Cyberpunk: Badland Madman Chapter 5 - Obsidian, Cuddles & The Mind

Doc - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pXOMqYH7D_mS5muRQwDF9xkyX4UtFoilZGWnBy_9o7o/edit?usp=sharing

________________

Cypher ducked and kept up with Nash while shooting back at the Tyger Claws. He was closing in on the edge of Japantown, and Vista Del Rey was Valentino's territory. But he didn't delude himself into thinking that the Tyger Claws would stop chasing him. 

Bang!

He took an aimed shot and flattened the tires of one of the two motorbikes following. But that intensified the shots being fired back at him. 

Cypher counted the minutes in his head, waiting for Maine and his crew to appear. 

Bang!

Fuck!

Nash was still shooting back at him whenever the fucker got a chance. That left Cypher sandwiched between the two fronts. 

As expected, Nash took two turns from Japantown South and then Republic & Vine, heading straight towards the Badlands. Cypher tried to shoot more tires to stop Nash. But the Tyger Claws were too insane to give up. 

Should've bought some grenades or something. 

Once again, he tried to aim back and shoot at the Tyger Claws. Getting rid of them would leave him free to deal with Nash. It was getting clearer and clearer that Maine wouldn't arrive on time. They had already crossed the Petrochem facility. 

Grrrrr!

But just as he saw Nash cross Republic East and arrive at the intersection, he heard the roar of an engine. From the left, a large Chevillon Emperor car was approaching at full speed and…

Crash!

The car slammed into Nash's Type-66. The Emperor was a larger vehicle to begin with; Nash's car took a hard T-bone, skidding and rolling off the road into a dirt field littered with trash. 

Bang!

Bang!

The next second, the Emperor's doors opened, and a few figures jumped out. The first one was a short woman of white skin with a faint blue tint that contrasted with pink tattoos on her neck. Her green hair, made into pigtails, tossed around as she shot at the Tyger Claws. 

Then appeared another overly tall woman with short blonde hair and strong facial features. Her bare metal cyberware legs were overly exposed. 

Finally, there were two men, one with a mohawk and large golden robotic hands. The other was a massive, absurdly tall man with blonde hair and a big grin on his face. 

Cypher recognised all of them. Rebecca, Dorio, Pilar, and Maine. They stopped Tyger Claws’ chase relatively quickly, choosing to shoot their motorbike rather than them directly. Moments later, the motorbike exploded. 

"That all they got? Where’s the rest of those chasers at?" Maine asked relaxedly, leaning lazily against the hood of his car. Everybody had stopped blasting except Rebecca, who was still dumping rounds into the burning bike.

Cypher waved, having skidded to a halt. He got off his motorbike and walked towards Nash's crashed car. “Yeah, dealt with the other myself. Gimme a second, I gotta sort this one out first.”

Alert, his normal gun out, he walked up to Nash's car. It had rolled a few times before landing on its wheels again. It was a complete wreck; its roof caved in significantly. But still, the car was made and modified for Badlands; it was stronger than an average car. 

Nash was visibly wounded, unmoving, bleeding from his head and face. 

Cypher neared the window and aimed his gun at Nash's temple. "Won't say goodnight to Night City?"

"Fuck you…" Nash grumbled, barely awake. "You think this is ove—"

"It ain't, I know. That's the thing about cockroaches, there's just way too damn many to wipe out. But all I need is a couple of weeks of quiet, some time to gear up. After that, bring it on. I'll kill you all."

"You ca—"

Bang!

Cypher didn't bother listening and shot. 

Bang!

He shot again just to be sure. 

Bang!

Once more. Just in case there was some implant. 

He felt cold-hearted. He hadn't killed anyone most of his first life. The first murder was of the CEO, and now, he didn't even feel anything. It didn't scare or bother him since he was killing the scum of the earth. But he wondered if the dead Cypher's body was influencing him into accepting this level of bare-faced violence. 

