But she didn't expect what she saw next. And seeing his body, she felt a bit worried, wondering if inviting sothing like him was even a good decision. His body was ruined, littered with scars of substance abuse. Well, mostly the arms, filled with internal wounds, dots that had beco permanent. His words finally made sense.
"Used to be a glitter junkie. Abused the fuck out of this body. Trying to flip the script isn't easy, not in this city. Might get so tattoos though. At least then it would look decent."
Gloria just nodded, not sure what to do. Her experience with junkies was bad. They were unpredictable, untrustworthy, and just unstable in general. But for now, she did her job. The bullet seed to have scraped his arm, tearing through flesh and so muscles. She didn't ask how he got it. The less she knew, the better.
Quickly, she used the hand-held stitcher machine to staple the tear in the flesh. This was easy work for her, making her wonder why he even ca to her, because even he could do this. And seeing him curiously look around at her apartnt, she felt nervous.
Then she noticed his eyes freeze on her sleeping son. A bit too long for her comfort.
"A son, huh? I figured he'd be little, like a toddler. You don't look that old, honestly."
She evaded that flirt attempt. "I had my David pretty young. He's a good boy, goes to Arasaka Academy, you know."
She was so proud of her son for that. Being able to go to the academy where only corpo heirs could go was life-changing. She knew her son's future would be far different, far better than life at H4.
"Arasaka Academy? Sweet!"
She frowned when he whistled. Maybe she shouldn't have told him that.
"He really is a good boy for that. But it must be hard for you. I heard the fee ain't small for that place. I bet being a dtech is good, but that sure ain't good enough for Arasaka."
Gloria clenched her jaw. Yes, she shouldn't have told him that, she realised it too late. "Well… he has scholarships and…"
"Co on, Gloria, who you trying to bullshit here? You know damn well I know those assholes would sell their own kids before they hand out a scholarship. What's the big secret? Black-market cyberware ripped out of dead patients?"
Click!
She made a wrong stitch right then, shocked by how right he was. But more surprisingly, he didn't even react to that. She looked at his face and noticed a smug smile. Yeah, there was no hiding from him. Maybe this was why he ca to see her.
"I… I… I don't hurt anyone."
"When the hell did I say you do? Long as it ain't so fucked-up Scav shit, you know, where those psychos snatch you off the street, cut your chro out while you're still kicking and screaming, then flip it on the black market. Long as it ain't that nasty, we're straight."
Gloria gulped. The man was too accurate with everything. Half of her mind told her he knew everything. The other half told her that what she was doing was a common thing for most dtechs. Grabbing cyberware from dead patients was the norm, not the exception.
"W-What do you want?" Gloria stepped away after placing the last stitch. "Why are yo—"
"How much did you make?"
"Huh?"
"In that race, only two people threw money down on . One was , obviously, and the other was you. So tell straight... How much cash did you walk away with?"
Gloria felt uncomfortable. It was like he could read her mind. Yes, she had bet on him and won well. That was why she let him in. She hoped to know when he'd race again and bet more. But how did he know all that?
"E-Eight thousand… that's what I won."
"Impressive. I ended up pocketing over a hundred grand off it. I know you're probably wondering when I'm gonna race again. Truth is, not for a while. I could win every damn one, but if I keep doing that, it kills the pot. I need people betting against , not riding my nuts. But listen... if you're feeling it, I got another dead-certain, no-sweat offer ready to go."
Gloria instinctively stepped back. She felt naked in front of this man. How did he know everything? Her own thoughts. Was she that predictable? Yes, she wanted him to race more. Yes, she was looking for money. David's education wasn't cheap at all.
She watched him stand up and put on his blood-soaked clothes. The entire ti, she tried to make up her mind. Can she trust him? Was it even worth listening to a junkie? But she'd already benefited from his advice once.
"Not here," she glanced at David and decided to take the guest to the storage room beside the cooking station. It was the only part of the house with a door, other than the bathroom, of course.
