OG: Interlude: Cyberpunk Epilogue

Jackie Welles lit a candle for Ernesto. They'd never found him after the big explosion that had engulfed the Kabuki Docks. Apparently, he'd just vanished, and Jackie refused to believe he'd been zeroed. Ernesto was too Hard a Gato to just be zeroed like some Gonk. Apparently, the official word was that one of those old Sea Mines from back during the Unification War that the Corpos hadn't bothered to get around to cleaning up yet had managed to break loose from its Rusty Scop of an Anchoring Chain and just floated into the Dock. There'd been a massive explosion and the destruction of not just the Kang Tao Warehouse and its dock, but a big-ass Container Ship from the Neo-Sov.

Now, Jackie'd tried everything he could think of, V too, but they'd both come up short. Now, all they could do was light candles on Ernesto's Ofrenda. In a way, it was kinda funny. Ernesto had always looked up to Morgan Blackhand. Jackie didn't think he'd have figured on going out the same way, though. As he put a match to the candle wick, though, his arm jostled in its sling. That was one thing he wouldn't miss about taking any Biz that came his way, the unexpected surprises. He'd had his ass handed to him by the Chechen, who'd completely fucked up his arm before V'd put a bullet in the Big Boss of the Organiskaya, prompting the Chechen to realize that there ain't nobody left to pay him once the Pakhan got zeroed like the rest of the Russkie Gonks.

In the end, that'd been all she'd wrote. The Chechen had bombshelled out of the Club, Out of Night City, Hell, he'd Bombshelled right the fuck out of the Country as far as Punchin' Judy could figure out. Khanum hadn't been so lucky. Rita and Punchin' Judy'd shot her to pieces during their attack on the Sakhailin Room, zeroing her and another dozen Gangoons all at once. Between the Gangoons they'd zeroed at Club Perun, and the ones that'd been on the Kabuki Docks, there wasn't anyone left in the whole damned Organiskaya. They'd zeroed them all.

"I guess you'd be happy about that if you were here, Hermano. A job well done, yeah?" Questioned Jackie.

No one answered, and Jackie stepped back from the Ofrenda. V made her way over, a bandage around the meat of her thigh still from where she'd been stabbed by the Chechen during the attack on Club Perun. She was still moving around gingerly on it, but Vik had assured them that she'd make a full recovery. She'd still managed to shoot that cannon she called an Iron straight enough to zero the Pakhan, so Jackie believed she'd be ready to go soon enough, too.

As V lit her own candle, she stepped back, nodding to Jackie, who nodded back at her. What surprised Jackie was the turnout for this. He expected the Padre, sure, but Rita Wheeler? Punchin' Judy? Suzie Fucking Q? Hell, even that Militech Corpo Chick Ernesto'd had a bit of Stuffit with had stopped by and was standing a respectful distance away from everyone else. She'd brought a Cylon with her, some Ex-NUSAF Doughboy or something from the way he stood and the Chrome he had. That rubbed Jackie the wrong way something fierce, but he wasn't about to draw Iron over it. Not at Ernesto's Memorial.

As Punchin' Judy stepped forward to light a candle of her own, Jackie couldn't help but sigh. Such a damn waste to go out like that. Still, even if Ernesto had been zeroed in the explosion, Jackie couldn't say it wasn't fitting. He'd gone out as a Night City Legend, if he had actually gone out, that is. After all, nobody had found a body, and already Jackie'd heard the Gonks in the various Bars start speculating. Just like Morgan Blackhand, no body, no death. He could still be out there. Jackie would guess the Afterlife wouldn't exactly be serving that Drink Ernesto'd said he'd set up with them any time soon. Hell, it'd been over fifty years, and they still weren't serving a Morgan Blackhand, why would this be any different?

Shaking his head as Ernesto's Tio Padre stepped up to say a few words, Jackie couldn't bring himself to think this was the end. After all, if Ernesto hadn't been zeroed, he'd show up back at El Coyote Cojo again at some point, right? If so, they could have a drink and talk about old times. Jackie had to keep hold of that hope. He knew V would too, even as they moved onto other Biz. After all, you don't destroy two Gangs and humble a third with a guy and forget about him the second he gets zeroed. As Padre stepped down, Jackie bowed his head, and a moment of silence was requested to end the memorial.

As he did so, Jackie caught the Corpo Chick and her Millitech Cylon leave out of the corner of his eye. . .

XXXX

Meredith Stout, VP of Operations for Millitech's Night City Branch and designated successor for the position of Night City Branch President, shook her head as she got into the Chevillon Emperor Six-Twenty Ragnar SUV that she'd taken to the Memorial. Ernesto Manfredi, Big E, as he'd sometimes used as a Handle. He'd been the reason she was in the position she was in now. He'd also been the first decent bit of Stuffit she'd had in a long time. As her driver and bodyguard, Sergeant Jackson, pulled away from the curb, she looked over at him.

"We really have no clue what happened?" She queried.

"As far as we know, no. It's like he just vanished off the face of the Earth." Responded Jackson.

"Such a waste. It's like Blackhand all over again." Sighed Meredith.

"Still, a guy who could do all the stuff he did in that short an amount of time? You think he would've been satisfied with a spot on payroll?" Asked Jackson.

"What are you driving at?" Questioned Meredith.

