Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

Outside Arasaka Waterfront,

"Do we really have to be here? It's Arasaka, why are we messing with them on their own turf?"

"Ease up. We done this kinda gig before. Boss got the eddies, we got the job, and this one's too damn easy. Grab the package, make the drop, easy money." Maine lazily said while he lounged in the driver's seat of his truck.

Lucy didn't like it, however. She sat in the back of the truck nervously. They were too close to Arasaka. The Waterfront's gates were just around the corner, guarded by four men and an Arasaka Minotaur. And who knows how many netrunners kept the place secure?

"Rich and crazy. He's totally my type," Rebecca chimed in, sitting in a different truck, using comms. "I should shoot my shot."

"Pfft!" Pilar laughed. "You? And boss? He's ganic, and you're as ganic as my dick's a virgin."

"And if you don't shut up, I'll chop that damn twig!" Rebecca roared.

Woosh!

Right then, it all went dark. No, it was the entire Arasaka Waterfront and much of the street lights around it, which were also under Arasaka control.

"What happened?" Dorio's strong voice echoed on the comms. "That boss' work too? Lucy? Sasha?"

"Wait." Lucy frowned and did her job of surveilling the surroundings. "Nothing. It's… The Waterfront's blacked out. I don't know—"

"Got it!" Sasha exclaimed. "I found the package. Maine, fire up the engine. Six bodies approaching."

There were two trucks. One was being driven by Maine and one by Dorio. It was all dark, so they saw nothing around them unless they used the features of their optics.

In Dorio's truck, Rebecca pushed the back doors open. "What the… We moving chooms now?"

Lucy, in that same truck, looked at the three humanoid figures covered in tiny black things. They moved awkwardly, and that made her skin crawl. But they seemed alive as the three stepped inside the truck and took seats, even tightened the seatbelts.

Meanwhile, the same happened in the other truck. Sasha opened the door and let the three humanoids enter.

But then, a voice echoed from the speakers of the two trucks. It wasn't Cypher's; it wasn't human at all. It was a demonic, muffled, masculine voice, something that filled them with dread or worry. However, the contents were calming.

"The packages have been delivered. Continue with Mr. Blackwell's devised plan. Deliver the six packages to the designated warehouse."

"Got it!" Maine barked and revved the engine, driving away from Waterfront. He asked no further questions, and he understood it wasn't his place to either. Anyone crazy enough to mess with Arasaka had balls of steel, and he'd rather not be on their bad side.

Right behind Maine's truck, Dorio drove. There was no traffic at that hour, but they were careful moving through Maelstrom territory. They drove all the way to the east of Northside, and eventually drove into a large warehouse near Longshore North.

A single, unassuming van waited there with tinted glass.

No words were exchanged. Maine and his crew watched as the six humanoids covered in black, metallic things got out of their trucks, walked over to the van, and drove away.

Just as that happened, the entire crew received notifications of eddies hitting their accounts.

"What the fuck was that?!" Sasha exclaimed.

"Who cares? Our job's done." Maine shrugged.

"Aren't you curious?" Sasha asked.

To that, Kiwi scoffed from the other truck. "After seeing all that? I don't wanna be zeroed in my sleep."

Everyone became silent after that.

"Totally my type."

Not Rebecca, of course.

####

Arasaka Waterfront, Nuclear Reactor,

Cypher didn't have to fight anyone at all. Because everyone who came had cyberware on them, they were prime targets for Atlas. However, he did smash a few to sell the whole 'solo' scenario. He didn't want them to become too wary of netrunner attacks. Or think that a rogue AI had slipped past Blackwall.

Bang!

"Another wave? How much longer, Atlas?"

[Twenty minutes.]

"You said that two minutes ago!"

[The reactor is degrading. Arasaka will incur substantial repair costs when we are finished.]

"..."

Cypher sighed and focused on the eight more Arasaka enforcers who had stormed into the building. An hour had passed, and it was enough for all of Night City to realise that something had gone wrong. It was enough for Arasaka to realise that their nuclear reactor was held hostage.