Still unsatisfied, he looked back at Maine and his crew. "Got anything to smoke the car?"

"You got it, choom!" shouted Rebecca, taking a grenade out of her oversized jacket and throwing it in the car's window like it was a trick shot. She didn't even bother for Cypher to move away. 

Fuck!

Cypher jumped away to save himself from the explosion. 

Boom!

Nash's car exploded into flames, chunks of metal flying around. 

It was now one less headache for Cypher to bother with. A dead, unrecognisable body would earn him some more time. He didn't know how high Nash was amongst the Wraiths, and if someone would be searching for him. He did know that to the NCPD, Nash was just another number in crime statistics. 

After seeing Nash's body burn for a while, he walked over to Maine and his crew. He shook hands with the rather tall man. It was unknown if Maine was really that tall or if it was all due to cyberware. 

My bet's on Cyberware. Fits a future cyberpsycho.

"Name's Cypher Blackwell, sort of a techie." He introduced himself. "Appreciate you getting here so fast, man."

"Maine."

"Dorio."

"Pilar."

"Call me Rebecca, choom. Or Becs, Becka, whatever floats your boat. So, you got the eddies to pay us? You don't look loaded. More like trashed-out joytoy junkie if you ask me."

"..."

Cypher was surprised by how spot-on she was. 

"I got it," he said, transferring the amount that Rita had texted him because he personally had no idea how much it cost to hire an edgerunner crew. Even the dead Cypher didn't know. "I'm gonna bounce before more Tyger Claws roll up, or the NCPD sticks their nose in. Might have some gigs down the line, you guys'll be the first I hit up. By the way, I specialise in fixing busted or glitchy cyberware, so if anything needs sorting, hit me up at Vik's."

"The ripperdock?" asked Maine.

"Yeah, gonna set up a shop at his place," Cypher said, waving them goodbye. His arm was still bleeding, after all. MaxDoc was only good for painkillers and stopping bleeding. It didn't stitch the wounds. 

He then got on the same Tyger Claw motorbike and left. On the way, he called the only medic whose number he had. Since it was pretty late at night, it took some time before the call was picked up. 

"Who's this?"

"Hey, Gloria, it's me, the guy from the race. The one you handed your card to. Yeah, so I caught a round in the arm, but the bullet ain't in there anymore, just shredded meat. You think you could patch me up?" He asked, driving towards the likely place she'd tell him to come to anyway. His AR glasses were pretty useful in showing the way.

"This late?"

"I'm bleeding, Gloria," Cypher said. "MaxDoc won't stitch it."

After a long silence and a sleepy yawn from the woman, she agreed. 

"Fine, get to Megabuilding H4. And don't even think about pulling any funny biz. I'm no defenceless doll. You try anything stupid, you'll catch way more than just a bullet in the dome."

There was a slight accent in her voice that escaped in her sleepy state. 

"Come on, me messing with the prettiest medtech in the city? Not happening. I'll be there in ten."

He ended the call and drove faster. He wanted to ditch the motorbike soon. 

####

Gloria jumped up from her bed to change into better work-suited clothes. She never really invited patients over to her place, nor entertained guests. But this time it was different. She had a reason for doing this.

"Mijo?" She called for her son just to see his reaction and see if he was really asleep or just acting. For now, she was sure he was sleeping. 

Quickly, she cleaned the mess around her house, prepared the coffee table with a metal tray, and all the needed medical items on it. She then gave a quick look around the apartment to ensure nothing was visible that she didn't want to show. 

Moments later, she heard a knock on the door, glad that the man wasn't a complete gonk to ring the bell at three in the morning. She didn't want to wake her son up and make his day at school a chore. 

"Shh…" She opened the door, a pistol tucked in the back of her pants. "My son's sleeping. Don't make noise."

"You got it, doc." 

She watched the man gesture with a zipper on his lips and walked in. She could see the wound on the arm and the dirt on the clothes. Sure enough, he'd come directly after a firefight, and she could smell the sulfur. 

