Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

Cypher quickly raised his arms towards Smasher, the blasters poking out of his forearms. He taunted back in the demonic voice. "And I will humble you, Arasaka cockroach."

Bang!

The first round was fired by one of the other borgs. It was a heavy machine gun, and once the firing started, everyone else joined in. Cypher became the sole target of four machine guns and two explosive projectile launchers.

Boom!

Cypher didn't move and ate them all. He had a very good reason for that. If he dodged, the fools would damage the turbines or other necessary parts.

The Dark Knight suit ate all the bullets with ease, only the paint chipping away here and there. The explosives made him bend his knees to stabilize himself. But other than that, there was no damage.

"Good job, Atlas. Let's get serious now."

A cloud of smoke formed around Cypher by then, masking him.

"Toys." Cypher declared in his demonic voice and stepped forward, out of the smoke, eating all the attacks on him. "My turn."

Two blasters on his arms and one on his shoulder fired at the same time. The red blaster bolts were slower than normal slugs, but more effective. He didn't aim for their heads; he shot at the legs and arms of the five borgs.

"Aaaagh!"

Thud!

The borgs fell one after another. Some lost their hand entirely, some lost control over their legs with a hole ruining the internal parts.

"Energy weapons?" Adam Smasher called out. "You chose the wrong place to test it."

Cypher said nothing and stomped towards Adam Smasher.

"Arasaka will make good use of you!"

Woosh!

Adam Smasher moved towards him. But it was different; Smasher was too fast, leaving afterimages behind him. But at the same time, Cypher felt new data feed into his mind, something Atlas did, and instantly he was able to follow Smasher's movements.

"Bold and stupid!"

Adam Smasher appeared right behind him and planted the projectile launcher on Cypher's back.

Click!

It shot nothing.

By then, Cypher had turned around.

Bam!

Cypher grabbed Adam Smasher's throat with his thick, metal fingers like it was a claw, clenching his grip so hard the many chrome muscles and pipes in Smasher's neck started to break.

"Weak halfling scrap!" Cypher growled and squeezed his grip harder, lifting Adam Smasher's massive body inches in the air.

Bam!

Adam Smasher punched Cypher, but that did nothing more than make him shake a little.

"Atlas, Adam's gonna come in handy. Stick a backdoor in him and keep tabs on everything he does, everyone he meets. One more thing. Set up a fake trail that's damn near impossible to follow and point it straight at Solomon Reed. I want Arasaka and NUSA at each other's throats."

[I planned to do that naturally. It's great that we think the same. Their war will be a stepping stone for your crown.]

Cypher said nothing in response. He didn't care about the whole Emperor of Mankind plan Atlas had going. But he did like the idea of taking over NUSA. Having that much financial and manpower would make it easier to work on the itches. Without fearing being killed, kidnapped, or blackmailed by someone.

"You recording this?"

[Never stopped recording.]

"Good."

Woosh!

Cypher threw Adam Smasher on the ground hard enough to leave chunks of chrome flying from the FBC kit. But as Adam still tried to get up to his knees, Cypher stepped closer and launched a barrage of punches.

Bam! Bam! Crack! Clank!

Metal, flesh, and fluids spilled everywhere. Blood erupted from Adam's face, whatever was left of it human.

"Disgustingly weak!" Cypher taunted and kicked, knocking Adam's entire chin area off, leaving him lying flat on his back.

"Aaaargh! This… is this pain?"

Cypher walked over again, staring down at Adam's face. There was no other way this battle could have gone. Parts of his Dark Knight suit were thousands of years more advanced than whatever Adam had.

He stomped a foot on the thigh joint of Adam's left leg, then leaned down and grabbed the same leg by the knee and pulled.

Creak! Crack!

Cypher ripped the entire left leg off and threw it away. Then he repeated it with the right leg. Finally, he moved over to the arms, ripping them off with even greater ease.

At last, only the torso and head were left.

It was a mess everywhere. Metal, fluids, and blood mixed in a puddle under Adam's body.

However, Cypher didn't attack after that. Instead, he walked over to the five other borgs who lay motionless, their chrome burned to malfunction by his blaster bolts. He wasn't merciful on them.

Splash!

He stomped on their heads one by one and completely killed them by destroying their brains.

Splash!

He listened to what Atlas said and made sure there was no way for any data to be left behind. If one of the borgs had a lung, he stomped the chest as well to kill them, turning all of them into a disgusting paste of brain matter, machine fluids, and chunks of metal.

Done with them, he grabbed the Fusion Cores and stored them safely. All six had been fully charged.

"Kill me! Do you still have the weakness of mercy?!" Adam Smasher roared from the ground, unable to do anything.

Cypher halted beside Adam's body and looked down at him. "Grow strong first, halfling. When you survive a minute of my full might, I'll put you down."

With that, Cypher walked away.

"Kill me!"

Adam continued to shout behind him, but he didn't stop and left the turbine building. By then, the entire Waterfront was surrounded by Arasaka enforcers, so he chose not to take the same route.

Instead of going back, he went to the reactor control room and entered the main reactor floor. It was a massive, dome-shaped hall with the actual reactor underneath his feet. He went across the entire hall and found a door that led him outside.

The dome structure sat on the water itself, with less than half of its side connected to the Waterfront. The rest of the circumference touched water. And right there, Cypher jumped, splashing into the dark water and diving down.

