! Seems my theory was correct.” I declared, and immediately selected the first. I winced a bit as a crap ton of knowledge was shoved into my head, at the same time increasing some of my previous knowledge of medicine and chemistry.

Shaking my head, I looked around and decided to do a quick sweep of the place for anything valuable before leaving with a lighter step as a path opened forward.

“Hmm. I wonder if I could make some of my own webbing with the knowledge I now have?” I held my chin and muttered in thought.

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to try, at least.” I shrugged, but I couldn’t help the smile that was now on my face at the mere idea of being able to swing around Night City like Spider-Man.

=====

Days Later

“Damn it! How the fuck did Peter do this when he was broke as hell? This is fucking impossible!” I growled down at another failed attempt to make my own webbing.

The best I could do was make some shitty web that, while shooting a decent distance thanks to pressurized air and some good steel, had none of the steel-like strength the original was said to have.

The main problem, though, came in the fact that the thing needed to be refilled with air after every shot. It was a one-time use, which defeated the whole purpose of what I was going for.

“Haah. Is this another case of comic bullshit?” I let out with a groan as I dropped the web shooter, dropped onto my couch, and took a sip of some whiskey.

“Maybe I should just make a grappling hook instead.” I muttered with a sigh before blinking as I saw Regina calling and picked up.

“Regina, I could really use a distraction right now, so please tell me you have something interesting for me. Preferably something that needs a gun.” I greeted, feeling the need to either punch or shoot some gangsters in the face. Or maybe a combination of the two.

“Seems this is your lucky day, then.” Regina responded calmly, not saying anything about my need for violence. I’m sure she had heard worse with her background.

“We got a report on a cyberpsycho going wild in Santo Domingo. I need you to deal with it asap. A little bit of extra in it for you if you leave them alive. Here’s the coordinates.” She relayed calmly as I quickly saw where it was.

“On my way.” Was the only thing I said before hanging up. I already knew about her wanting to study cyberpsychosis and see if it could be cured or helped, but I couldn’t care less about that.

The only thing I heard was that there was someone I was free to kill without any consequences.

Quickly getting up, I finished the rest of my drink before leaving my apartment and heading for my ride, using any shortcut possible on the way down. In under two minutes I was on my way to my target.

It didn’t take me long to hear the sirens to let me know I was going the right direction. Going by the number of sirens I heard, the cyberpsycho must have been giving them more trouble than normal, meaning he had good chrome on him.

“This ought to be fun.” I grinned in excitement as I felt adrenaline start pumping into my body, making me inwardly wonder if I had somehow become a battle junkie in the short time I had been here.

‘Oh well. There are definitely worse habits to have.’ I shrugged, dismissing the thought entirely as I parked. The road up ahead was blocked, meaning I had arrived.

I took out a shotgun — a Carnage I had been tinkering with for more firepower — my katana, and my Overture, once more personally modded to my tastes, adding more power at the cost of recoil. Something which normally would have snapped my wrist in the past, but thanks to my constitution I didn’t need to worry about that at all.

Fully ready, I got out of the car and quickly ran in the direction the gunfire and shouting were coming from, then curiously raised an eyebrow at the number of NCPD on the scene. There was at least three times the usual amount present.

My attention was quickly pulled when I saw a topless blond man, chromed to hell and back, move much faster than normal — to the point that it was as if time had slowed down around him — and quickly kill four officers in quick succession.

‘What was that!?’ I thought in shock, realizing I was the only one who had been able to perceive his movements. The rest of the NCPD seemed surprised by his actions.

It only took me a few seconds to realize what it was, and I instantly turned serious, all playfulness disappearing.

“Shit. I forgot there’s cyberware in the game that literally lets you feel as if you’ve slowed time around you. I think it was a Sandevistan or something.” I muttered with a small curse, internally glad I had killed that cat a while back. Without its enhanced reflexes, I would have been in the same boat as the useless cops.

“Alright. No playing around, then.” I muttered before breaking into a sprint, ignoring the shouts from the NCPD to stay back as I confronted the cyberpsycho directly with my katana.

The crazed bastard immediately noticed me, and from his right arm a mantis blade appeared as he met me head-on.

As our blades made contact, he tried to shoot me with his free hand. He revealed he had a projectile launching system in his left, which I noticed and just evaded, ignoring the screams from behind me as some poor bastard got hit.

“Two can play at that game, fucker!” I exclaimed, pulling my modded Overture and unloading on the bastard’s head.

With the guy literally in front of me, I got a close look at how a Sandevistan worked. The bastard activated his before I could blow a hole in his head and tried to move behind me to bisect me in half.

With catlike reflexes — literal, in this case — I turned around and just managed to block his strike, a bit of sweat on my face, before grinning triumphantly.

“Got you now, bastard!” I screamed in joy, not wasting the opportunity to kick his leg out and take him off balance before mercilessly unloading my clip into his face, some blood spraying on me.

