Cyberpunk: I'm Not Cheating Chapter 9: The Two of Us

David knocked on Vito's door.

"Co in."

David walked in holding the Sandevistan and was about to say sothing when he stopped dead.

Vito was rapidly stripping down SMG after SMG. The whole crate David had hauled upstairs was full of weapons.

"Sothing up?"

Vito kept working, breaking the Shingen and the Guillotine down into components. With Technical Ability 20 and Intelligence 20 both in play, the results were well beyond what he'd imagined. He could build things from scratch.

David recovered from the shock and held out the implant.

"This is our way of saying thank you. Please, you have to take it."

Vito glanced over. A spinal implant. He picked it up and scanned it. Special military-grade Sandevistan. He handed it straight back.

"Good Sandevistan, it'll cut your reaction ti down a lot. You should get it installed. I don't need it right now."

He went back to work.

David pressed him. "Sir, please take it. You saved my mother's life. This is just a start, I'll repay you properly soday."

Vito didn't look up. "Call Vito. Having a safe place to sleep is more than enough. No need to keep thanking . Tell about yourself instead. You got hit today?"

David set the Sandevistan down and told him everything: using a pirated upgrade to blow up the school's system the day before, and getting beaten up by Katsuo's combat chip at Arasaka Academy today.

Vito shook his head when David finished. "Kid sounds like he had it coming. But he wasn't wrong about one thing. You shouldn't be spending that kind of money on Arasaka Academy."

David thought so too.

Vito kept going. "I'm not saying your mother's thinking was wrong. She wanted Arasaka Academy to be a stepping stone out of the bottom, and that's a reasonable idea. If it worked, your situation could change completely."

Ding!

Vito stripped apart a grenade. The sound of the internal striker snapping loose made David flinch.

"But your family can't afford a single thing to go wrong. You and your mother can't even have a toothache. The mont you can't cover one expense, Night City's system will take you apart. One thing goes, then everything goes. Fine in the morning, on the street by night."

David started thinking.

Vito went on. "I know soone who made it to second-in-command of Arasaka's counterintelligence division in Night City. His boss set him up to take the fall, and in the ti it took to walk to a bar everything he had was gone. Lucky for him he'd never been big on chro, otherwise Arasaka's people would've stripped his parts out too."

He started assembling a pistol from the components on the floor.

"So my advice is... hold on, I can add sothing here... my advice is, get that Sandevistan installed, go put Katsuo on the ground, then get your mother out of Night City. Whatever Arasaka Academy is, if a pirated firmware patch can crash its entire system it's probably not worth the tuition. I never had much respect for Arasaka in my previous life anyway. Their products are a pain to use."

He finished the new Unity, chambered a larger round, worked the slide, and nodded.

David was still thinking. Vito looked at him.

"I can lend you money for the surgery. Find a proper clinic, or just go to Vik."

After so back and forth with himself, David decided to get the Sandevistan installed. Gloria had lifted it off a cyberpsycho sergeant during her ti at Trauma Team. David had experienced it through a Braindance and knew exactly how strong it was.

He took the implant and left. He couldn't go to Viktor though. If Gloria found out he was getting chro installed and dropping out of school, she'd tear into him, and he couldn't stand seeing her cry again. But he had to do it. Like Vito said: get the Sandevistan in, then get out of Night City.

Vito had never watched Cyberpunk: Edgerunners in his previous life. If he had, he definitely wouldn't have suggested this.

With David gone, Vito got back to his crafting. The manufacturing interface here was far richer than anything in the ga he'd played. No tools needed, he could modify anything by hand. It was practically a bug.

He also noticed he could craft Cyberware Capacity Shards, though the materials required were considerably more involved. He'd need to find a computer and see what was available to buy online.

David ca back through the door. Vito had just finished a batch of rounds and was thinking about food. He took one look at David standing there in his mother's Trauma Team jacket, soaked through with blood.

"You didn't go to Vik."

David blinked. "How did you know?"

Vito shrugged. "Vik wouldn't let you walk out looking like that. Co on, let's find a doctor to stop the bleeding and get sothing to eat. I'm hungry enough to eat those terrible fried noodles right now."

At Vito's insistence they found a doctor to properly deal with the wound, then sat down at a wonton stall.

"Vito, are you a rc? Like an Edgerunner?"

Vito chewed a synthetic-at wonton and frowned slightly.

"Not yet. You got anything on tomorrow?"

David was eating happily. "I'm going to the Academy to drop out, and then I'm going to put Katsuo on the ground where he belongs."

Vito ordered two small Coca-Colas.

"And then?"

David paused.

"Then... I go ho. Find a job."

Vito handed David a Coca-Cola.

"Life isn't a movie. It doesn't end at the best part. If things go sideways after you hit Katsuo, call . I'm heading to Vik's tomorrow to get a few implants sorted."

David took the drink. Vito reminded him a little of a father.

Vito looked at him.

"Don't look at like that. Your face is saying oh god, this handso man is basically my dad."

"Ha, get out of here, Vito."

They finished their wontons and headed ho, talking the whole way. Then David caught sothing out of the corner of his eye: a flash of silver hair. He thought he'd seen it a few days ago too, but tonight like before, it was gone in an instant.

He was still staring when he realized Vito was already halfway down the block. David jogged to catch up.