"What did I miss?"
Right then, Judy appeared, walking over to him.
"Yeah, so Tyger Claws got their ass kicked," he said, tapping his gun. "Got so target practice in, too."
"Oh?" Judy snorted a laugh. "Guess I hired myself one hell of a dangerous gonk, huh? Co on, my stomach's throwing a riot. I know a spot in Kabuki market."
"On my ride?" He asked.
"Why not?"
A little awkward, he nodded and got on his bike. Soon, he felt Judy's weight behind him as she sat down. And instantly, he felt her chest brush against his back.
Knew this would happen. I'm bricked up.
He knew the way from there and soon reached the round-shaped marketplace. It was evening and bustling with people, and there were plenty of spots to eat. He let Judy guide him as he personally didn't know what to eat and what to avoid.
One thing was clear, however. Nothing there slled like the food he knew. There was a fake, synthetic scent in the air, like everything was artificial.
"This one here sells the best noodles."
He followed her into a small shop with just a counter and a few high stools in front of it. He sat down beside Judy and let her order for him as well. He did look at the nu. Words like sausage were thrown around, but he doubted it was real at.
Pretty quickly, a noodle bowl was placed in front of him.
This looks alright.
He took a bite.
And tastes like shit. Did they even use flour to make the noodles? What's this sandy sauce?
But when he looked at Judy, she seed to be enjoying her al. So, he did the sa, at least wanting to fill his belly a little. He was so skinny currently that any food was good as long as it gave him so nutrition.
"Nice hustle today. Got the next batch of deliveries queued for tomorrow. Pingin' you your cut and the eddies from the glitter."
In the middle of eating, he saw his bank balance change. From just eighty, it reached two thousand. He froze for a mont, making sense out of how he made that much just from selling porn and his leftover crack.
This is easy money.
The porn part, of course. He had no desire to be a drug peddler.
"Thanks, Judy."
"Hey, I made so eddies off it too, so we're square. You got my back, I got yours, yeah? Anyway, you really oughta scope out a spot in the city. No way that constant trek from here to that lake farm is any kinda fun."
"I'll give it so thought. For now, I'm into that place. It's calm, keeps outta the noise and all the random gunshots."
"Hah, I can see the lure." Judy finished her food and turned to face Cypher. "What flipped the script?"
"What do you an?"
"What flipped the switch for you? Going from BD junkie and glitter sniffer to this. Can't picture it being easy."
Well, it was death. But he couldn't say that. He thought for a second and leaned forward on the counter. He unconsciously scratched his neck. "It was this or dying alone in that lakehouse, overdosed. Wasn't even a tough call. The real battle is actually sticking to it."
"Sounds rough. Never really asked. What's your story, choom? Been kinda on my toes these past months around you. Hard to trust buzz chasing gonks, know what I'm sayin'?"
For a split second, Cypher felt his old life flash in his mind. But that didn't matter anymore. That chapter was already closed. "I'd straight up call you dense if you actually trusted . There ain't anything special about . I used to roll with a Nomad clan, but they booted for getting too wild. Banged the clan head's wife and daughter. Yeah, I know, not my smartest era."
"Pffft!" Judy spat out her drink. "You what? Both of them? Together?"
"God, no! Not together, that's fucked up. But yeah, their bellies ended up bloating around the sa ti. The clan head wanted to straight-up kill , but the other nomads pulled my ass outta that fire. That was a year ago. Been running ever since, just kinda surviving. Then I saw this job ad from NC Dam Ltd. Nobody wanted it because, you know, the reservoir's toxic as hell. I figured since I'm already slow-mo killing myself with my addictions, a little more poison won't hurt. So I applied and boom, got in."
Judy was quiet for so ti, sipping on her drink.
Then she looked at him and patted his shoulder. "Hey, you got this. I've watched what addictions can do, where they drag folks into this chro jungle. Just don't let Night City chew you up and spit you out, and you'll co out clean."
"That's the plan. What about you, Judy Álvarez? What's your story?"
"Eh, not much to brag about. Grew up broke in Laguna Bend, no parents in sight. I was raised by my grandparents until the whole reservoir ss nuked the place. We hauled it to Night City after that. They hated it. Packed up for Oregon. I stuck around. Guess the city sunk its claws in ."
