Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

"Okay, wow, choom, that's a lot, even for me. Where in Night City did you scrape up that many?"

Judy had returned from her dive and sat near him, assessing his collection. Cypher wasn't proud of the BD porn collection he'd gathered to sell. The number reached almost five thousand.

"Been collecting them for years," he replied, not wanting to reminisce too much. "How much can I get for these?"

"I dunno yet. A couple of them look vintage, could score you a fat payout. The rest of it's normie-grade trash. Hard to call without my full setup. Need my rig to get the real detes. Still, from what I'm seein'? These are worth no less than ten thousand. Maybe more if we dig up some specials."

"..."

Twenty thousand dollars just for porn?

Cypher eyed the crate full of BDs. It did look like a very lucrative business to him. Low on the moral scale, but that could be ignored when the price was that high. Not that he had any experience in that industry.

"Yeah, that'd seriously make things easier for me. I won't lie, I can't keep spiraling like this, I gotta get my act together. So uh, what about the glitter?"

"Sure you wanna do that? That withdrawal's gonna chew you up."

"I know." He cursed under his breath as he was already feeling the symptoms. And he wanted to avoid visiting any of Night City's hospitals or any other facility. They'd do god knows what experiments on him.

"It'd really help if I could snag a job. You got anything popping at Lizzie's? I got the iron, and I can pull my weight if there's a spot open."

"Let me think a little. What can you actually do? Got some hidden chrome magic?"

Cypher frowned and thought deeply. Surely his skill in literature wasn't going to help. That left whatever the dead guy had. "I can push my bike stupid fast and my aim's pretty spot-on, no lie."

Judy relaxed back on the couch. "Hmm…"

Cypher puffed and stopped staring at her breasts. He was all bricked up already, just by being close to a pretty woman. It was probably the default state of the dead guy whenever a woman was nearby.

"So, looking for a merc run or what? I can hook you up with a fixer if you want. Not the flashy Afterlife circles, but hey, it'll net you some solid ennies."

"Merc? Fuck no!" He refused right away. "I'm not mixing with those life of glory chrome junkies. I just want a regular job that keeps me fed. Checking toxins in this reservoir don't pay. It just lets me stay out here without rent."

Judy pondered over that more, looking actually interested in helping him. "Then… how about you gig for me instead? Bet I can rip your BD stash and sling it to a few regulars. All you need to do is drop the braindances off to the gonks too busy drowning in their own cum to haul their asses out and buy it themselves."

He stared at her face for a while. He tried to think of anything else he could do. Sure, he knew the names of fixers, but none knew him. And they'd give him merc jobs.

"I'll take it." He accepted the offer.

"Nova!" She got up. "Give me a hand tossing this stash into the van. Time to delta. As for the glitter, I'll find someone from the Moxes to handle it. Swing by Lizzie's tomorrow. I'll have all the drop-offs synced and ready."

Cypher grabbed the carton full of BDs and followed her out of the house, working hard not to stare at her ass as she walked in front of him.

Outside, he put the carton in her Villefort minivan and watched her give a wave before leaving. He stood there for a while, staring at the dust the van left behind. Then he turned towards the toxic water that looked pretty exciting to swim in, but he knew was deadly.

Truth be told, on another look, the place was rather cozy. It was away from all the gangs, away from all the Corpos. He had water, electricity, and net. Sure, he was all alone there, but in a world like that, it was a plus.

"What now?"

He turned back to the house. Still, he could feel something gnawing at his mind. It was the knowledge of building the gun. As if it were speaking to him, urging him to make it.

"Hmm… Ionized plasma propellant cartridge, plasma ignition chamber, photonic focusing lens, power cell, magnetic bolt accelerator rails, cooling shroud, trigger assembly & fire control unit, chassis & grip assembly."

He recited the parts he needed to make for the gun, and really, he knew how to make each part separately and combine them to make the gun. What he didn't know was if the thing was even feasible because, as far as he knew, the Cyberpunk world didn't have plasma guns.

"Let's just get it done and rid this itch."

####

Lizzie's Bar only opened from six in the evening to six in the morning. But that was for customers; what Cypher had was a job. He arrived at the bar in Kabuki around midday, parked his Apollo 650-S, and approached the main door.

"We're closed," shouted a woman with purple space-buns and long fringes and bangs on her head, wearing a ripped tank top, the word Moxes tattooed on her chest, her arms were both chromed out with cyberware, holding a baseball bat.

"I can see that," he replied.

"Great, you have functioning eyes," she retorted, slinging her baseball bat over her shoulder.

Cypher smiled, finding it rather cute instead. Deadly, but cute. "Judy asked me to roll through. Got some BD deliveries to make."

"Well check that out. You're the BD collector, right? Heard your archive's stacked with proper preem gems. Old and gold, no joke. Aight, head through the left door. You'll be set." Rita stepped aside, and the doors slid open.

Famous for my porn collection?

Cypher just chuckled and moved. But not before introducing himself to the pretty bouncer. "Name's Cypher Blackwell."

"Ha, even got a name to match the vibe, huh? I'm Rita Wheeler. If some clown in the club starts tweak'n your buzz, you know where to find me."

Vibe?

Cypher didn't believe her. He'd only seen himself once in the mirror since he'd woken up yesterday. While he was tall, probably a few inches above six, that was where the good ended. Brown hair, he could see a handsome face hidden under the baggy eyes and years of rough life and disregard for personal health. He was rather thin, underweight actually.

"Will remember that, Rita." He entered the club and took the door to the left.

Soon, he walked downstairs and found Judy's BD impressive basement workplace. The woman in question sat relaxed in a chair, TV running beside her while her BD Wreath was shining. The place was pretty high-tech for him. But he was immune to it after his ride through Night City and awed at the stunning yet weirdly repulsive city.

"Hey, Jude." He hailed Judy and just lay down on the BD chair, straightening his back. His house was seriously too far away from Night City. Even after he drove his motorbike like a missile, it took him nearly an hour.

"Heyyy. Look at that timing. Just wrapped poking through your stash. You're kinda the buzz in Night City right now, Cypher. A couple of the girls asked for a copy so they could spin up a BD and rake in eddies, but I told them no way."

"Did you even sleep last night?" Cyphas noticed bags under her eyes.

Judy snorted a laugh. "C'mon, you think I'd bail on a score like this? No way. Already lined up three deliveries. Sorted your stash too. D's the everyday stuff, C's decent, B's the kinky niche that still moves eddies, A's preem merch, but S… S is where we cash in big. Only five copies in that tier, but fuck, they're relics. Old school BD, back when folks didn't even know what braindance meant."

I really was a fucking connoisseur, I guess.

Cypher added to the dead Cypher's reputation just a tiny bit. He still thought the man was a total dumbass, a gonk as the local slang called.

"And? How much is this worth?"

"Yeah, fifteen's doable. More if some BD-junkie collector comes sniffing around for the S grade, well, that's Night City roulette. Anyway, I'm crashing hard, need some shut-eye before the bar fires up again. Sending you three detes. Just drop the packages, slot them through the door, no questions. Eddies already cleared. You take fifty percent, I grab twenty, bar gets thirty. And trust me, choom, that's the tightest deal I could wrangle."

Hm… Seventy-thirty would've sounded better.