Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

The next morning, Cypher woke up to the alarm bell blaring some weird music.

He knew it was some trash Atlas had picked from the Old Net. Instead of complaining, he washed his face, took a nice dump while surfing the net on his Agent, made himself a nice cup of coffee, and got to work.

As Atlas had printed all the parts needed for the Hoverboard, such as the main frame, and had gathered all the needed parts, it was up to Cypher to mash it all together.

The Hoverboard in itself was a very compact device. It was thin and hid its tech in a sleek design. But the battery used in it was worse than what he had for Servo Skull. Still, he had to follow the original design; upgrades could wait.

Finally, the CPU was a basic component that helped with stabilization. The most important and expensive component was the superconductor and the magnet-related portion. Beyond that, the Hoverboard was a basic thing, far from the level of SecUnit, Replicator, or his Sonic Screwdriver.

"Well, it looks just like the movie," Cypher muttered and did one last check. The Hoverboard was pink with some branding on it, and had the usual round disks under it. "Let's test this thing, then we'll upgrade it."

He grabbed it from the table and took a few steps back. Then, he just threw the board onto the floor. There was no loud thud, and it hovered a few inches above the ground, silent.

"Ah! The itch's gone." Cypher exclaimed in relief and jumped onto the Hoverboard.

It carried on his momentum and started moving. But Cypher then kicked and picked up more speed. The more he kicked, the faster it went.

"Fuck yeah!" he yelled, still kicking, seeing how fast he could get it going. The factory floor was huge, so he had plenty of room. "Atlas, you think we oughta sell this?"

"Not before we determine the appropriate handling of this new discovery. Otherwise, you will give the world reason to pursue you." Atlas replied. The God Freeman flew beside Cypher like Superman. "Still, I foresee this device selling successfully worldwide. Demand would span civilians, office workers, and gangs alike."

"Yeah, that's right." He swung the Hoverboard around and cruised it back to the workstation. "But this thing still ain't fast enough. Time to juice it up. We got better batteries now, and we can slap on some tiny boosters from Leaper's propulsion tech."

He got right back to work. He dismantled the Hoverboard, changed the battery, and added other things. Whenever he got bored, he also worked on his exo-suit, which was coming along well.

It truly reminded Cypher of Iron Man, but Iron Man's suit was too damn sleek. This IEC Dragoon-based exo-suit was bulkier, and had a lot of exposed joints, motors, and other parts. He didn't like it initially and hoped to make it sleeker.

However, Atlas told him that the suit would also house many tiny Microbots, and they would exist to repair his armor on the go. By keeping some of the parts exposed, it would be easier for the Microbots to repair. Besides, the front part of the suit was solid, and most weapons would be ineffective.

He didn't bother after that and followed whatever blueprint Atlas had made. The guy was far smarter than him to begin with. Heck, Atlas had added a rotating DL-18 blaster-inspired gun on the left shoulder. It would remain in Atlas's control and deal with any enemy behind him.

The suit was still a few days away from completion, however.

"Alright, it should run faster now." Cypher finished upgrading the Hoverboard and tested it again. Since the Hoverboard couldn't naturally hover faster, it all depended on how much thrust was given.

After a few kicks of his own, he used the thrusters built right inside the thin frame of the Hoverboard on the back end. Once they turned on, Cypher gained more speed than he could control.

Bam!

"Fuck!"

He fell comically, as he didn't maintain the center of mass. The board just flew faster than him, and he rolled backwards, falling on his ass and doing a few more rolls before stopping.

"Gonna need some training." He muttered, rubbing his head. "And probably a helmet."

"Cypher, Ms. Panam Palmer is approaching the property. ETA ten minutes."

"Oh?" Cypher glanced up at the clock projected on the wall. "Damn, it's already noon. Right, the Saul thing. Yeah, let's get outta here. Ain't much I can do till the next itch hits."

He removed his work gloves, patted his clothes clean, and grabbed the Hoverboard as he went upstairs. Once inside the house, the secret elevator entry disappeared inside the cupboard doors.

Without wasting time, he threw the Hoverboard onto the living room couch, turned up some music, and disappeared into the bathroom to shower.

####

Panam was slightly nervous about this one.

"What am I even doing?" She asked herself as she drove over the highway by the trash fields.

Initially, she had been extremely cautious of Cypher Blackwell. Back then, he was a nobody. But now, much had changed, and she had grown to trust that man. She hated corpos, but she had seen Cypher go from that crazy man in the cave to being a successful corpo, still a crazy man.

However, she knew the reality of Aldecaldos. They were not inviting to outsiders, and as a tight-knit nomad family, they naturally suspected everyone new, as uncertainty meant risk to survival.

The camp was already divided; some wanted to go with Saul's plan. Others wanted to do their own thing. And the third side was already working with her and finding jobs through Cypher. But by bringing Cypher directly to Aldecaldos' camp, she didn't know what that would do.

All she wanted was to stop Saul from falling into Biotechnica's trap.

