Chapter 15

"You want us to come with you to talk Biz with the Mox? Why?" Questioned Jackie as we sat talking in our usual booth in El Coyote Cojo.

"Because we need to present more than just me if we wanna get the best deal, Jaquito. There's Preem Eddies at stake." I pointed out.

"Why? I mean, I get the basic theory, but why would the Mox care about Jackie and I? They know you, sort of. As far as they're aware, we're just some random Gonks you pulled in as backup, right?" Queried V.

"I don't think you get just how much this Biz with Sixth Street has made our reps. I'm not just talking about me, either. You both have reps now, too." I retorted.

"Yeah? What's mine say?" Asked Jackie.

"That you're one hard Pendejo, Choom. Took a direct hit from a military-grade Anti-Material Rifle and got back up. And V, you're supposed to be a Preem Sniper, someone who can out-snipe a Nova Military Sniper like Isolate." I insisted.

"Isolate wasn't really military. He was a Georgian Separatist back in the day, but that's not exactly the same thing, Choom." Refuted V.

"He could've been King of the Moon for all that matters. What's important is that the average Gangoon and no small number of Solos believed he was one of the Best to come out of the SovOil Brush Wars!" I pressed.

"Right, so we've got reps. We're still not the guy who can take on a full borg and win. You really think the Mox'll shell out that much more with us in tow?" Questioned Jackie.

"I do. They need the Huscle to stave off total annihilation." I nodded.

"All right, say we go with you, and the Mox hire us all on as a crew. What kind of opposition are we facing here? Is it just the Tyger Claws?" Queried V.

"Now that's the right question, Choom. As far as I'm aware, the Tyger Claws have inked some kind of deal with the Organiskaya. They're in on this Biz together, so we'll probably also have to deal with some of the Russian Mob's Hatchetmen trying to zero us on top of any Tyger Claws Gangoons." I informed.

"Those guys are no joke. You think we can deal with that?" Asked Jackie.

"Hey, Jaquito, no te preocupes. Didn't you say you wanted to be in the Bigtime? Well, this is the Bigtime." I smirked.

"We can at least head over and hear them out, I guess." Nodded V.

"What's with the hesitance all of a sudden, Chooms? You guys would've been all over this earlier." I questioned.

"Do you know how many eddies I got saved up right now? We can afford to be more selective with what Biz we pick up from now on. I'm not saying it's gotta be the Afterlife or Nada, but we can afford to hang back and tool up for a bit, yeah? Maybe get some more of that Preem Iron or Nova-Hot Chrome?" Queried Jackie.

"Speaking of which, I got some stuff for you and V back at my place." I interjected.

"Already?" Asked V.

"Yeah. Now, what's with you, Chica? You feel the same as Jaquito?" I questioned.

"It's not that." Refuted V.

"Then what is it?" I queried.

V mumbled something under her breath that I didn't quite catch, but it sounded to my enhanced hearing like she was claiming to have a girlfriend. There was no way in hell I was gonna let that pass without comment.

"What was that? Didn't quite catch it." I asked.

"I said I've got an Output now." Repeated V, louder.

"Wait, V, Eres tortillera? You're a lesbian?" Questioned Jackie.

"I go both ways, Choom. You got a problem with that?" Queried V, dangerously.

"No, just learning something new about you today is all." Protested Jackie.

"So you've got an output. You and her heading toward mainline status?" I asked.

"I don't know, it's new. I do know I'll never get a chance to figure that out if I get Zeroed by some Organiskaya Hatchetman, though." Admitted V.

"That's no reason not to live your life, Choom." I pointed out.

"Besides, new Iron ought to help with that, right?" Questioned Jackie.

"Exactly, though I have to ask if you guys are ready for something a little more permanent." I mused.

"Permanent how?" Queried V.

"I can do for you guys what I've done for me if you feel like you want to take the next step. We're not talking Chrome either." I informed.

"What then? Some kind of Bioware?" Asked Jackie.

"More like a Permanent Chemical Enhancement. I managed to whip up a sort of Super Soldier Serum if you're interested. It'll knock you on your ass for a day or so while it does its work, but after? You'll be superhuman, capable of doing shit it normally takes a full borg to do." I explained.

"Super Soldier Serum? Like something out of an old comic book? I dunno about that." Frowned Jackie.

"Yeah, what if something goes wrong? No offense Choom, but even with the sort of preem stuff you've whipped up, I'm not sure I trust you with something that can screw with my DNA." Refused V.

"That's fair, I guess. If you want, I can have some more Chrome for Vik to install instead. Since that's got a more proven track record." I offered.

"I'll take some of that stuff." Confirmed Jackie.

"Yeah, I already put in the new Kerenzikov, and Sandy you gave him. Installing the rest of the chrome probably won't hurt." Agreed V.

"In that case, when we finish our round, we should head on over to my place, and I can grab some of the new Chrome, along with your new Iron. We can make the trip out to Vik's after, and we'll meet up with the Mox tonight." I hedged.

"Sounds good." Nodded V.

"Yeah, Ernesto. I can do that." Affirmed Jackie.

