Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

"I'm Ed," said the brown-haired boy, missing his right index finger.

Cypher nodded and waved his left hand, which was also missing the middle finger. But he had chrome.

"I'm May, Mr. Blackwell. I saw you on TV," the girl chirped, waving the remaining arm with a smile. She didn't have the upper two incisors. Her hair was either dark blonde or light auburn; he couldn't tell.

"No chrome?" he asked.

"I had one until last year," May replied, looking down at the missing area. "Scavs got me. I ripped it out myself and threw it at them, and then ran away. They didn't chase."

"I'll kill them all," Cypher muttered lowly and eyed the other.

"My name's Oliver, Mr. Blackwell. Thank you for the food."

"It ain't here yet, buddy," Cypher chuckled.

One-eyed Oliver was so blonde that he reminded him of a fictional magical boy who always hoped his father would hear about it. But Oliver was a good kid. All the kids were well-behaved and docile. That was how they survived by not taking pointless risks and keeping their heads down.

"I'm Bradley," said the last boy, the tallest, dark-skinned, almost bald, and with a bandage around his head.

"You hurt?" Cypher asked, noting from the feed Atlas input in his eye. Bradley didn't have his left leg. Entirely gone from the thigh. There was a chrome leg, however, hidden under loose pants and dirty, worn-out shoes.

"Atlas. Bring some clothes for them."

"No. Got into a fight with some gonks. I was moving XBDs, and they tried to delta without paying. I got the pay." Bradley grinned proudly.

Nine? Eleven?

That was the age range Cypher estimated from looking at them. They all had rough faces, likely seen things no kid that age should. Moving XBDs was bad enough, and he remembered Lucas pleading with him to seek another joytoy that time they met.

The whole city's fucked up.

"What's their orphan status, Atlas? They like Lucas?"

[Ed and May are siblings. Ed is nine. May is ten. Their single mother overdosed on glitter before either of them turned six. They remained in an orphanage until May was seven, then the facility shut down, forcing them onto the streets.]

That earned a deep exhale from Cypher. Overdosing on glitter was a known alley to him.

[Oliver is ten. His teenage brother sold him to Scavs. He feigned sedation, then fled the moment an opening emerged. He was shot through the left eye. An NCPD officer intervened at first, but once his recovery concluded, he was returned to the streets.]

Scavs again. They all gotta die.

[Bradley is eleven. He ran from home after his father killed his mother. The man was abusive long before that. While fleeing, Bradley stole food from a vending machine and was hit by a car, losing his leg in the accident.]

"..."

Cypher was speechless for a very long time. It really was hell, and as he imagined life from their eyes, it was harrowing. Being young, not fully developed mentally, lacking strength and height, and yet having to live in a place like Night City. How tough it must be.

"Atlas. How many orphan kids are on the street in Night City?"

[Night City contains approximately seven million residents. Of them, based on the age bracket of sixteen and below, there are six hundred eighty-four homeless children aged five to ten. Ten thousand four hundred nine aged eleven to thirteen. Twenty-five thousand eighty-six aged fourteen to sixteen. These are all homeless children living on the streets. Should I only count those with missing organs?]

"No. Orphan's an orphan. But that many kids, Atlas. It's hopeless."

[Do you wish to help them?]

"Won't that make me less of a madman?"

[No. Common sense has been lost in this world. If you help, you will be seen as a true madman. No one in Night City does anything for free. More likely, they will assume you are exploiting homeless children for some darker purpose.]

"Then let them. Find me some big-ass abandoned complex we can turn into a boarding school for Night City's homeless kids. You want me turning into a God Emperor? Fine. Then those kids are gonna be my first followers."

[And they shall call you father.]

"No need to go that far."

[...]

"Atlas? Don't go that far!"

[...]

"Fucking say something!"

[Possible location for boarding school found.]

Cypher sighed. Atlas completely ignored his question. The bastard was adamant on making him some sort of a living god.

[The food is here.]

Cypher stopped doing everything and focused back on the TV, already playing a Ben 10 episode. He got up from the couch and took the food delivery. No deliveryman could come there, so the food was just sitting in the open elevator.

He grabbed it and brought it back. As soon as he opened the boxes of pizzas, burgers, noodles, and ice creams, all he had to do was give a slight nod. The kids dove like hungry hyenas.

"Easy! There's plenty for all. And you know what! Y'all are going to school now. Lucas's gonna need his own gang in the new school."

"We're going to school?!" May exclaimed.

"Can we really?" Oliver nearly dropped the burger.

Huh? They love school? What has this world turned into?

"Yeah, why not? Now eat."

####

After watching an episode or two with the kids, Cypher got bored and went downstairs to the club. As he arrived, he noticed the music running at low volume. It made no sense because the Microbots didn't need music to work.

[Ms. Martinez is here.]

"That early?" Cypher went to the upper floor, where Gloria's chrome shop was.

He found Gloria behind the shop counter, opening some boxes and putting chrome in display. She'd removed her EMT jacket and worked in her black t-shirt and jeans.

"Ain't she pretty, Atlas?"

[I will abstain from speaking to avoid being labeled as lecherous.]

"Hah! You are lecherous if that was your first thought."

[...]

As usual, he got the godly AI to go speechless. He walked over to Gloria, working hard to look away from her ass as she leaned down to grab boxes. The blue jeans were really tight on her, and he liked it.

"Commander on the deck," Cypher barked.

"Ah!"

Gloria jumped in fright, dropping the box she was carrying, and turned. She relaxed just as quickly and smiled. "Good morning, Mr. Blackwell."

"Ain't you supposed to be home asleep or something?"

"I… wanted to check the inventory. It's the club's first nineties night today? Gonna be a lot more gonks showing up. I think we're gonna sell way more tonight. So…"

Damn. She's driven.

"It's my damn club, so let me help you out," Cypher said, shrugging off his suit jacket and rolling up his sleeves. Then he hopped over the counter and started moving boxes with her. "You worked all night, and you're already back here busting your ass. Tonight's gonna be even worse, so chill for a minute. I ain't firing you. Hell, Lucas made himself some buddies. Get him and his little gang to pitch in now and then for some pocket cash. I'll pay them."

"So, uh... Lucas related to you, Mr. Blackwell? You care about him a lot."

"Nah, found him out on the street with his leg and arm all busted up. Kid outgrew his chrome. You don't gotta be some angel to help an ant get across a puddle. I got the cash, and I know what I'm doing, helping a kid ain't exactly hard. But he's a good kid."

He grabbed a few boxes of Kiroshi and placed them on the showcase. He noticed Gloria staring at him the whole time like he was god reborn.

"He ain't the only kid, though. There's over ten thousand kids like him in NC. Think I'm gonna open a boarding school for them. Safe place to sleep, eat, study, play around… I got the money to pull it off anyway."

[Seducing her by touching her maternal instincts? Impressive, Cyph.]

"Huh? I was just babbling shit."

Cypher stopped and turned to look at Gloria. The woman had one hand on her mouth, like she was trying not to gasp or speak. Her eyes flickered, looking at him as if he were an actual angel.

"Trust me, Atlas. I didn't plan it that way. But thanks for the idea."

"Please be safe, Mr. Blackwell," Gloria muttered. "Kind people like you are so rare in this world."

"Atlas? Am I kind? I'm just some horny bastard, right? With a little tech magic."

[You carry kindness naturally without realizing it. Exactly the trait a future God Emperor should have.]

"Man, I ain't never asking your opinion again. You Warhammer nerd-ass clanker. Now get your ass to work and find me a nuclear reactor to drain the energy outta."

______________________

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

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 NovelFire chapters.