"And you live in Lizzie's?"
"Hell no, I'd flatline myself before doing that. I got my own little hive, cozy as hell, crashing there with my girl. Wait, you do know I'm into gals, right?"
Cypher nodded and decided to ss with her a little. "Hard to miss. You give off that vibe."
"What vibe?"
"Short hair in that swept undercut, cargos, tattoos, you got the full pick- lesbian vibe going on," he said with this crooked smirk, making sure she knew he was just ssing with her.
"Oh, you did not just call that! And what'd you even know about won when you barely crawl outta your BD bunker? I dress to stun, thank you very much. And yeah, my girl's a total stunner. She told to steer clear of a gonk like you, said you'd spiral out again. But I dunno, got this itch in my gut telling Maiko's off her ga this ti."
"Well, damn, guess that ans I got soone to prove wrong then."
"Okay, okay, ti for to delta. Got a stack of BDs waiting for so Judy magic." Judy got up and paid the vendor. "Was chill vibing with you, Cypher. Finding decent chooms in Night City is like finding clean air. Rare as hell."
"I ain't supposed to say it, but you're sorta off the knocker for seeing a friend in ."
She let out this dorky snort and strolled toward his motorbike. "I know. I do tend to attract the fucked up crowd."
"I'm fucked up?"
"Choom, what's not fucked up about you?" She gave his shoulder a playful jab. "Still, I got a knack for reading folks. You're definitely fried in spots, but you're good stuff underneath."
He got on the bike and started it. Soon, he felt Judy behind, once again leaving him bricked up. But he was no fiend; he had ntal control. Besides, he kinda liked her, for at least being that chill with him.
"So I'm a diamond in the rough?" He said while driving.
"Nah, nah, not that extre. More like… I dunno… a bargain bin BD. You can splice it, polish it, whatever, but it's still BD, y'know?"
"..."
"What else was I expecting from a BD editor?" he said, laughing to himself. Then he cranked the throttle hard, total speed fiend, the one addiction that wasn't taking him out. Well, not unless he ate pavent.
They weren't that far anyway, so it only took a few minutes of him cutting through traffic to reach the club again.
"So, you gonna bounce straight ho, or wanna chill here in the bar for a while?" Judy asked.
"No, got so shopping to do. Then head ho."
Judy gave him hard, judging eyes.
"Ain't going glitter shopping."
"I didn't say anything." She lifted her hands and backed off with a grin. "Swing by tomorrow, yeah? Don't be late for the deliveries. Gotta keep that hustle clean."
He waved at her and rode away. He'd looked up on the net where he could find the parts he needed. And thankfully, he had so money to buy them.
Night City was really beautiful at night. But still, he preferred his lakehouse as it was very peaceful. And riding to it at night in the soothing breeze was like therapy. No music, no noise, just the air splitting around him.
Soon, after entering his house and cooking himself a shitty al with even shittier ingredients, he cleaned out a table from the bedroom and started working on the DL-18 Blaster. He didn't need to design it in software since the gun was pretty simple, and his mory of it was too clear.
At the sa ti, it was screaming, rushing him to be as quick as possible. He tried to do that, using a half-built old revolver's fra. He'd also gotten himself a small 3D printer that could work with tals and build him the designs he had in mind. It was very low-end and cheap stuff.
He assembled the polyr chassis and set the titanium reinforcent into its slot. Then he fitted the plasma ignition chamber, securing its power leads and gas injector. Then he mounted the magnetic accelerator rails around the chamber and locked them into alignnt.
It was all new to Cypher, so his speed was very slow. It took a few tries to get things right, but the waste was minimal. He proceeded with positioning the synthetic focusing lenses within the barrel housing and tightened their anchors.
Barely half done, it took him six hours just to reach there. He had to build a few things up using other tiny things that already existed. He didn't have a magic that could just give him all the parts needed.
When the clock ticked past midnight, he dragged himself to the bed as well.
Sadly, sleep wasn't his friend. By far the most damaging thing for him was the glitter addiction. Getting rid of it was extrely difficult.
But he tried.
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