"A Guy like that? Who could annihilate two gangs and beat down a third bad enough to make peace in the span of a month and a half? Something tells me that's a man who wants to make his mark on the world. I'm not so sure he'd have been willing to settle down for a cushy bit of biz on retainer." Offered Jackson.

"Why not? Blackhand was." Reminded Meredith.

"Blackhand was also pushing forty at the time he disappeared. He had the wisdom of age and experience to know when to settle down. Big E was what? Twenty-five? You think a Kid like that is gonna think about settling down like Blackhand did?" Queried Jackson.

"Maybe not." Admitted Meredith.

As the pair lapsed into silence, Meredith Stout stared out the window of her SUV. It really was a damn shame. If he was going to disappear on her, he could have at least done her the courtesy of letting her know in advance. She supposed it didn't matter at this point. There was nothing for it, he would either resurface or he wouldn't. There was nothing Meredith could do about it either way.

All she could do now was ensure she made the most out of the chaos he'd left in his wake. . .

XXXX

Over the next few months, the Balance of Power in the Night City Underworld shifted dramatically. The Valentinos and Mox moved to fill the power vacuums left in the wake of Sixth Street's retreat from Night City and the Destruction of both the Organiskaya and the Japantown Animals. The Tyger Claws found themselves in a bit of a bind, as the ragged remnants of Wakako Okada's faction tried desperately to reorganize themselves into something resembling a proper organization in the aftermath of both the War and Wakako's Assassination.

In the end, however, the Mox just weren't set up to expand so rapidly, and it would be the Valentinos who made the most of the Chaos. All thanks to the efforts of Big E Manfredi and his Crew. While Jackie and V had finished their Biz with the Mox, they were now Bigtime Solos, welcome at the Afterlife, where, true to Jackie's prediction, Rogue refused to serve the drink that Big E had named after himself. In a similar cop-out that they'd used for Morgan Blackhand, the Afterlife insisted that since there was no body, no one could tell if Big E had actually died or not, therefore, they wouldn't serve the drink.

Over at Lizzie's, Suzie Q and Gustavo Orta arranged a split of the territories seized during the War with Wakako's Tyger Claws, the Japantown Animals, and the Organiskaya. The Mox would pick up the Clubs and Dollhouses, while the Gambling, Drugs, and Smuggling Businesses would go to the Valentinos. Both parties were satisfied with this arrangement, and both parties toasted to Big E for their newfound power and wealth.

In bars and clubs around Night City, the tale of Big E Manfredi spread, about how he, Jackie Welles, and the Nomad V took on three Gangs and won so bad that two of them didn't even exist anymore. How in the final showdown, Big E went out the same way as Morgan Blackhand, with no body, meaning he could still be out there somewhere. As word spread and the tale got told and retold, a Metal Psychopath high up in Arasaka Tower heard about it, and couldn't help but sneer. He'd faced off against Blackhand, and he was still here while Blackhand wasn't. Adam Smasher figured that if this Big E Gonk the Leadheads kept saying was a Second Blackhand ever resurfaced, then Smasher would put him down the same way he did to Blackhand, not that he remembered much from that day.

Finally, three months after the final, explosive end of the Japantown War, a Black Chevillon Thrax pulled into the afterlife. Dex Deshawn was back in Night City, looking to hire a few Gullible Gonks for a Job. He would wind up being disappointed, as the most Rookie Solos he could find so soon after arriving weren't very green. Erica Nightly and Jessie Nyan had heard out his proposal, decided it stank, and passed, leaving Dex to hire a crew that was greener than he wanted.

When the time came to move on Konpeki Plaza, that Green as Goose Shit Crew got zeroed so fast they never even knew what hit them, leaving bodies in the Konpeki Plaza Car Park, including that of T-Bug, who should have never been anywhere near the Sharp End. Dex Deshawn found himself zeroed in short order, a few days afterward, as he tried to Bombshell out of Night City.

In the end, the Relic Chip never left Yorinobu Arasaka's Penthouse. His father, Saburo, however, did leave in a Body Bag, the result of a bout of Cyberpsychosis on the part of his long-time bodyguard, Takemura Goro. Saburo's death would lead to infighting among Arasaka's Board of Directors, ultimately leading to the loss of many of Arasaka's subsidiaries and overseas departments, and leading to restructuring within a few years.

And that left the once-powerful megacorporation a shell of its former self. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the Cyberpunk Epilogue. It turns out that the knock-on effects from the MC's short stint in Cyberpunk effectively butterflied away the events of the Video Game, among other things. Given how Yorinobu's Plan going off without a hitch is really the only 'Good' ending to the Game, that actually has huge implications for the setting as a whole, as he gets to effectively dismantle Arasaka's Empire from within, just like he wanted to all along. Within a decade of the MC leaving Cyberpunk, Arasaka is going to be restructured and turned into, effectively, a regional Corp around Japan, Korea, and so on.

Mind you, that by itself won't be enough to turn the tide against the Corps. Arasaka is hardly unique, and there are plenty of Corporations from the Tabletop that rival them in size and scope. One has to imagine that when Arasaka moves out of Night City, Millitech will just move in. Still, it's a blow, and a big one, to the status quo.

At any rate, the next few chapters will be interludes showing the various other SIs and how they dealt with their own Universes, starting with Alia Fadal and how she managed in the Invincible Universe.

Stay tuned. . .