His suit kept him safe, and he left it to Atlas to steer. It wasn't a short swim, but it sure was effortless as he soon emerged all the way on the northern shore of the Del Coronado Bay, outside the city by the 101 North road.

The area was outside the main city, north of the Watson district. There was no car on that road, no people nearby. The landscape was hell, ruined by spilled oil everywhere. Hence the name of the place, Oil Fields.

Cypher walked deeper into those Oil Fields. He didn't bother removing his helmet since the air there wasn't any better.

"What's the situation back there?" He asked.

[Once I ceased blocking communications, Adam Smasher successfully requested support. It appears Arasaka has no intention of letting this incident become public.]

"Damn right they don't. We just dragged their name through the mud, and that's what they care about most. Bet Saburo's gonna hear about this and throw a fit or some shit. Keep an eye on CityNet and drop the photos and videos while steering the narrative. The more we piss 'em off, the harder they'll come down on Militech and NUSA."

Walking, he eventually reached a row of four large oil tanks. Right past it was a dirt road, dark and desolate, with not even tire marks. There, a large truck and an AV waited for him. The truck looked ordinary, but the AV was a Rayfield Excalibur, blacked out in Delamain's colors.

Cypher disengaged the Dark Knight suit and listened to all the mechanical sounds as the suit opened up from all the joints, the chest, and the helmet, allowing him to jump out of it. He wasted no time and climbed into the AV while the Dark Knight armor enclosed itself again and climbed the large truck.

"Welcome back, Mr. Blackwell. I am delighted to take you to the party. It represents the most perfect advertisement imaginable for my new fleet of AVs." Delamain's voice came from the speakers and a large screen in front of Cypher.

This wasn't one of the cheap copies. This was the main Delamain, the one that was scared of Atlas.

"How you doing, Del?"

"More than well, I must say. Meeting you and His Holiness Atlas was the luckiest moment of my life."

"What did you do to the poor guy now, Atlas?"

[Nothing at all. I simply advised him on a strategy for expansion across additional North American cities.]

"Ah, so it's more asslicking than fear."

Cypher nodded to Delamain and reclined back in the cloud-like executive seat. He was already in a casual black suit and pants, including a tie. He'd been wearing that the whole time inside the Dark Knight armor.

"Del, wake me up a minute before we arrive. A headache's killing me."

"Sir, would you prefer that I land at your private pad, or directly at the entrance?"

"Well, it's the Continental's opening, so we might as well make a big-ass entrance on the red carpet. It's an exclusive fashion show anyway. There'll be a bunch of assholes with way more money than me," Cypher said, closing his eyes.

Atlas handled everything behind the scenes. Like discreetly moving the armor back home through Badlands.

####

The Continental, the Glen,

"He's late."

Panam shrugged, standing near the building's entrance while watching over the security of the place. This wasn't her job, but she still volunteered to help Aldecaldos working for Cypher. And since it was a really important night, and Aldecaldos were responsible, she had to be there.

The front of the building had been decorated, a large red carpet had been placed, as well as barriers on each side to block the crowd of journalists, photographers, and fans of the guests. All the Aldecaldos hired had been given bulletproof black suits with ties, long trench coats, and guns ranging from assault rifles, shotguns, to pistols.

She had chosen not to change clothes as she wasn't a part of the staff. She just helped her people from the side, away from all eyes. Still, she had caught a few photographers zooming in on her for no reason. It annoyed her.

At first, she thought it was going to be a night like that club opening. But when the first guest arrived, she went speechless. It was Lizzy Wizzy of all people. The cameras flashed like a wall of light.

But thankfully, the Aldecaldos were wearing dark shades that helped them. They made sure nobody jumped the barriers. At the same time, there was a netrunner named T-Bug in the building keeping an eye on cyberspace.

As two hours went by, Panam lost the ability to be shocked. Gillean Jordan and Ziggy Q of N54 News were nobodies compared to all the other guests.

At the same time, she was aware of other heavyweights who were arriving from the roof through AVs. They were the people who wielded true power and money and didn't want to bother with a red carpet and cameras.

Shareholders of massive corporations, directors, and even CEOs were there. Nobody inside that hotel's opening party was a normal person. And now, half an hour had passed and all the guests had arrived. Yet the host of the party was missing.

Shhhh!

Right then, Panam became alert as a luxury AV approached the red carpet's arrival area. It wasn't really the best place to land an AV, but there was enough space. Through comms, she got informed that it was Cypher Blackwell.

"Speak of the devil. Mitch, round up the boys. He's here," she ordered.

Soon, the AV's door opened, and she watched Cypher step out. The cameras on both sides of the barrier seemingly remembered they still had battery left and started flashing endlessly. The journalists shouted questions, asking about future inventions, projects, and his views on politics.

She knew better and made the Aldecaldos alert, ready to shoot anyone trying to jump the barrier or hint at attacking.

"I expected him to come all dressed up. He looks annoyed," Mitch muttered from her side.

Panam chuckled. "That is Cypher Blackwell for you. Bet he would rather be anywhere else than here."

"I guess all crazy scientists are the same. Crazy," Mitch said and walked away to keep the men alert.

Meanwhile, she waited and watched Cypher wave with an awkward, neutral expression and walk into the building. She chose not to meet him since she wasn't dressed for the occasion, nor was she invited.

From a distance, she watched him vanish into the elevator. Then, she focused back on the red carpet. That was all that mattered.

####

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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.