Still, she was nervous. The man was thin, but tall. And clearly, he knew how to fight, or else he'd be in a body bag, not getting stitches.
"Keep the voice low. My son knows nothing."
"Probably best to leave it like that. But before I offer up anything, how does it play out? You grab whatever chro you find off dead bodies?"
"Only the ones with no takers," Gloria clarified. "No family, no crew. Zero eddies on anyone sniffing around for them."
"And this being Night City, I doubt there's a lack of those? But I'm guessing you don't really get that many, do you?"
She nodded. "I don't. They number a lot, but they're spread out. It's not just doing this, you know. I know it's wrong but…"
"Hey, I don't care."
Gloria felt his hand land on her shoulder. She almost reached for her gun in response.
"Alright, here is the deal. From here on out, you sell all the cyberware you pull. I'm talking all of it, no exceptions, whether it's running smooth or totally busted, glitched out or whatever. I'll take it off your hands, cash in hand. And hey, if you wanna play middleman and rope in so other dtechs to offload their haul to , I'll kick you a small cut from their sales. Think about it. Easy passive inco."
"What's the catch?" She asked, because what he was describing was too simple.
Currently, she had to be careful finding black-market sellers. Finding direct custors who want to buy it was ideal. After all, the second-hand market was dominated by Scavs and other gangs.
"No catch, Gloria. I got so real skills when it cos to fixing tech, all kinds of shit, cyberware too. Plan's dead simple. I'll clean them up, make them shine, and flip them on the market. Don't worry about the gangs. I'm gonna have to deal with those assholes sooner or later anyway."
"You'll go against Scavs?"
She saw a hint of worry on his face. But it faded into a smile afterwards.
"Sure, why not? Fuck them and their backers. Who even likes them? I'll kill them too."
Too?
She stared into his eyes. The deal was lucrative, but she felt like keeping a distance from him. He felt dangerous, and being around him felt even more dangerous. Besides, all she cared about was selling cyberware she'd get her hands on. As long as money was good and the risk was low, it was a no-brainer.
"Mierda. You're a madman. Even thinking about scrapping with Scavs," she blurted. "But what do I care, huh? Screw it, let's do this. I'll ping you whenever I got gear to move. And I want my eddies at the handoff, no ifs, no buts. You good with that, then it's a deal."
"Deal."
She stared at his extended hand and… to her annoyance, noticed a bump on his crotch. Was he hard? What? Why?
But she shook it and walked out of the storage, leading him to the door. She made sure David was still asleep.
"I'll probably have so fresh chro lined up every three days. For the others, it'll take longer. You can't trust anybody in this city." She shot him a hard look as she said it. "Most tis you end up disappointed."
"Agreed. But this ain't so trust-fall biz between us. It's straight cash, plain and simple. You keep it clean and don't try to fuck around, I won't do the sa to you. Good night now, and thanks for patching up. Sending the eddies."
She watched him leave her apartnt. She made sure to look out, making sure he vanished down the hallway, turning towards the elevator.
Finally, she locked her door and let out a heavy breath, calming down her nerves. She was no leadhead. She'd seen plenty. Yet, for so reason, she felt so nervous near Cypher. The way he carried himself was half insane, too confident, and most likely mad. It made it hard to predict him.
No, this is for the best.
She looked at her sleeping son and shook all the bad thoughts out of her mind. This was for a better future for David. Having Cypher as a regular buyer was better than the risk of finding new ones each ti.
Finally, she drank a glass of water, put away all the dical equipnt, and went to sleep in her bed across from her son's.
However, unaware the whole ti, her son's eyes were closed, but his ears weren't.
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Check out Cypher X Panam, Cypher X Misty, Cypher X Gloria NSFW ART, and advance chapters at [email protected]/MrPlotThickens Or Subscribestar.adult/mrplotthickens
Advance chapters on [PATREON] are in long-form format. I have 6 long chapters of this story on P@treon. That's equal to 24-26 Webnovel chapters.
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