Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

As Panam arrived, Cypher sat down by the fire again and waited for her to park her motorbike. Atlas' physical projection had vanished by now, giving him privacy with her, although the god-like AI was with him at all times.

"Good thing you messaged me when you did. I was about to turn in." She walked over from behind him. "Can't say this is not cozy, though. A bonfire out in the middle of nowhere. Risky, but it has its charm."

Cypher turned his head and looked, and froze for a short second. She looked gorgeous as she was, without her usual jacket. Just her regular jeans, the straps, and that olive green leotard. Her hair, too, was slightly messy, a few extra locks falling over her temples.

"And the sky looks clear this far away," Cypher replied, gesturing for her to sit beside him. He watched her in silence, the glow of the fire covering her in an amber hue; her bare shoulders, neck, and face glowed.

As she sat beside him, he noticed the scent of some sort of perfume. He didn't know she used any, but then he reckoned she had probably taken a bath. Now, only to get dragged into dirt by him. At least she came from the Aldecaldos camp and not the city.

With a tired groan, fitting a woman in her early thirties, she pressed a hand on his shoulder and sat down close beside him, one leg crossed and the other sprawled.

"So? I have a feeling this is about more than stargazing. Not that I mind," Panam said.

For a brief moment, he silently stared at Panam's face. Other than her temper and argumentative personality, she was a solid, gorgeous, ride-or-die woman. It made no sense to him why she was even single or had any trouble finding the right one.

Maybe shit tastes. Ah…

"Atlas, does she like me?"

[I calculate the probability at one hundred and two percent, with a two percent margin of error.]

"Ah… so the shit taste in men includes me."

"No, I wanted to talk about Saul," he said. "He hasn't given me an answer yet. I don't wanna keep putting this off anymore. I need reliable folks who got some brains and can handle some iron. Recently, I found the exact contract and plan Biotechnica made for Saul plus what happened to the nomads who accepted that same plan before you."

As expected, Panam straightened her back stiffly.

"Can I see it?"

"Why else would we be meeting? Check your agent; I sent everything. It's untraceable, so just know, we never met today. And... brace yourself. There's pictures. It's damn near all the shit they've done to nomads like we were live test subjects. Not just Aldecaldos."

Cypher waited for her to read it. It was going to take some time, so he adjusted the fire and lay down sideways beside Panam, not fully down but propping himself on his elbow. He didn't mind the dirt; it was cool anyway.

"Atlas, make a list of everyone involved in the Butterfly project. They don't deserve an easy death."

[It has already been done, Cyph. I have also tracked their current location.]

"Alright. Put out an anonymous bounty through the Continental. An open bounty, but they gotta bring them in alive. You figure out the price."

[Understood.]

"And find me a way to contact the other decent Nomad nations. I'm gonna wreck Biotechnica's supply lines and their farms. The point is to choke off the CHOOH2 supply. By then, I'll have the fusion reactor done. Our reactor and my batteries together will be enough to power every damn piece of tech in the world."

[An acceptable strategy. However, I would recommend one addition. We should purchase an automotive company. Eliminating them only allows another to emerge. We should assume their position instead. Once we control the market, we will establish the rules.]

"Then let's add that to it. You're smarter than me anyway."

Right then, Panam stirred and placed the agent back into her jeans pocket. She let out a very long sigh and shifted closer to his legs, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I... should call it a genocide," she said. "We've been fooled for so long. Everyone out there thinks Biotechnica is one of the good ones."

"They're good at covering their tracks."

"I know, but this... So many of them were starved to death. I cannot stop imagining my people suffering the same fate. All the people I know, all my friends, slowly dying. How could Saul even agree to this?"

"Got blinded by all the shiny bullshit. Saul never knew the whole game. Hell, nobody does. All he saw was Biotechnica's promise, nothing else. Yeah, he's a shitty leader, and that's on him, but I can't blame him for not knowing this. That's why I need you to go back, round everybody up, and use this to make Saul step down. You gotta take his place, Pan. You're sharp, and... we work well together. Besides, there won't be a Biotechnica left next year, so Saul's just wasting time."

Panam stared at him sharply. "You want to take on Biotechnica?"

