The Aspiring Solo
Consciousness slamd back into him like a hamr, his cheap Optics snapping open followed by a sharp intake of breath.
For a mont, Jackie Welles had no idea where he was, just that he was covered in blood and sweat and currently staring at the gut-strewn floor of so unknown workshop.
And then he blinked again, and his mories snapped back into place.
"Hijo de puta." He cursed as he rembered the sudden blur of the borg fucker, and the feeling of slamming into tal.
'Well, at least I am alive.' He thought 'So there is that.'
Grunting, and wiping the drool and blood from his mouth, he got himself up and paused at what he saw.
The entire inner side of the workshop was covered in blood and viscera, what little was not shot up by the gunfight was instead thrown about by the aftermath of sothing he'd see in a MaxTac BD.
There were even grooves in the damn concrete!
"Shit." He cursed and quickly checked on his weapons, before running down the trail of destruction.
Or at least he attempted to.
The mont he took his third step he felt a jolt of pain explode at his back, nearly doubling over as his body almost failed to support its own weight.
Scowling, and quickly inhaling a MaxDoc, he fird his grip on his Unity and kept going.
What followed was more of the sa, death and destruction strewn in all directions, especially once he reached the aftermath of his own grenade throw.
But he had no ti to think about that as he heard noise coming from nearby and rushed as quickly as he could towards the source.
What he found inside made him pause.
Especially since a shaky hand he could swear he saw getting blown off by a Burya was pointing a Liberty at his face.
"Oh." He heard the familiar synth voice of Mike the borg, and the pistol was removed from his face "It's you."
There was absolutely no emotion in the tone, even the small undercurrent of excitent the chrohead had despite the situation was now completely missing.
Feeling put off, Jackie barked at him "Of course it's !" He grunted and sat atop a nearby worktable "You didn't leave any of the Scav fucks alive, did you?"
"Of course not." Ca the instant answer.
"Right." Jackie nodded, cooling down a bit.
Just then, he got the chance to actually look at the room, and quickly saw what Mike was so busy with he couldn't even have bothered to check on him.
On the operating table lay a familiar woman, tied to the bed with multiple belts and covered in bandages but to Jackie's surprise missing none of her cyberware.
"They didn't… uh" He winced "Scav her yet?"
Michael Sobronov
"If only." The words left before I could stop them, my whole existence feeling completely detached from the situation "I had to… retrieve what they took."
Digging out the eyes and jaw from their own excuse for a ripper was as insulting as it had been cathartic, even if the arms were much more infuriating.
That machinegunner gonk was so incompetent both of them ended up dented!
Forcing my anger down and not waiting for Jackie's response, I simply pointed at a nearby pile of at with my non-functional arm.
Jackie looked disgusted but shook his head and spat on the ground "If anyone deserves it, it is these bastardos."
He looked up from the waste pile "You sure it is safe to… fix her here?"
"The Scavs were well supplied." I answered, even as I ran another full body scan to see if any of the viruses or connection adjustnts made by the filth remained "And her-" My Vocalizer failed for a reason I could not identify.
I nearly flinched when a hand landed on my shoulder, the awkward pose making the shorter Latino look just a bit comical, despite the situation, as he offered a look of understanding "It's your mamá, hermano." He shook his head "No need to force yourself to explain anything."
Nodding instead of saying anything, I got back to work.
Her reaction to hearing speak left stunned and confused but I knew wasting ti was only increasing the risk of permanent damage, so I tied my half-destroyed arm to my body with a belt and let my Nanoforge do its work while doing my utmost to repair the damage that had been done.
As I told Jackie, the Scavs were very well supplied, holding more than enough dicine and anesthetic for to properly dress mom's wounds and replace her cyberware as best as I could.
Thankfully, my arms did not fail as I removed the scabs from her wounds.
And my work clicked back into place just as it was made to do.
The less educated might believe that removing cyberware after a stressful situation was helpful for the person's ntal state, but for soone as well tuned to her tal parts as my mother, the violent removal she suffered was far more torturous than anything re at might have gone through.
Her brain was already adapted to the signals it sent being received properly, and the sudden lack of multiple parts would certainly lead to confusion and hysteria.
Or at least that is the outco I hoped for above all.
The others I did not even want to consider…
Retrieving the stolen limbs and parts was quite simple as well, the greedy Scavengers took one good look at my work and imdiately decided to add it to themselves, and the lack of thievery safeguards I coded in favor of integration efficiency allowed them to install them without much issue.
A risk I was aware of, and one I would take as many tis as necessary.
It was irritating that I could not imdiately give her back her legs but I did not trust any model I myself did not build, and installing a new denture and growing back her hair could be done later.
The lack of preparation frustrated , but optimization was for when you weren't trying to salvage a person as if they were a broken peace of machinery.
