Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

"Looking good. Working out?"

Cypher ignored the little smack Rita gave his ass and walked beside her while talking about random things. She was mostly interested in his Scav hunting, singing him praises non-stop.

They walked into the club through the main entrance, but instead of going to the main floor, they took the single sliding door on the left and headed downstairs, where Judy's BD workshop was. However, instead of taking the left in the server room toward Judy's place, they walked to the opposite side, to a single door.

Cypher knew about it, but he'd never been inside. Rita led him in as the door slid open. It was one of the most private rooms in the club with a long L-shaped couch, a round table in the middle, some large screens on the wall, and an attached bathroom. The sound of the music from upstairs was muffled there.

Damn, talk about a crowd.

There were more people in the room than Cypher had been expecting. Other than the expected ones like Susanna Quinn, the leader, and Judy, there were a few more faces that he didn't recognise. He recognized Anna Fox, one of the minor leaders and manager of the Mox warehouse.

"Atlas. How much of Susanna Quinn is chrome?"

Cypher couldn't help but stare at the leader of the Moxes and the owner of the club. The dark-skinned woman had a strange thing going on with her body. While he found her attractive, her body was built and curvy, with really noticeable thick thighs as she was wearing just a latex leotard and a green jacket above. Her chocolate skin was all on display.

Fake?

But he doubted it was her real skin. It looked so smooth, but also real. Her legs below the knee were clearly chrome, and both her arms were the same as Rita's. And then there was her face, her forehead, and around her eyes was a lighter color than the rest of her face. And her jaw and neck had chrome. He reckoned it was some freak injury that made her do it.

[Arms, legs, voice organs, eyes, and all of her skin are synthetic. The rest of her body is still organic, her internal organs, other than the heart, are real, including the reproductive organs.]

"Why'd you specifically call out her pussy?"

[Because I know you well, Cypher.]

Cypher awkwardly smiled and received Susanna Quinn's handshake.

"Nice meeting you again, Mr. Blackwell," Susanna said. "Never thought you'd grow this big when I first saw you. But I'm glad you're a friend, not an enemy."

"I'm everybody's buddy, minus Scavs and Wraiths. Those freaks are kill on sight," Cypher replied, sizing the others up.

Susanna resumed by introducing the others. "This is Dollie Radcliff, she manages the girls and boys who worked directly for the Moxes. James Morran is one of the main muscles and handles branches of Moxes outside our core territory. This is Anna Nox—"

"I know her." Cypher shook hands with the pretty woman, her eyes covered with a metallic strip.

"This is Ash. She's a radio DJ and host of Growl FM."

Cypher measured Ash, someone new to him. She had chrome on her neck, something likely related to voice. Other than that, she looked normal, pretty face, brown hair, baggy clothes.

"And you know Judy and Rita already."

Cypher winked at both women and turned back to Susanna. "Well, I'm Cypher Blackwell in case some of you are into asceticism. I own the Obsidian, the Continental, and the Atlantis Club. Was moving BDs outta here not too long ago, though."

Honestly, Cypher didn't hate the situation. Being surrounded by beautiful women in an isolated room of the club was… dreamy. But eventually sat down near the curve of the L-shaped couch. On his right sat Susanna, Dollie, and James. On his left were Judy, Rita, Anna, and Ash.

"At least they're taking this seriously. For a gang, that is."

[They would be foolish to underestimate you now. In every respect, you are a powerful corpo, even without a visible military force. You have wealth, and the Scav hunting has raised both your name and your street cred.]

"Cred? What's my number?"

[There is no numerical metric for street credibility. It is a reputation framework built on public perception and word-of-mouth recognition. Based on that perception, people either respect or dismiss you. Higher cred means more jobs and favorable deals to stay on your good side. But of course, you are not a merc, so the system has no relevance to you.]

Halting his chat with Atlas, he focused on Susanna right beside him. "Before we get into business, I gotta know some numbers. How many sex workers does Lizzie's directly employ, and how many are tied to or registered with the Moxes?"