"No, I want to eradicate it like stepping on a cockroach. The files I showed you are just the surface, Pan. They've done far worse things. Experimenting on kids in ways you can't imagine. This world doesn't need Biotechnica. I've been holding back all this time, but I don't care now."

"Is that why you need more manpower?" Panam asked, shifting even closer.

"Yeah... yes and no. I'm not just looking for fighters. I'm gonna grow Obsidian into damn near every field there is. I'm gonna start taking over other corpos, and I need folks I can trust working for me. This city's packed with ambitious retards. But Nomads still got some heart left. I'm only a few days from finishing a fusion reactor, Panam. You can guess what comes next."

"I can," Panam muttered. She could imagine how fusion power would change the world. Fusion power was completely clean energy. Zero carbon emissions, no risk of a meltdown, and the only waste it created was non-toxic helium. Any corporation in the world that would harness it would rule the next century's energy sector and beyond.

"I'll patent the hell outta it, every last bit of tech anybody could spin off from it too. But I'm pricing it at one eurodollar. I want everyone to have it. I just don't want some fucker finding a way to lock it down and monopolize it." Cypher dropped the bomb like it was nothing, not even looking at her.

"Are you serious? It will be worth trillions of eddies," Panam exclaimed.

"What good's a trillion eddies when everything's gone to shit? Can't even go fishing, can't take a weekend trip across the country. I ain't in the business of getting rich, at least not anymore. Money's just the tool to fix this damn place. Hell, I'll make smaller, better reactors soon, and power sources that'll beat fusion." Cypher tapped his temples. "There's too much rattling around in here, Panam. But I'm just one guy."

"And that is why you need manpower?"

"Yeah. Not just your nomad family, the others too. The whole Aldecaldos nation, if we can. That's why I need you leading your family. I just can't trust Saul."

"You trust me?" Panam asked back with a meaningful smile.

"I trust you won't stab me in the back. That's who Panam Palmer is to me. So, what's it gonna be? You in or not? And yeah, I'm serious about fixing this planet," Cypher repeated, knowing full well how cringe and cocky it probably sounded. Just one man saying something that big.

As expected, Panam relaxed, leaning back with her hands flat on the dirt for support. She continuously stared at him without any change in her expression. Her eyes blinked a few times as she likely thought about things. Cypher just hoped she wasn't trying to hold her laugh.

"Most days, I would roll my eyes and keep walking if someone said that. 'I will save the world,' all that. I have read enough old comics to know those people always end up the villain—"

"I ain't a good man, Panam." Cypher cut her off, being as honest as possible. He didn't want her to get into this without knowing who he really was. "Truth is, I ain't proud of my past. Got kicked outta my nomad family because I'm fucked up. Been dealing with hypersexuality for as long as I can remember. I was screwing around nonstop, literally. Then I slept with my clan leader's wife and daughter. Consensual, thank God. Long story short, they got abortions, and I got exiled.

"Ended up working as a marksman and wheelman for the Wraiths to survive. Got hooked on BD and glitter. Then one day, I damn near overdosed. Hell, I think I actually died. But I woke up different. Something finally snapped loose, and I changed. Ended up gunning down the Wraiths that came looking for their dues. I've got sins on me, Panam. I ain't a good man."

Suddenly, Panam leaned towards him. Her right hand reached up to his jaw, and she hoisted his chin up so he was staring into her eyes.

"You think I have no sins? Come on. We are nomads. Every one of us has zeroed someone somewhere along the trail. I worked for that bastard Nash, a Wraith! And fooling around? Who hasn't? Yeah, you pushed it too far, but shit happens. So quit tearing yourself apart and get back to work. I will back your play with everything I have. And if I ever catch you taking the evil villain route, I will knock you right back onto the right trail."

Cypher smiled, feeling her firm hand trace over his beard. But he smiled not just because of her, but also because of what Atlas said.

[A rare find in this world. I detect no deception. Her heart rate is elevated, but for a different reason. She admires you.]

"As I said. She got bad taste in men."

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Advance chapters on [PATREON] are in long-form format. I have 10 long chapters of this story on P@treon. That's equal to 35-45 NovelPhoenix chapters.