"Right, let me flick the detes over to Punchin' Judy real quick." I grinned.

Almost immediately, Jackie and V went back to their drinks, knocking them back as fast as they could while I messaged Judy about meeting up with her and the Mox at Lizzie's tonight. Once I got confirmation, I grabbed my Cerveza, a bottle of Calivera Feliz, and chugged, downing the rest of the bottle in one go. Slamming it down on the table, I flicked payment over to Pepe at the bar before standing up.

"You ready, Chooms?" I questioned.

"Yeah, let's bombshell." Concurred Jackie.

"Wait till you see my new ride. You're gonna go nanars." Smirked V.

Together, the three of us headed out for the parking lot around the side of El Coyote Cojo. It was there where I spotted a goddamned monster of a Kombi. It looked like a mix of an old Turbo-Neon Street King and one of the older M-Eleven Infantry Fighting Vehicles that the NUSAF had fielded during the Unification War. Mind you, the M-Eleven was currently being replaced by shiny new Militech Stuff, but it was still fielded in large numbers by the NUSA. What really stood out, however, was the twenty-millimeter Autocannon mounted to the roof.

"Damn, V. That's some pretty heavy Iron up there." Swore Jackie.

"How much did this run you? And where did you find it?" I queried.

"Like it? It's called the Ao Guang. A friend of mine in the Yang Family out in NorCal had been working on this beast for a couple years now. He'd been hoping to drive it himself when he finished it, but his circumstances changed." Grinned V.

"Changed how?" Asked Jackie.

"The Yaoguai Gang of the Raffen Shiv were putting pressure on the Yangs to pack up and move out of the area. I offered more than a hundred grand in eddies for the thing, which would let the Yangs buy enough preem iron to hold their ground till the rest of the Snake Nation could respond. The Ao Guang is great, but it's just a single vehicle with a single twenty-millimeter autocannon. Compared to more than a dozen heavy machine guns, that's not as good. At least when it comes to fighting groups." Explained V.

"Wait, how much did you spend on this? Do you have enough Eddies left over to live on?" I questioned.

"Does it matter? We're clearly taking this job with the Mox anyway." Queried V.

"Still. You didn't blow everything on this, did you?" Asked Jackie.

"No, no, I didn't. I'm still sitting on around fifty-grand." Informed V.

"Right, I had to check. Come on, let's head out." I nodded.

We piled into the Glorified Armored Car that was V's new Kombi, and she drove us over to Megabuilding H-Five, where I had my apartment. Soon enough, I had both V and Jackie kitted out with their new Iron and Armor. V took to the Tezcatlipoca like a duck to water, immediately linking with it. She grinned as the Weapon Synched with her Optics to show an AR HUD including target reticle and ammo counter, plus some other stuff. Jackie, meanwhile, was skeptical about the Huitzilopochtli Pulse Caster, though he appreciated the better armor.

"You mean this is some kinda ray gun? I don't know E, if that could be done, you'd think the Corps would be all over it. Can't imagine 'Saka not arming their Ninjas and Cylons with ray guns." Frowned Jackie.

"Not a Ray Gun, it's a plasma caster. Think of it like a more advanced version of the Thermal Cannon on the Militech Centaur." I advised.

"Ernesto, those things are a lot bigger than this." Pointed out Jackie.

"That's part of what makes it advanced, Jaquito." I smirked.

"Still, you sure this'll work?" Questioned Jackie.

"Keep your current Iron on you if you're scared it'll fail on you. There's nothing stopping you from doing that." I reminded.

"That's fair, I guess. How does it work?" Queried Jackie.

"It's a shotgun-style weapon. You should be able to point and click, and the pulse burst should zero pretty much anything in the general direction you're aiming at. At least within the next fifty yards or so." I shrugged.

"Anything?" Asked Jackie.

"Even a Full Borg like Lariat or an IFV like the Ao Guang." I confirmed.

"Nice. Still keeping the Foehammer, though. Just in case." Mused Jackie.

After a few more minutes of small talk, I headed into my autofactory and set it to produce the Chrome that Jackie and V wanted to get chipped in. Fifteen minutes later, both sets of Chrome were ready to go, and we were on our way to Vik's to get them both Chipped In. When we arrived, though, Vik was with a patient, which meant waiting with Misty in her Occult Shop. She didn't mind since it meant time with her Mainline in Jackie. Meanwhile, V took a look around the shop, leaving me pretty much by myself for a bit. That, unfortunately, wouldn't last long.

About five minutes after we arrived, the door opened, and in walked a man I'd seen in my dreams. Buzzcut hair, twin Gorilla Arms, and a long brown trenchcoat gave him away, as well as the accent when he spoke up and the fact that his cybereyes locked onto me as he entered. Had he been getting dreams from his Patron, too? I wasn't sure, but I did know that Aleksander Yurinov recognized me, or at least recognized what I was.

"Welcome to Misty's Esoterica. Can I help you find anything?" Questioned Misty as she looked over at Aleksander Yurinov.

"Nyet. I am just browsing." Refused Aleksander Yurinov.