Finally, she took the turn and drove towards the dam. As she neared the shack, she noticed weird black patches all around the shack, as if there was fire. But that made no sense because there was nothing but solid rocks and dirt.

Curious, she eventually stopped her truck by Cypher's car and walked over to the shack's door. As she was reaching for the doorbell, the metal door slid open for her with an automated chime.

"Cypher?" She poked her head inside, looking left and right.

"Come on in, Pan! I'm in the bath!"

She heard the muffled voice from the bathroom and finally stepped inside the house. She'd never been there before or around the area. She never had the chance or the need to visit that area.

Looks better than I expected.

She noticed how mismatched the inside and outside of the shack looked. It was too modern, from the floor to the lighting to the furniture. She didn't want to, but she got a quick glance into the bedroom as it was right beside the entrance.

Ignoring the bed, her eyes froze on the entire wall of screens and a large computer rig on the side. That worked like a quick reminder for her that Cypher was more than what she saw in that cave. Behind that face and easygoing personality was an extremely intelligent mind.

Not intruding, she turned and walked into the living area. She went to the couch and sat down, but despite her best efforts, she couldn't stop looking at the strange, pink board beside her. It was like one of those skateboards, but without wheels.

"What is this?" She grabbed it and turned it around, noticing two metallic circles. "For skiing?"

Panam curiously traced her fingers over the smooth surface. Without much thought, she gently tried to place it on the floor to see how it would look and…

She jumped to her feet like a cat taken by surprise.

"What the… Anti-Grav?!"

"Nah. Just superconductors and some science voodoo."

She looked up and saw Cypher standing with just a towel wrapped around his waist, taking something out of the refrigerator. She looked down at the hovering board again and saw the word 'hoverboard' on it.

"Superconductors? In something this small?" she asked. Being a techie herself, she understood exactly what she was looking at. "That is impossible."

"Room temp superconductors, Pan. Yeah, I cracked it last night and made this thing. Kinda sick, right? C'mon, try standing on it."

"..."

Panam stared at Cypher's face for a very long time. She watched him drink a whole can of NiCola. Then she looked at the hovering board on the floor.

Without a word, she stepped on it, and by the slightest of her body's motion, the Hoverboard moved forward. She wobbled, trying to balance herself.

"Easy there!"

She felt Cypher's hand behind her back, and the other offered for her to hold. She took it and let him pull the board around the room. She could feel the smoothness of hovering above the surface.

"This is… insane! Nobody has managed to crack this since… hell, I don't even know how long. You are going to get yourself killed, Cypher. Call it a prophecy if that helps. You need serious muscle watching your back every hour of the day. The things you have built in just a few…"

Panam suddenly realised she was rambling and shut her mouth. It was one of her bad habits, not being able to shut up whenever she felt passionate about something. In her eyes, Cypher was more than just a corpo or a friend. To her, he seemed like a bright spot in the mostly dark future of humanity.

But all that was too philosophical, and she kept it to herself.

"I know, and you don't gotta bottle yourself up. I like hearing you go off like that. It's kinda cute."

"..."

She looked away and got off the Hoverboard, feeling warm all of a sudden.

Cute? Really, she couldn't remember the last time being called that. Hot, crazy, deadly, she was used to that. But cute?

"I'll go toss some clothes on me. Then we'll go take care of your headache."

She watched him walk into the bedroom, and as she was alone, she began fixing her clothes for no reason. Only halfway as she fixed her jacket and leotard, she realised how strange she was being.

No! Oh, no, no, no. You will not go on that track again, Panam. He's not interested.

She still ended up fixing her hair, making sure the locks falling over her temples were perfect. Finally, she looked down at her tight blue jeans and pulled them up as well, keeping them snug over her body. The straps running around her thighs helped.

"Let's go, Panam."

Panam failed to hear him.

"Pan?"

"Hm?" She snapped out of the haze and looked over. "Ah, right. Time to go. Have suits become your default now?"

"For now, yeah. These things are damn near bulletproof, every inch. Gonna cook up some other kinds later. But for now, this does the job. Used it to take out those Scavs."

She nodded and walked out of the shack behind him. She watched him take her truck's passenger seat. She didn't mind at all and quickly took the wheel and started driving. The low hum of music constantly filled the void of silence between them.

"So... what is your plan? What are you going to do with... it?" She asked, unable to help herself.

"Working on fusion energy, so I'm probably gonna build a real fusion reactor pretty soon. Cheap, easy energy's the key to fixing this fucked up planet, right? I got plans, big ones."

"That's like begging for death. The whole damn world will come for you. Some to stop you. Others to use you," she warned.

"I know. But I got my ass covered. Unless they straight up nuke me or something, I'll be fine."

"..."

She had to at that point, and turned her head to look at Cypher. She hoped to find at least some semblance of fear or worry, but no, the madman was busy, one knee folded as he used a nail clipper to cut his toenails.

"You… You are insane."

"Great, I fit right in with Night City."

She rolled her eyes, but chuckled anyway.

####

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