Then, for good measure, I took my katana and drove it down into his skull. “And stay dead.” I declared, silently admitting to myself that this was the toughest fight I had been in since my stunt back in Pacifica a while back, even if it ended in moments.

If the bastard could have used his Sandevistan with no drawback on himself — which I was aware it did, cyberpsycho or not — I would have had a much tougher fight.

Immediately after completing the deed, I heard a familiar ping from my System and looked at my rewards.

[Usurper Activated!]

[Choose ability to Usurp]

·           Superhuman Body (speed/reflexes)

·           Combat Mastery (guns)

·           Practical Expertise (leadership)

‘He must have been in the military.’ I silently surmised, looking at the possible rewards as I chose an upgrade to my reflexes and ignored the minor pulse of pain coming from my head.

Ignoring the surprised shouts from the NCPD, I shot a message to Regina about the job being done, but that I had to put the guy down.

She instantly responded with a small word of praise before I received my payment.

Just as I was about to make a break for it, not feeling like answering any questions from the NCPD, I paused as I suddenly recalled something.

‘Wait. Aren’t good Sandevistans really expensive? Like in the hundred-thousand range?’ I blinked before looking at the bleeding body on the ground with a new look.

While I wouldn’t resort to a new low and pull a move worthy of a fucking Scav, that didn’t mean I couldn’t keep an eye on where the body ended up — and more importantly, his cyberware.

Smiling at the plan, I took off into a sprint the next moment as I saw an AV from Militech approaching, surprising the NCPD as I quickly got away using my newfound speed.

“Woo~ This is amazing!” I yelled happily at the rush I got as I continued running, not feeling the strain at all.

Unlike the now poor dead bastard back there, this was not cyberware but my actual speed. And on top of that, it was something awarded by my cheat power. Meaning I could use it for however long I wanted with no drawbacks whatsoever.

I could already handle this speed before, but I had to build up to it. Now there was no buildup. Instead I could go from being stationary to moving faster than the eye could see instantly.

“Huh. Doesn’t this count as a discount spider-sense?” I muttered to myself as I weaved through buildings to make sure I lost any possible pursuers.

“…Holy shit, it does, doesn’t it!?” I exclaimed in happiness before breaking out into a laugh. “Hahahaha. I might not have managed to build myself a web shooter, for now, but I got the next best thing in a spider-sense of sorts, along with the ability to react to it!”

I didn’t return to my car, of course. Instead I circled back around after a few minutes and was now standing on a rooftop close to the scene.

“…And now we wait.” I muttered to myself and took a seat on the edge of the building.

=====

Minutes Later

It took about half an hour of waiting until I saw a vehicle approach. REO Meatwagon, from the looks of things, based on their yellow jackets. They were basically an RRT corporation that were in rivalry with Trauma Team but with less money to throw around.

As the doors to the back of the vehicle opened, though, I perked up and blinked as I saw none other than Gloria come out.

“…Oh yeah. She did mention in passing she worked for Meatwagon.” I muttered to myself, having honestly forgotten, since most of my time with Gloria was spent balls deep inside her.

“Well, at least this should make this a bit easier.” I whispered to myself before following after the emergency vehicle while keeping to the roofs.

The chase took another half an hour before something interesting happened.

The vehicle came to a stop seemingly at random. I saw no hospital or Meatwagon building nearby, and none other than Gloria got out, clearly holding a package inside her jacket.

She looked around as if making sure the area was clear before walking away with hurried steps.

“Hoh? What’s this?” I asked as an amused smile lit up my face. “Are you doing something naughty, Gloria? Though, with how you all but confirmed you’re in desperate need of cash, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that you would take a risk in getting your hands on some expensive tech.”

With her acting like that, it was all but obvious that she and her coworkers must have come to a deal of sorts, as she wasn’t the only one present. Something that probably involved splitting the profits was my best guess when they sold the thing.

“Well. Time to drop in and say hi. It would be terribly ungentlemanly of me to run into her at random and not say hello.” I muttered with a grin as I changed targets and followed the much more pleasant sight, in my opinion, of Gloria’s giant ass.

Following from the shadows, I waited until she reached her car — a simple yellow Thorton Galena G240. The cheapest car you could buy in the game, if I remembered right.

“Hey, Gloria. What a happy coincidence running into you here.” I greeted from behind her with a pleasant voice.

My actions startled her quite badly, since I had been silent as a cat. She let out a girly scream and quickly turned to me, a panicked and scared look taking over her beautiful features.

“L-Lucius!? W-What the hell are you doing here!?” Gloria exclaimed with some anger in her voice as she grabbed her chest and started breathing heavily when she realized it was me.

I silently noticed that her free hand was now holding onto what she was hiding under her jacket with a tighter grip.

“I’m here for that Sandevistan you’re hiding under your jacket, of course.” I answered with the same relaxed tone and expression.

“To the victor belong the spoils. Right of conquest. Winner take all. Take your pick.” I added with a shrug as her form became extremely tense and her eyes widened in fright.