Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

That night, after finishing his work for the day at Vik's shop, he ate dinner with Misty and then made his way to Lizzie's.

This time, his intentions were pure. Judy needed something in her rig patched, and he offered some minor upgrades.

By now, Judy had become Night City's best BD editor thanks to the upgrades Cypher had made to her personal rig.

"Fourth Wall Studios tried to scout you?" Cypher repeated what she'd said.

"Heh, not just them. Masala Studios too, choom."

Honestly, Cypher didn't fully understand the significance of those two companies. He did know about Fourth Wall Studios, however.

"Judy, what if we kinda started our own studio?" Cypher asked, a random idea that rose from all the lost media Atlas was gathering from Old Net. Some of it was BD, some were movies and shows, and he believed most of them could be converted into BDs with Atlas' capabilities to simulate things realistically. In the end, it was just code, after all.

Judy laughed at that. "And what are we gonna sell? Recycled porn?"

Cypher hummed and quickly pulled a nearby office chair and sat beside Judy's chair by her desk.

"Okay, hear me out. What if I can get us lost media, like pre-DataKrash stuff? BDs, porn, movies, music, the whole dusty attic. I'm serious. We hire joytoys built like the top-selling lost media pornstars, then I slap the old pornstar faces on in post and boom, fresh BDs. And movies, I think I can rig a system that converts old films into full-length braindances."

"You serious, choom?"

"Damn serious."

He watched Judy shift in her chair and then stare at the screen. For more than a minute, she said nothing. But then she slapped her hand on the table.

"Fuck it, I'm still too young to stop trying new stuff. Saw your company site on the net, you're gonked out. That is why I think this might actually work. If you can pull lost media for us, I can slice some preem BDs, easy big eddies, they will sell like hotcakes."

Cypher grinned and extended a hand. "Deal. I'll go prep a sample for you."

"And I'll be ready anytime, Cyph."

Cypher didn't waste time and got up. "See you later."

He left Judy alone since it was still just evening, and she had plenty of work to do. He grabbed two drinks on the way and handed one to Rita at the gate. Sure, he was in the mood, but he wasn't an animal who had to fuck just because his brain felt horny.

After a small chat with his favorite Mox solo, he walked over to his car parked right outside. A few more cars were there, some of them were expensive. Lizzie's wasn't a place that struggled to attract the rich crowd.

Whistling to himself, he grabbed the car door to open.

[Behind you!]

He jumped sideways and got out of the way at Atlas' sudden warning. He looked behind, ready to quick-draw his gun and shoot the attacker. But he didn't even bother when he saw the supposed enemy.

"What do you want?"

"Are you… Are you a techie?"

Cypher sized up the kid, who couldn't be older than nine. Blonde messy hair, dirty face with marks of ripped cyberware, short. What stood out was the left arm and left leg that were cyberware.

[Cypher, I conclude the child is in pain. His body language presents discomfort. He places no weight on the alloy leg. It is likely compromised.]

Cypher looked and noticed something else. The cyberware, both the leg and the arm, were mismatched. They were the wrong size for the boy's body. And if he remembered correctly, the boy had been missing during his past few visits.

"I am a techie. What do you need?"

The boy licked his dried lips, a clear sign of nervousness, fear mixed. The eyes hinted at that, never looking directly at Cypher's face.

"I... It hurts. The leg and the arm hurt. Can you take the chrome off? I'll pay! I got eddies. Not much. I'll pay, please."

Cypher stared at the joints where the arm connected with the shoulder. He knew the issue right away. The cyberware was likely old, but the boy was young, hence his body was growing. That was one of the biggest reasons why children weren't given cyberware in most cases. It required constant maintenance and replacement.

He watched the boy's face for a little while. He knew Atlas must be waiting to see his response. Atlas had ethics. But Cypher, as well, wasn't much different in this case.

The kid was in clear pain. How much courage it must have taken to even approach him, a total stranger, especially in Night City.

"Alright, I'll patch it up."

"Patch? N-no, sir. I don't have the eddies for that. Just take the chrome off. I'll manage."

"Manage, how? You gonna belly crawl like a snake? You lost an arm and a leg on the same side; that's a rough setup. Don't sweat it, upgrade's on the house. Hop in, we'll roll to my shop."

"No!" the boy jumped back, alarmed, scared, horror on his face. "I… I'm sorry, I'll go. I… I'm not good at it, sir, I… I swear. You should find a pretty joytoy."

"..."

Cypher just froze there in shock at what the boy said. As those words settled in his mind, a strange, untraceable surge of anger rose in him. He knew he had no reason to, but it was there. That little frightful statement told so much.

In silence, he watched the boy's face freeze in absolute terror. Cypher couldn't help imagine the horrors the kid must have seen on the streets. Or worse, experienced.

"Hey, relax. We're not going anywhere, alright?" Cypher crouched to seem less threatening. "Trust me, I only go for pretty women anyway. But yeah, you kinda need new chrome to stay alive, right? You know how this city treats folks who can't throw hands. I got a little secondhand cyberware shop right around the corner. Easy now, I ain't taking you. You sit tight, I'll grab the parts and come back. We good?"

For some time, the boy didn't reply. But then he nodded strongly, non-stop. Clearly, the boy wasn't used to kindness.

As rare as a fresh breath of air in this damn city.

Cypher stood up and looked around. The parking lot wasn't safe either, especially for a bar tied to a gang.

"You see that pretty lady over there?" he asked.

"I know her. That's Rita."

"That's right. Let's roll. Go wait inside." Cyphere started walking away, keeping a distance from the kid. "What's your name?"

"Lucas, sir. And… I-I'm not allowed inside the bar."

"I'm Cypher Blackwell. And you are today." Cypher waves at Rita. "Rita, mind if this kid waits inside for me? His chrome's undersized, and it's glitching. I'm gonna snag some spare parts and patch him up real quick. Won't take long."

Rita only looked at the kid once and then smiled at Cypher. "Sure, my handsome doll."

Cypher laughed, nodding at the kid. "Go on, Lucas, follow her inside. Grab yourself some juice. It's on me."

After that, Cypher quickly walked back to his car and drove back to Vik's shop. It was closed for the night, but he had spare keys. From inside, he grabbed some spare parts and a whole arm and leg cyberware. They were sized for adults, so he was going to need to tweak them for a kid's size.

Soon, he shoved it all in his car's trunk and drove back. It was barely a short ride away.

From Rita, he learned that the kid was down at Judy's spot. It wasn't a place for a kid to be, but the boy had already seen plenty that this was nothing.

And sure enough, he found Lucas sitting on a chair on the opposite side of Judy's table, drinking some juice through a straw.

"Hey Jude, sorry for bugging you. Won't take long."

Judy only passed him a pretty smile, busy with her work. "Take your time, Cyph, no rush. The kid needs it."

It was probably Lucas's luck that he not only stumbled on him, but also someone like Judy, who was inherently a kind person despite her emotionally impulsive personality.

Cypher focused on the task at hand. "Alright, Lucas, hop on the BD bench. We'll peel the chrome off you first and get your measurements."

"Understood, sir."

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Check out Cypher X Panam, Cypher X Misty, Cypher X Gloria NSFW ART, and advance chapters at [email protected]/MrPlotThickens Or Subscribestar.adult/mrplotthickens

Advance chapters on [PATREON] are in long-form format. I have 6 long chapters of this story on P@treon. That's equal to 24-26 NovelFire chapters.