"Strip off your jacket and shirt, then plant your ass on the coffee table. Not the couch, got it? I'll grab you some water and something to bite on to."

"Just water's fine. The skin-pricking thing doesn't even register at this point."

A single brow rose, wondering what he meant by that. But who was she to ask? She gave him a glass of water and started preparing the tools. First, she prepared the wound cleaning tools, a foamy spray that would vanish on its own. No need to wipe or wait. 

"Hm?"

But she didn't expect what she saw next. And seeing his body, she felt a bit worried, wondering if inviting something like him was even a good decision. His body was ruined, littered with scars of substance abuse. Well, mostly the arms, filled with internal wounds, dots that had become permanent. His words finally made sense. 

"Used to be a glitter junkie. Abused the fuck out of this body. Trying to flip the script isn’t easy, not in this city. Might get some tattoos though. At least then it would look decent."

Gloria just nodded, not sure what to do. Her experience with junkies was bad. They were unpredictable, untrustworthy, and just unstable in general. But for now, she did her job. The bullet seemed to have scraped his arm, tearing through flesh and some muscles. She didn’t ask how he got it. The less she knew, the better.

Quickly, she used the hand-held stitcher machine to staple the tear in the flesh. This was easy work for her, making her wonder why he even came to her, because even he could do this. And seeing him curiously look around at her apartment, she felt nervous. 

Then she noticed his eyes freeze on her sleeping son. A bit too long for her comfort. 

"A son, huh? I figured he'd be little, like a toddler. You don't look that old, honestly."

She evaded that flirt attempt. "I had my David pretty young. He's a good boy, goes to Arasaka Academy, you know."

She was so proud of her son for that. Being able to go to the academy where only corpo heirs could go was life-changing. She knew her son's future would be far different, far better than life at H4.

"Arasaka Academy? Sweet!" 

She frowned when he whistled. Maybe she shouldn't have told him that. 

"He really is a good boy for that. But it must be hard for you. I heard the fee ain't small for that place. I bet being a medtech is good, but that sure ain't good enough for Arasaka." 

Gloria clenched her jaw. Yes, she shouldn't have told him that, she realised it too late. "Well… he has scholarships and…"

"Come on, Gloria, who you trying to bullshit here? You know damn well I know those assholes would sell their own kids before they hand out a scholarship. What's the big secret? Black-market cyberware ripped out of dead patients?"

Click!

She made a wrong stitch right then, shocked by how right he was. But more surprisingly, he didn't even react to that. She looked at his face and noticed a smug smile. Yeah, there was no hiding from him. Maybe this was why he came to see her. 

"I… I… I don't hurt anyone."

"When the hell did I say you do? Long as it ain't some fucked-up Scav shit, you know, where those psychos snatch you off the street, cut your chrome out while you're still kicking and screaming, then flip it on the black market. Long as it ain't that nasty, we're straight."

Gloria gulped. The man was too accurate with everything. Half of her mind told her he knew everything. The other half told her that what she was doing was a common thing for most medtechs. Grabbing cyberware from dead patients was the norm, not the exception.

"W-What do you want?" Gloria stepped away after placing the last stitch. "Why are yo—"

"How much did you make?" 

"Huh?"

"In that race, only two people threw money down on me. One was me, obviously, and the other was you. So tell me straight... How much cash did you walk away with?"

Gloria felt uncomfortable. It was like he could read her mind. Yes, she had bet on him and won well. That was why she let him in. She hoped to know when he'd race again and bet more. But how did he know all that?

"E-Eight thousand… that's what I won."

"Impressive. I ended up pocketing over a hundred grand off it. I know you're probably wondering when I'm gonna race again. Truth is, not for a while. I could win every damn one, but if I keep doing that, it kills the pot. I need people betting against me, not riding my nuts. But listen... if you're feeling it, I got another dead-certain, no-sweat offer ready to go."