Grunting to myself as I found no imdiate issues I could solve here and now, I looked to Jackie "She is stable now." I said and he grinned "Can you see if the van in the garage is working? I need to bring her to Vik just in case."
"Sure thing." The Latino agreed and hopped off his seat, walking out with a barely noticeable limp in his step.
The damage he took must have been much greater than I detected, if a dose my nanites did not fully fix him…
No matter, his pain would be temporary, and his paynt fair.
Satisfied with that, I focused back on the feeling of blinding rage I had been trying to contain for so long, and turned to the pile of bodies I had dragged here.
I took the Braindance Recorder I extracted from mom's Neural Port, and crushed it between my fingers, before glaring at the pile of at under my feet.
If I could not kill them all over again, re desecration would have to do.
---
Twenty minutes later I got the call.
[Jackie Welles: Got the old bucket of rust running again, grabbed all the weapons and 'ware that didn't get shredded too. You done down there?]
[Magos: For the most part.] I answered as I ripped out the final cable holding a Biomonitor to the dead Scav's body [Can you get down here and help carry her?]
[Jackie Welles: Be there in a minute.]
Unaware of the cruel smile on my face, I let the Biomon join the burned out Kerenzikov and damaged Sandevistan in the tal box, alongside any other military grade implant the filth was sporting.
My still half-functioning right arm twitched as I rubbed my hands.
I am going to dig so many secrets out of these!
"Jesus fuck!"
Unimpressed by the sudden interruption I looked down to see a pale Jackie staring at the pile of at under .
"What?"
"You" He pointed at and then at the at "The fuck?"
"They certainly won't be needing it anymore." I shrugged, my twitching arm doing a flippant wave on its own "Consider it poetic justice."
He scowled and threw his arms up in frustration "Let's just get out of this fucking place, I need a drink."
"Sure." I nodded and stepped behind the ripperdoc bed, not waiting a mont I simply ripped the mattress off the tal contraption and indicated for Jackie to grab the other side.
He shook his head in that confused way of his and just got to work.
Five minutes later, we were both seated in the reappropriated van, my mother secured in the back and sleeping soundly.
"You good there?" Jackie asked as he turned on the engine.
Looking down at my almost fetus-like sitting position I shrugged "I could sit like this for days."
"Right." He chuckled "Borg."
"at problems will not trouble again." I nodded at the obvious statent.
Snorting lightly and shaking his head, Jackie asked "To Vik's then?"
"Yeah" I agreed and he started driving "Just need to call the fixer."
His Optics visibly brightened at that.
Three rings later, my call was answered.
[Regina Jones: Magos. I thought you got zeroed.]
[Magos: Apologies for taking my ti. The situation called for field repairs.]
She raised the eyebrow above her sole Optic.
[Regina Jones: Your VIP is safe and sound then?]
[Magos: As sound as one can be in this situation.]
[Regina Jones: I see] I suspected she did not [And the Scavs?]
[Magos: Will need to be scraped off the walls if anyone wishes to move in.] I forwarded a series of images and recordings from my own Optics.
She took a mont to answer after that.
[Regina Jones: Good. Did you find any information on further dens? Trade partners? Informants?]
[Magos: What little electronic data they kept was blown up during the fighting.]
Her eye narrowed, but she nodded.
[Regina Jones: I understand you had other priorities.]
[Magos: Correct, and may I remind you that no information request was made on your end.]
She let out a short exhale at that.
[Regina Jones: True enough. You did the job you were asked to do. Closing the gig now.]
And just like that, five thousand eddies fell into my account.
[Regina Jones: You did good work today. I will contact you if I need any other place demolished.]
Good, a source of extra inco would be needed since mom was not leaving the house for a few months at least.
[Magos: Acceptable, just give three days to settle things.]
[Regina Jones: Alright. Be hearing you, Magos.]
[Magos: Miss Jones.]
The call ended there.
Without saying a word, I imdiately wired Jackie the full five thousand.
"The hell?!" He near-squeaked "How much did we get paid?"
"Five thousand total." I answered simply.
He nearly slamd into the back of the car riding in front of us "Damn." He cursed "Thanks choom, but you really don't have to."
Closing my Optics, I said "You helped with sothing incredibly important today. This is quite literally the least I could do." I paused "We are still sharing the loot though."
"Hah!" He laughed "Sure thing, choom."
The rest of the ride passed mostly in silence. Well, as silent as Night City can be at any given mont, the van's radio playing so rap slop Jackie seed to enjoy for whatever reason.
Except the slop must have reminded Latino of sothing because he turned away from the road and looked at "Hey, Michael."
"What?"
He grinned and wired the image of blowing the first Scav to pieces "Welco to Night City."
I was only slightly tempted to overload his eyes.
---
One quick call to Vik, and he and Misty were practically running out on the street to help us safely transport my mother into the clinic.
Except, instead of letting help, the two of them shoved outside and told to wait while they also did a quick checkup on Jackie.