He quickly responded by raising both his arms towards the eight Arasaka soldiers. As he did that, two DL-18 blaster-inspired guns protruded from his suit's forearm. No enemies alive meant no witnesses.

He shot at the men, and they died so easily. The blaster bolt burned through their armor and poked a hole in their bodies. The eight men died too fast.

[Cypher, Arasaka has deployed Adam Smasher by AV. ETA is three minutes. He is accompanied by five modern FBC users.]

"Hah? They're sending walking computers after us? What do you think, Atlas? This Dark Knight suit's gonna handle 'em by itself or what?"

[It can if I'm the one operating it.]

"Man, where's the fun in that? How about you play support? Use the blaster on my shoulder and pipe the sensory data straight into my brain so my body's getting trained in real time. It'll do me some good down the road."

[Cypher, why are you not afraid? Your behavior confounds me. Human instinct still forms your foundation. Even in a second life, you should experience fear.]

Shocking Cypher, Atlas asked something like that out of nowhere.

"Yeah, I'm scared. Not of dying though. Of losing. When I ended it all last time, I'd already made peace with it. Fade to black, that's it. But this? This life's a dream, Atlas. And what's the point if I'm gonna be some scared little bitch inside a dream? Especially one where I've got a buddy like you and friends like Judy.

"And c'mon, Atlas, you designed all this shit. You don't do a damn thing without running a billion simulations first. I'd bet money this isn't even close to the worst-case scenario you came up with."

[Indeed. The worst would be this reactor exploding. Chances are slim, but not zero.]

"See? We got this. How about this? Make a BD, I'll beat Smasher and all his FBC pals into pulp. We'll dump the footage all over random channels and let the whole world see it. That's gonna wreck Arasaka's rep. Besides, this is Dark Knight, not Cypher Blackwell."

[Cypher…]

"Yeah?"

[Are you trying to mimic Batman?]

"Nope. I kill my enemies and criminals, and that makes me better."

[...]

Cypher smugly chuckled in his helmet and walked to the middle of the large turbine room. The noise was still loud, and now the bodies of Arasaka men littered the entire floor around him. As the only towering human body, he stood there waiting, conserving the suit's energy by not making needless movements.

"Atlas, what are the chances they're gonna think I'm also an FBC?"

[A hundred percent. To them, that is the only logical deduction.]

"Good."

Three minutes passed in a blink. It was impossible to hear any noise from outside as the turbines themselves were too loud. A flashbang did come rolling towards him, however. He didn't move an inch; the thing was useless.

Five chromed-up figures tactically rolled in through the main door. They were all armed, shining with different types of chrome. Some had helmets on, and others wore just glasses. They were all tall, unnaturally so, and held heavy machine guns or projectile shooters.

They were all wearing markings of Arasaka on their chrome bodies. Their chrome arms were of Arasaka's theme, their high-tech vests had the Arasaka logo.

The five took positions by spreading out, and then finally, Adam Smasher walked in. The creature wasn't human anymore, with just four percent of his body still human, mainly the brain and parts of his face.

Cypher measured the thing. Smasher was slightly taller than him, but not by a lot. He had to give it to Atlas, however. His armor looked far, far better than what Adam Smasher was wearing, when it was clear that both were derived from IEC Dragoon. Adam's look was over-engineered, like it was made to mimic each part of the body, including muscles. The armor wasn't that great either, just some plating here and there.

In comparison, his Dark Knight was sleek, futuristic, and protected him from all sides. It didn't have as much bulk as Adam, but it was still better.

"What kind of a freak are you?" Adam Smasher asked in a muffled, barely human voice.

To match the impact, Cypher told Atlas to emit his voice as Omnissiah-like demonic, but deeper. "The kind better than you."

"Arrogant! I will crush you, Militech dog!"

Oh?

Cypher choked up on a laugh inside his helmet and talked with Atlas. "Atlas, let's not clear this misunderstanding."

[I suggest fanning the flames.]

______________________

Check out Cypher X Judy, Cypher X Rebecca, Hanako Arasaka Solo 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.