"Damn it!"
Panam Palr punched her steering wheel as her call once again didn't go through. The last ti she'd seen Nash was when she threw him out of her truck. And now, the bastard was ignoring her.
"What am I going to do now?"
Frustration evident; she seethed in her seat, staring at the empty parking lot. Life wasn't treating her well for the past few weeks. She'd left Aldecaldos after fighting Saul.
Now, all alone in Night City, she tried to build herself up as a rcenary. Thankfully, the Queen of the Afterlife, Rogue Andiares, took her in. All Panam knew was that Rogue was sohow connected to Aldecaldos, and that was why she was even able to work under her.
But the jobs were too simple. Mostly hauling 'rchandise' around Night City. She wanted to do them alone, but another nomad called Nash was paired with her. She didn't like the bastard at all, but she swallowed her pride and worked.
Bam!
"Ugh!"
She hit the steering wheel again.
No, she didn't give a damn about Nash. That man wasn't worth anything to her. The real problem was that Nash was supposed to pay her for the recent job they'd completed. She'd also helped him move so of his own cargo around Night City, and paynt for that was also pending.
Once again, she tried to call.
Once again, nobody picked up.
She was all alone in the city, trying to make a living, just surviving at that point. That money ant a lot to her because she really didn't want to go back to her clan. It would only make Saul laugh in her face and call her immature or whatnot.
"Nash! If you're not dead, I'll kill you myself."
She stepped on the gas and headed to the Afterlife. That was the place where information flowed, and that was where she could find a hint.
It took her a few days to piece everything together.
Then, a few hours to scout her target.
Finally, a few hours of waiting to find an opportunity.
She snuck inside the building, using her skills gained over the years as a nomad. It was a ripperdoc's shop. She'd never visited it before, but she'd heard about Viktor Vektor, a rather reputable man in the trade.
Finally, Panam crouched and looked over the corner, into the back of the shop. She could hear the noise and eventually saw him, her target. A man of dium build, tall, but didn't seem that healthy. ssy brown hair, a sleep-starved face, his hands busy working on so machine or cyberware, she didn't know.
She waited for her chance, and finally, when the man relaxed back, eyes closed, she moved in and aid her gun right at his head. She slamd a foot to catch his attention, gun still high. She expected him to cower in fear, but that didn't happen.
He turned the chair and looked straight into the barrel of her gun. No trembling of the eyes, no shocked movent, no fear in his expression. It made her own heart shake, her face harden. Every person she'd t before who had such a response to danger was either a lunatic or extrely dangerous.
She quickly prepared herself, in case he had so expensive, advanced cyberware installed that gave him such confidence.
"Why did you kill Nash?"
She asked, not too loud to alarm him. Her intention wasn't to kill him to begin with. Just get her money back. But what he replied with broke her facade of confidence. Her eyes trembled, her gun jerked in her hand.
"What? Wraith?"
"I'm Cypher Blackwell, by the way. Yeah, Nash was a Wraith. Fucker robbed clean, then tried to turn into his personal rent-a-gun bitch. He ca after , and I put him down. That was it."
"No, you are lying. I don't work with Wraiths. They're absolute scum," she barked angrily. Who were wraiths? The worst aspect of the Badlands' lawless society. They killed, kidnapped, and did horrific things for sport.
She glared, eyes narrow, trying to read him and see if he was lying. But he gave no hints, just a stoic, unimpressed look. And then, without even bothering to look at her gun aid at him, he turned to the table again, continuing his work on those machines.
"Look, I don't know you, and popping ain't gonna do shit for you. If you're looking for answers, go shake down whatever fixer paired you with that piece of shit. But hey, if you ever hear where Nash was hiding his little secret spot, hit up. I want my shit back."
"Look at !" Panam shouted, pressing her gun on his temples. His carelessness angered her more. Why wasn't he scared?
"Go for it, girl. Pop if that'll make your day. Ain't the first ti I'd be eating lead anyway."
"..."
Bastard's suicidal.
Slightly taken aback, Panam took a step back and put the gun away.
"If you're lying, trust . I will hunt you down."
To that, all she received was a wave of his hand.
"Cool, get so grub when you swing by."
"..."
Everyone's crazy in this city.
"Wait!"
Just as she started to leave, his voice ca.
"What's your na?"
She didn't look or stop. Just answered.
"Panam."
####
Fuck!
Cypher watched her leave, spinning just when she'd turned to leave. He gulped, not because of fear, but because sothing in his pants was being a little too jumpy. And Panam had a fine ass, dammit.
But still, he was a bit surprised. It was still twenty-seventy-five, plenty of ti for seventy-seven. Her working with Nash ant she had already left her clan, but…
Did she work with Nash for two years? That doesn't make sense.
Once he heard the shop's gate close, he returned to work, planning everything, and also estimating the cost of making a full-sized Leaper in the future, and this Mind AI. His bank balance was alright, but he knew it'd vanish as soon as he started working on major projects.
Sighing, he finally opened the website he'd created for his company. It was called Obsidian Inc. The background of the company was simple: a tech developer and patents-holding company. As for the tech he'd already patented, it was mostly simple stuff that wouldn't make the big corporations want to kill him or snatch it.
First was a heatsink from the DL-18 blaster. Second was the new coolant he'd made and used in Judy's rig. Third was a servomotor he used in the Leaper. He reckoned it was pretty advanced, if not in terms of its precision, then in its durability, because the Leaper did leap pretty high. And finally, his biggest patent was the Quantum Condom, a full-scale product.
Other than Quantum Condom, he didn't offer the real thing when it ca to the others. He did so market research, asked Vektor about things here and there, and only offered marginally better things than what was available out there.
Even marginal, they could an day and night for many companies. Those DL-18 heatsinks could be used in many places, from weapons to industrial machines. The coolant was the sa, from computers to cyberware. And of course, the servomotors were used nearly everywhere. From aerospace to robots.
By giving them a marginally better option, he was first painting a smaller target on his back. Second, he was putting his na out there.
The real issue was that so companies might try to get exclusivity from him, even by force. That was a big no, as other corporations might throw a tantrum. So, he did what any charitable madman would. He made the patents public and put a fee on their use. The fee wasn't big, just a few tens to a few hundred eddies per sold product.
Sure, there was no way for him to track how they'd be used. No way of knowing if the other companies were paying him a fair amount. And for now, he could do nothing about that. There was no such thing as the rule of law in Night City. The one with the biggest stick won. And Cypher, although with a pretty big stick in his pants, in the grand sche of things, was nothing compared to the likes of Arasaka or Militech. Fuck, even low-level corporations could fuck him up.
The only thing he could do to secure his interest was dangle a carrot.
On his website, he added information under each patent that he was also working on further improved versions of each of them.
This is annoying.
He stared at the screen. He had no idea what to do with Quantum Condom because it was a real product. Besides, he hadn't tested it yet.
Heck, he didn't even want to do this whole company thing yet. It was too early. But he had no inco, and with each new 'itch' in his head, his bank balance was draining fast.
"Fuck it. What's the worst that can happen?"
With a shrug, he returned to planning the Mind AI's shell.
Though he did glance at his still hard erection.
"Go to sleep, buddy. Ain't no snug warm hole around here for you."
______________________
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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