Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

Cypher really needed to clip the damn toenails, as wearing shoes had started to hurt. So, he did it during the ride with Panam. It also helped him focus and keep the dragon from rising.

"So what were those burn marks outside your home?" she asked.

Cypher frowned, trying to remember. But then it clicked. "Ah, that? Nothing, just a bunch of Wraiths attacked. Killed every last one of them fuckers."

Clip!

He clipped the thumbnail and dodged as the chipped piece nearly struck his eye. "Wanted to squeeze me for cash. Protection money, hah. Guess who's the one needing protection?"

[Cypher, I believe you are overdoing it now.]

"You think so? Alright."

Cypher quickly shut his mouth. The goal was to be cool and mysterious to Panam. That was how you impress a badass like her. Get her curious as much as you can.

"Say, Pan. Why'd you folks come to Night City? Ain't there other places better than here?" Cypher asked.

"Got tired of running transport caravans through the Free States. Saul thought Night City would give us a fresh start. But our reputation is still not worth much, and he doesn't let us smuggle like before. Keeps talking about going legit. Too damn scared to take the real jobs. Now we are bleeding money because of his stubbornness."

He finally finished clipping his nails and relaxed in the seat. He eyed the tanned woman, her brows furrowed. She really was passionate about her people."Well, guess every road circles back to Saul being a dogshit leader then. If I had that many mouths to feed, I'd be doing whatever the hell it took. Plus, Biotechnica ain't exactly the kinda people you wanna shake hands with. Those fuckers got a rep for using nomad clans like lab rats."

"What?!" Panam slammed on the brakes, eyes locked on him the whole time. Lucky for them, the road behind and ahead stayed empty.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean? Lab rats?"

"Huh? Y'all seriously don't know? Damn, I figured you'd at least know that much."

"We know they are evil and do experiments. But we know nothing about them using nomads for it."

"Hope you got the stomach for this." Cypher shrugged, then used Atlas to message Panam's Agent. "Check the link out. Got some dirt on Biotechnica. Real disgusting photos. Buried deep too, since there ain't no such thing as free press. They handed some nomad clan their miracle vaccine. Looks like poison if you ask me."

Cypher knew about the future Red Ocher family that was captured by Biotechnica for experiments. However, Atlas had already found countless similar cases from the past. All the data was in Biotechnica's systems.

Right in the middle of the road, he waited for Panam to finish reading the stuff he just sent her. She looked slightly shaken by that, and it was understandable. What Scavs and Wraiths did to people was one thing, but what Biotechnica was another. They could fight Scavs and Wraiths, but a corpo that large had infinite resources. The Bright Family of Aldecaldos would never be able to fight them.

"It's... It has to be a trap, then," Panam growled, slamming a fist into the steering wheel. "The second Saul agrees to their deal, we will be at Biotechnica's mercy."

"Probably. C'mon, drive already. Sitting here ain't gonna stop Saul."

"Ah, sorry." Panam quickly began driving again, but faster than before.

A bit of a drive later, they finally passed the Sunset Motel. Seeing how rundown it was, he pondered buying it as his access point into the Badlands. But he stopped thinking as soon as the truck took a turn onto the dirt road.

Just a short drive later, Panam slowed the truck and parked between some other nomad-themed cars. The entire camp was clear from there, made up of green tents, large cargo trucks, nestled between rundown wind turbines.

Cypher got down first and stretched his back, then took a wide view of the camp. In his ear, Atlas was giving a quick rundown.

[Some of them have serious criminal charges. From murdering NCPD officers to human trafficking.]

"I'd be more shocked if there weren't any such folks, Atlas. Watch my back now."

"This way."

Cypher walked right beside Panam, looking at all the tents, the people working in them, and even kids running around. But it didn't take long for all of them to start staring at him like he was an animal in a zoo.

He followed her to the first large tent on the left side. It had antennas on top, and two armed nomads stood in front of it. No surprise, Saul Bright was inside there.

"So you went through with it, Panam. Brought him here," Saul Bright voiced in an unwelcoming tone, his arms folded. "You're wasting time."

"I said I would do it if that's what it takes to wake you up," Panam said sharply and looked at Cypher, who was standing right beside her. "While you sat around waiting for Biotechnica to hand you their blessing, I went out and found real jobs for our people."

Cypher nodded, but he wasn't looking at Saul. Instead, he was looking at the large tent with so many techies. The nomads really had all they needed in a closed community. Well, all except for money and food.

Snap! Snap!