I frowned at that. I couldn't see any sign of any of his creatures, but I knew he could summon them at a moment's notice. From what I'd seen in my dreams, he'd progressed enough with the Celestial Menagerie to be able to summon his Armadillo-Bear, Ankylosaurus, and Salt Mephit all at once, too. If he decided to slammit on right now, it was gonna be a pretty tough fight. He moved over to where I was standing and proceeded to pretend to be checking out one of the books on the bookshelf.

"So you are the one." Aleksander mused in a low tone of voice, low enough that only I could hear him.

"I could say the same for you." I murmured back in a similar tone.

"I did not think that you would be foolish enough to come to a location like this. It is well known from the games." Muttered Aleksander.

"Are we going to have to do this here? Misty is a civilian, not really connected with anything enough to get you any points." I queried softly.

"She is not a real person. Not like you and I. No one here is, you know that." Whispered Aleksander.

"They are still real people. These are coherent universes, not just figments of the imagination." I refuted, lowly.

"And that is why you will fail to defeat me. You've gone native, it seems." Intoned Aleksander, quietly.

"If you're feeling froggy. . ." I opined in a muted tone.

"Nyet. Not now. When the time comes, though, I will show no mercy. You will acknowledge the truth of this competition before the end. That the only ones who are real out in the wider Omniverse are those of us in the competition. If you do not, you will stand no chance against me." Answered Aleksander, discreetly.

I could only frown at that, but our conversation for the time being was clearly finished. Aleksander Yurinov pulled a book off the shelf, a reproduction of a medieval bestiary, before taking it over to the counter where Misty was waiting next to Jackie.

"I would like to purchase this volume." He spoke up.

"Preem, let me ring you up!" Chirped Misty.

I watched the interaction the entire time, eyes never leaving Aleksander. As soon as he was rung up, he left, and I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. As I did so, V sidled over to me, a look of concern on her face as she did so.

"Who was that? You never let him out of your field of vision the entire time." Asked V.

"That was Aleksander Yurinov, the Organiskaya's Top Hatchetman in Night City. I get the feeling we'll be seeing him more down the road, whether we take the Mox up on their Biz or not." I responded.

"Him? That's the guy they say feeds people to dogs?" Questioned Jackie.

"He does what?" Queried V.

"Some of the Crime Scenes they say he's been to show the kind of stuff that used to mean the bodies had been attacked by Wild Animals. Claw and bite marks, that sort of thing. I gotta think he's letting dogs go to town on the bodies after he zeros them as some kind of statement." Informed Jackie.

"I don't think it's that, Jaquito." I sighed, knowing full well that the truth was a hell of a lot scarier.

"Then what is it? It's gotta be dogs, right? There's no Wild Animals anymore, and the Organiskaya does hold dog fights, yeah?" Asked Jackie.

"Whatever the case is, if we're gonna be seeing more of him, we'd better get chipped in." Advised V.

As if blessed with perfect timing, Vik's last patient made his way back through the back room of Misty's at that very second. Funnily enough, it was the guy who'd chipped in the faulty Mr. Studd Implant the first time around. I was gonna guess that he wouldn't be having a similar problem this time. Vik didn't do sub-par work, after all. V and Jackie headed down with the Chrome I'd made them, and I waited in Misty's Esoterica, just in case Aleksander Yurinov came back looking for someone to kill.

Fortunately, that didn't happen, and after another two hours, both V and Jackie made their way back into the front area of Misty's Esoterica, fresh chrome chipped in and ready to head out. I flicked the dates over to Punchin' Judy, who said she'd let us into Lizzies but that Susie Q was still out on business for another hour or so at least. I relayed that to V and Jackie, who both had zero problems with just sitting and having a drink or two at Lizzie's while we waited for Susie Q to finish her Biz.

Soon after that, we were all piled into V's new Ao Guang Kombi, heading for Lizzie's for a few drinks and our meeting with the Mox. The whole way there, I couldn't shake the bad feeling that I'd gotten from meeting Aleksander Yurinov at Misty's. I had a feeling we'd be seeing him again sooner rather than later.

As it would turn out, while we wouldn't wind up being confronted by Aleksander again before the night was over, the Tyger Claws he was working with were another story entirely. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. It was mostly a set-up chapter for the next arc. Big E convinces Jackie and V to hire on with the Mox alongside him, but they get new implants and gear first. At the same time, Big E and Company finally meet up with Aleksander Yurinov, Champion of Flidais and Wielder of the Celestial Menagerie. He's going to be an issue going forward.

The thing about this whole Omniversal Tournament the various Gods have going is that it tends to cause certain types of people to effectively turn into the Joker sooner or later. The fact that so many of the universes in question are fictional back on their Old Earth tends to lead some Champions to think that none of the people in various universes are actually real, so they can do whatever they want, including committing war crimes and massacres. In their minds, none of it matters because only they and their fellow Champions are real. Aleksander Yurinov has been on Cyberpunk Earth for less than a year, and he's already gotten to that level.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the actual meeting with the Mox, as well as a confrontation with some party crashers from the Tyger Claws. I'll have a character sheet update before then as well.

Stay tuned. . .