Gloria instinctively stepped back. She felt naked in front of this man. How did he know everything? Her own thoughts. Was she that predictable? Yes, she wanted him to race more. Yes, she was looking for money. David's education wasn't cheap at all. 

She watched him stand up and put on his blood-soaked clothes. The entire time, she tried to make up her mind. Can she trust him? Was it even worth listening to a junkie? But she'd already benefited from his advice once. 

"Not here," she glanced at David and decided to take the guest to the storage room beside the cooking station. It was the only part of the house with a door, other than the bathroom, of course. 

Still, she was nervous. The man was thin, but tall. And clearly, he knew how to fight, or else he'd be in a body bag, not getting stitches. 

"Keep the voice low. My son knows nothing."

"Probably best to leave it like that. But before I offer up anything, how does it play out? You grab whatever chrome you find off dead bodies?"

"Only the ones with no takers," Gloria clarified. "No family, no crew. Zero eddies on anyone sniffing around for them."

"And this being Night City, I doubt there's a lack of those? But I'm guessing you don't really get that many, do you?"

She nodded. "I don't. They number a lot, but they're spread out. It's not just me doing this, you know. I know it's wrong but…"

"Hey, I don't care."

Gloria felt his hand land on her shoulder. She almost reached for her gun in response. 

"Alright, here is the deal. From here on out, you sell me all the cyberware you pull. I'm talking all of it, no exceptions, whether it's running smooth or totally busted, glitched out or whatever. I'll take it off your hands, cash in hand. And hey, if you wanna play middleman and rope in some other medtechs to offload their haul to me, I'll kick you a small cut from their sales. Think about it. Easy passive income."

"What's the catch?" She asked, because what he was describing was too simple. 

Currently, she had to be careful finding black-market sellers. Finding direct customers who want to buy it was ideal. After all, the second-hand market was dominated by Scavs and other gangs. 

"No catch, Gloria. I got some real skills when it comes to fixing tech, all kinds of shit, cyberware too. Plan's dead simple. I'll clean them up, make them shine, and flip them on the market. Don't worry about the gangs. I'm gonna have to deal with those assholes sooner or later anyway."

"You'll go against Scavs?"

She saw a hint of worry on his face. But it faded into a smile afterwards. 

"Sure, why not? Fuck them and their backers. Who even likes them? I'll kill them too."

Too? 

She stared into his eyes. The deal was lucrative, but she felt like keeping a distance from him. He felt dangerous, and being around him felt even more dangerous. Besides, all she cared about was selling cyberware she'd get her hands on. As long as money was good and the risk was low, it was a no-brainer. 

"Mierda. You're a madman. Even thinking about scrapping with Scavs," she blurted. "But what do I care, huh? Screw it, let's do this. I'll ping you whenever I got gear to move. And I want my eddies at the handoff, no ifs, no buts. You good with that, then it's a deal."

"Deal."

She stared at his extended hand and… to her annoyance, noticed a bump on his crotch. Was he hard? What? Why? 

But she shook it and walked out of the storage, leading him to the door. She made sure David was still asleep. 

"I'll probably have some fresh chrome lined up every three days. For the others, it'll take longer. You can't trust anybody in this city." She shot him a hard look as she said it. "Most times you end up disappointed."

"Agreed. But this ain't some trust-fall biz between us. It's straight cash, plain and simple. You keep it clean and don't try to fuck me around, I won't do the same to you. Good night now, and thanks for patching me up. Sending the eddies."

She watched him leave her apartment. She made sure to look out, making sure he vanished down the hallway, turning towards the elevator. 

Finally, she locked her door and let out a heavy breath, calming down her nerves. She was no leadhead. She'd seen plenty. Yet, for some reason, she felt so nervous near Cypher. The way he carried himself was half insane, too confident, and most likely mad. It made it hard to predict him. 

No, this is for the best. 