Saul suddenly snapped his fingers towards Cypher. "So why are you here? What's the play? What are you after in all this? I dug into your past. You worked for the Wraiths once, right? Ex-Nomad. Addict. You expect us to put faith in you?"

"Yeah." Cypher blurted.

"What I'm trying to do is find a permanent fix for my family's situation. Put down roots, grow our own food, and stand on our own. But you? You want us playing bodyguard and running your errands."

Cypher just nodded, still staring at all the stuff around. The crowd was gathering, and members of the Bright Family came to see the new face in the camp. He was just listening to Atlas in his head, seeing if there was any noteworthy talent in the wild. Obsidian was open to hiring now.

"So…" Cypher finally looked at Saul. "Number one, I ain't some magic messiah that's gonna turn this shithole into paradise. Number two, I ain't your bitch, so don't come at me like I owe you jack shit. I helped Panam because she's a friend, and honestly, most of the Aldecaldos are better than the clowns in this city. Don't mean you're all saints, though. That dickhead over there's got a record for killing an NCPD officer. Left a three-year-old orphan. Hell of an accomplishment."

"..."

The crowd looked towards the man Cypher had pointed at.

"But I gotta say, Panam. Saul's not wrong." Cypher eyed the gorgeous Nomad and chuckled at her shocked expression. "He's spot on wanting to settle down, grow food, and be independent. It's an amazing idea, but it's closer to a wet dream than reality. Tell me something, Saul Bright, or anybody else here. Any of y'all actually seen Biotechnica's farming contract for those engineered crops?"

Cypher looked at everyone as the heads shook.

"Like they would let us folks see it before they got a gun to our head and pen over the contract ready," a nomad shouted. He was wearing a cowboy hat and looked middle-aged with a nice mustache.

"Exactly. I like you, man," Cypher blurted and started treating the occasion like a speech to all Aldecaldos instead. He knew Saul couldn't be individually moved. So, the best route was to push enough Aldecaldos to go against Saul.

Ting!

Beep!

Chime!

All of a sudden, dozens of Agent phones in the pockets of nomads beeped a notification. Those who had neural links received it straight into their holophone.

"Open the text I just shot over to y'all," Cypher said, and also pointed at tens of large flat screens all over the tent. "It's the latest contract Biotechnica handed some nomad family down in Brazil. Read the whole damn thing and tell me that don't sound more like slavery than independence. I get Saul's angle. Work for them just long enough to get your hands on the crops you need, then bail and settle somewhere else with the seeds.

"Man, that's naive. Hell, even Lucas would call bullshit on that. Know what it sounds like? Johnny Silverhand nuking Arasaka and somehow expecting corpo terror to just vanish overnight.

"Didn't do shit though, did it? We're all still getting fucked. You are, I am. Water's full of chemical sludge, breathing air that's probably melting my lungs, eating food old-school dogs would've sniffed and walked away from. And Biotechnica's right there at the center of all that shit.

"The contract straight up says you gotta renew it every damn year if you wanna keep growing their engineered crops. And they can pull the plug whenever they feel like it. Sure, you could tell them to get fucked and plant anyway, but trust me, you ain't beating them. They got chemical weapons they can spray over your fields that'll stop even grass from growing.

"Once you sign it, you're Biotechnica's slave. Their board, their rules, and you ain't even a player in it, just some side-character they toss in the meat grinder. Sure, they got crops that'll grow damn near anywhere, but you really think they're gonna let people grow food for free?

"Hell no. Scarcity keeps people desperate, desperate means bigger checks for them. And odds are they'll hand you some sketchy experimental crop that gives your clan cancer or fucks your genes so your kids grow with three eyes and ten arms. Wouldn't even be the first time."

Ting!

Beep!

Another bundle of files got sent to everyone's devices around Cypher. This time, they revealed some of the dirty things Biotechnica had done to nomad families. From straight-up human experiments to post-experiment cover-up massacres, and other things. There were photos, nasty ones with gore.

Cypher said nothing about them, however. The files spoke for themselves.

Truth be told, it wasn't even hard to influence the Aldecaldos, at least the Bright Family. Saul had a plan, but it was flawed. All he had to do was reveal the dangers of that plan. And Biotechnica was such a disgusting company that finding scandals about them was too easy for Atlas.

Besides, Biotechnica itself was responsible for the world being so ass. Their greed had destroyed entire ecosystems so they could hold a monopoly over food.

Too bad, even replicator can't solve the bigger problem.

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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.