"And why do you need to know that?" Susanna asked.

"Because it's tied to this business idea I've got going in my head. It's gonna be a win-win for all of us," Cypher replied and waited for her to speak. In truth, he already knew the number, but he wanted to hear it from her.

"Only a hundred thirty work the club directly. Over five thousand run with the Moxes one way or another. Now, what's this business idea of yours, Mr. Blackwell?"

Cypher liked this elegant woman. She was a gang boss and still talked to him professionally, never barking nonsense or trying to disrespect him for being a corpo.

Clap!

Cypher clapped his hands suddenly and pointed to the four screens on the wall nearby. "Take a look at the data. CitiNet's traffic is almost fifty percent porn. And BD sales are mostly porn. The problem is, it's trash. Those BDs got no story, no realism, no kick to them. Same recycled shit over and over. That's why I'm breaking into the adult BD market."

"You'll make porn?" Judy exclaimed from the same.

"Not me personally, but the company will. The plan's to turn Lizzie's girls into BD actresses. I'm thinking we set up a studio, like a joint venture kinda thing. I'll invest hard cash in Lizzie's Bar and take part ownership. Studio comes next, we just name it Lizzie's since the brand's solid. The talents get an upfront payment plus 2% of the sales. Lizzie's Bar gets 3% as the studio partner."

Susanna Quinn frowned and folded her arms. "Sounds more like we're the ones getting played here. Yeah, we need eddies, but what you're offering is scraps. You get our talent, our name, and we walk away with five percent?"

Cypher grinned at that. "That's because I'm the guy handling distribution and the spice that'll make our stuff stand out. I recently found this huge stash of pre-Datakrash adult content. Like, top-shelf fantasy shit, every category you can think of. We're gonna use them as the base and reshoot everything with new BD actresses. If that stuff killed back then, it'll kill now. We'll sell limited editions too, with a copy of the original video, just not as a BD. In plain terms, we're giving folks a new experience, that taste of the forgotten past."

"Come on, boss. It's Cypher; he's never fucked anyone over. It's a great deal." Rita chimed in all of a sudden.

Susanna blankly stared at the purple-haired woman. "Rita, just cause you are fucking him doesn't make him a saint."

"Well…" Rita looked at him, biting her lip smugly. "He does fuck pretty preem."

"Yeah, we know. Heard all your moaning back then… Now, Mr. Blackwell." Susanna focused back on him. "Why us? Why not build your own studio? You got the money. Could grab the best-looking talent out there and lock them into contracts if that's what you want."

Cypher shrugged, glanced at Judy and Rita. "First of all, I'm deep in tech stuff, and Obsidian eats most of my days, so this business ain't really clicking with it. It's just a hobby for me. Still, I kinda like what the Moxes were about at the start. They've gotten diluted though, for real reasons. You guys say you're out there shielding the working girls and guys, but you're charging heavy fees, too. This new income would balance that out, let you handle the protection side for a fraction of the cost, and push the gang into the rest of Night City.

"Lizzie's being a BD club can open its own branches. The BDs our studio makes'll run in-house for clients, and the BD girls'll be there for entertainment after. Say one BD turns into a massive hit, and suddenly the actress is the hottest thing around. How she handles customers after that, what her rates are, how much the bar skims, that's your problem."

"Real guts calling us out like that," Susanna blurted, eyeing him intensely.

Cypher relaxed back, one hand on Judy's knee beside him. "I don't like bullshiting around. It's a waste of time. You know it better than I do. Tyger Claws and Scavs keep fucking with your people. You gotta sharpen your fangs, and that takes some serious eddies."

"So let me get this straight." Ash, the DJ, spoke up.

"Huh? I think I recognise her from somewhere. Looks like… Sasha Grey. What do you say, Atlas?"

[The appearance is uncanny indeed.]

"Look at you, horny bastard. Watching porn in the daytime."

[...]

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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 NovelPhoenix chapters.