She looked at her sleeping son and shook all the bad thoughts out of her mind. This was for a better future for David. Having Cypher as a regular buyer was better than the risk of finding new ones each time. 

Finally, she drank a glass of water, put away all the medical equipment, and went to sleep in her bed across from her son's. 

However, unaware the whole time, her son’s eyes were closed, but his ears weren’t.

####

Japantown, 

Cypher ditched the motorbike and grabbed a taxi instead. Meeting Gloria was something he planned spontaneously. Since he had already decided to work with Vik, he wanted to get some cyberware to work on with his newfound tech knowledge and the Sonic Screwdriver. It would help him understand the tech of this world better while making good eddies. 

Beyond just finding Gloria pretty gorgeous as a woman, he had reasons to work with her. Finding new people he could trust in Night City was nearly impossible. The best thing to do was to use his existing knowledge to get on the good side of people he knew were at least decent. 

Gloria, although barely known to him, he hoped she wasn't a shitty person to backstab him. At the end of the day, she loved her son dearly and was doing it all for him. As long as there was money to be made, he guessed things would be okay. 

Oh, and she was hot. 

Fuck, I need a girlfriend. 

With a careful sigh, he snuck back into his Japantown apartment. No shock, the dead bodies were already removed from outside his door, most likely taken away by local gangs to be sold to Scavs or something. They weren't Tyger Claws, after all. 

He still didn't take any chances. He grabbed all his items, the DL-18 blasters he had hidden, all the other things he was working on, and then wiped all the data from his offline computer terminal. 

Finally, he locked his apartment and left in the same taxi. Not for Lake Farm, however. It was too late, and that place was too far away. Instead, he went to Judy's apartment in Kabuki to crash for the night. 

It was a little past four in the morning, and he was tired. He used the passcode she'd told him and entered. 

He just threw his luggage near the couch and changed into some comfortable joggers and a t-shirt. Then he brushed his teeth and applied some moisturizer because fuck, he needed it to fix his messed-up face and dark circles. 

Shhhh!

Right as he lay down on the couch, he heard the apartment's main door open. He'd thought Judy was already home, sleeping in her room. But then she walked in, looking like a wreck. She didn't even look at him, her eyes smudged with streaks of ruined mascara.

She cried? Why? 

"What happened?" He jumped from the couch to follow her. But she entered her bedroom and shut the door behind him, locking it. 

Cypher stood out there for a few seconds, trying to decide if he should really leave her alone. But she was his friend, a very close one at that. And honestly, he wasn't as close to anyone else in that world as much as Judy.

So, he took out his Sonic Screwdriver and easily unlocked the door. It was dark, all the lights were turned off except for some thin light strips. He found her in bed, a blanket thrown over herself, covering her head to toe. 

"Judy, you good? What happened?"

"Leave me alone!" 

He awkwardly stood there, scratching his head. He had no experience in dealing with such situations. "Uh… Can I get you something? Water? Food?"

Bam!

He received a pillow right to his face, her feral growl audible, mixed with sniffles. 

"Just get the hell out! I don't wanna talk to anyone right now."

“Well…” He sighed and dropped to the floor next to her bed. “Yeah, you kinda need someone to talk to. Come on, Jude, what is it? I suck at this friend stuff, you know, you're basically all I got. Somebody mess with you at Lizzie’s? Say the word, and I will put a bullet in them. Just tell me who.”

"Maiko!" Judy's angry, emotional shout came from under the blanket. "Think you can flatline her?"

"Sure, I'll go grab my gun."

"..."

Judy stirred right then, promptly throwing the blanket off her face to look. To stop him.

Cypher was still there, standing with his arms crossed, his eyes serious. At least he'd gotten her to show her face, and damn, she was a mess. Eyes red, smudged dark. "You two got in a fight?"

"We broke up." 

He frowned, finding shame, anger, worry, and emotional vulnerability written on her face. She was never good at handling stress and emotions, he reckoned. Not to mention, she was still pretty young, in her early twenties. He remembered being a dumbass in his early twenties. 