Which is how I found myself sitting on the clinic's staircase, staring into the wall while the day's events flickered through my mind's eye over and over again.
I was just reimagining my fight with Koschei, cataloguing all the mistakes I had made, when Jackie stepped out of the clinic, a fresh pep in his step.
"Vik set you free?" I asked.
"I am mostly fine, just like you said. Just need so bedrest and good food, and I will be right as rain." He grinned "But the old man likes to be sure."
"He is a credit to the profession." I nodded at the absolute truth of my words.
Smirking at , he started walking up the stairs "Going to grab a beer, want one?"
Did I? I suppose today would call for alcohol usually "Sure."
A few monts later, the two of us were sharing a cold Broseph, the sour taste of the 'beer' feeling oddly soothing despite none of the alcohol ever being able to reach my brain.
"Still can't believe there was a sandy fucker waiting for us in there..." Jackie comnted as we talked about the fight "One second I was looking at your arm flying off, and the next bam! Gorilla Arm to the chest."
I nodded along, flicking off the cap off my third bottle of beer "If you didn't have your bone lacing and subdermals you would have turned into pink mist."
He shuddered "Do you have to word it like that?"
"The flesh is weak." I shrugged, my brain feeling particularly tickled at the statent "Still, sorry for dragging you into danger and then fucking up."
He blinked "Fucking up? Choom, what the hell are you talking about?"
My Optics narrowed "I made so many mistakes it isn't even funny. If I was smarter neither of us would have been damaged, and the Scavs would have died before they knew what was happening."
He just stared at for a long mont before loudly snorting "Ha! Don't even think about that, hos. For soone who hasn't even walked before today, you fought like a fucking Legend."
"Really?" I was quite annoyed at the slight hopeful tone in my voice.
"Yeah" He nodded with a grin "But that doesn't an you aren't right in needing so proper practice. Good cyberware can only make up for hard earned skill to a point."
"I know that" I nodded hesitantly "I just have no idea where to even begin."
He pointed a thumb at himself and patted his pistol "We could go shooting when your mama is all set up?"
"Really?" I asked after a long mont, and seeing his confused look I elaborated "I thought you'd want nothing to do with when you found digging through the Scav filth."
His expression shifted into a darker one at that "In most cases you'd be right, but…" He looked away "That ain't the first ti I've seen a man go psycho on the bastardos who hurt his family."
He shook his head and faced again "Just make sure not to follow the Scavs down the slippery slope." He allowed himself a smirk as he heard the bottle in my hand cracking "You are one of the good ones, Mike. Don't let the fuckers take that from you."
I just looked at him like he was an idiot "'Good ones' don't rip people apart in the na of revenge, Jackie. I am aware of at least that."
"Sure" He chuckled "But the usual scopsucker off the streets of NC wouldn't have bothered fixing either." He smirked "Or did you think I wouldn't notice?"
I scoffed and looked away. It is natural to help your allies, nothing more to it.
"You boys having fun?" The voice of Misty cut through the ensuing silence, the sotis 'mystic' sotis ripperdoc assistant walking out of the clinic with a tired smile on her face.
"How is she?" I asked imdiately.
"She will be fine" Her smile turned fragile "At least physically."
"I see." I nodded, that was the best outco I could hope for, I think.
"Doctor Vektor said you should co and visit tomorrow at the earliest." She went on "You should have so rest, and obsessing over her will help neither of you."
"You say that like it is easy" I scoff "But I trust Vik enough to listen."
"He obviously won't be taking his mind off it." Jackie interjected with a glint in his eye "So how about the three of us go to Lizzie's? Relax a bit?"
My Optics noticed the slightest dusting of Misty's cheeks at the invitation, while Jackie was looking at the both of us expectantly.
"I don't know if Vik will need any more help…" She said, hesitating.
"Oh co on, hermana" Jackie got up and placed his hand on her shoulder, an act that only increased the bloodflow in her face further "You know he won't complain if you take so ti off. Besides" he pointed at "Just consider it helping a patient out!"
"I feel so valued right now" I drawled "Besides, isn't Lizzie's just a step above a Dollhouse?*"
"See, you are already helping him!" Jackie grinned a shiteating grin "He is already being a sarcastic gonk, he might even stop moping!"
Misty gave him an exasperated look but began laughing after a mont.
I too found myself chuckling, even if it was barely audible.
"Fine." I said and got up "Might as well celebrate my first steps properly."
The sohow both sad and joyous look from Misty would have annoyed , if I didn't feel a sudden bout of excitent returning to .
I would not allow this city, or this world to crush .
Not now, not ever.
---
*Fancy sci-fi whorehouse
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More stone is needed to fuel our blessed industries.
The moste terrible locale of the Patreon has 11 chapters written in advance if you are into that sort of thing (at patreon / Rastislav156) as well as 15 chapters of Sorcerer's Tale for those of discerning taste.
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