"Why? I just saw you guys together a few days ago."

"She was using me!" Judy shouted, voice cracking as she yanked the blanket back over her face to hide the tears. “Soon as I wasn’t working at Clouds anymore, I was useless to her. I… I could feel us slipping. Ever since that promotion, she never had time. Two days ago, the security wouldn't even let me into her office. The same security she runs! 

“She knew I was there, scanned me on the cams, and still refused to see me. All she wants is more power, keep climbing higher, stack more eddies and influence. She's changed so much... I didn't notice. How the hell didn't I notice?"

"..."

I suck at this. 

Cypher had no clue how to support someone emotionally. He'd been mostly alone in his first life, slaving for a company that didn't give a fuck about his mental health. In the second life, it was best left unsaid. 

But he tried his best and sat down by the bed again, patting her on the shoulder over the quilt. "Look, I don't know what kinda person Maiko really is. But I know you, Judy. You still try to find something decent in everybody in this fucked-up city. And honestly, I can't knock you for that. I'm the same way. Most of my life though, all I ran into was straight trash, people trying to screw me over every chance they got. 

"But you know who never did that? You. In this shithole town, you're one of the only good ones left. Maiko blew it. She picked the pile of crap over the safe play. And Judy, don't you go blaming yourself for any of it. We live in a world where you can put in cyberoptics if you're blind. In a world like that, if Maiko still decides to stay blind, that's on her. Not you."

What the fuck am I even saying? 

Cypher sighed and waited for her to say something. At least she wasn't sniffling anymore. Then, once he was certain she wouldn't talk anymore, he stepped away. 

"Go get some sleep. If you need anything, I'm right outside. You ain't alone in this city. And hey, this ain't about you saving my ass or whatever. You're my friend. Like, my best friend, choombatta, as they say. Never really had friends before, so I don't know what makes one 'best' over regular. Shit, I'm just rambling now. Night, Jude."

A little awkward and cringing out by himself, he headed to the door. 

"Stay."

But Judy's calm, soft voice stopped him. He turned back, confused about what she meant by that. He reckoned she wanted to talk to him more. 

"Alright, I'll sit." He went back to the side of her bed to sit down on the floor. 

But then Judy turned on the bed towards the wall and shifted away, making some space behind her. "Lie down here."

"..."

Cypher gulped. He wanted to refuse because fuck, his cock was a beast of its own, always high on a dozen doses of viagra naturally. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. But should he argue with her in that emotional state?

His brain did some caveman-level calculations, and he ended up lying on the bed right behind her. It was already a small, single-person bed to begin with.

He lay down flat, Judy's scent keeping him alert. And sure enough, the little Cypher had already woken up to salute the world. But he kept his brain in control, took deep breaths, and did some silent meditation. 

"Hold me."

"..." 

Isn't she into girls?

He waited so long that Judy herself scooted backwards to him. So, he turned to spoon her from behind and… 

Fuck, fuck, fuck! 

As soon as he felt his hard erection poke her on the back, he shuddered. He was taller than her, which naturally positioned his cock somewhere close to the gap between her thighs. That was enough space for his erection to probe and lodge like a perfect cavity for his bump. 

He could feel the softness of her supple, shapely hips. He could feel the heat oozing from her body. He squeezed his eyes shut when he felt her jolt in reaction to a noticeable throb of his cock. 

But then he said fuck it and did what she asked. He slipped an arm over her slim waist and hugged her, her back against his chest. But she was still in her work clothes, a cropped tank top that was like a bra, which left all her belly naked. Paired with high-waisted utility pants with straps, she always left the straps on one side untied. 

And that meant his hand fell flat on the naked flesh of her belly. And fuck, she was so soft and warm. This felt wrong to Cypher. It was one thing for his cock to probe her cloud-like ass, another for him to feel it entirely. 

He could hear his own thumping heartbeat. His thickness was raging, pumping empty throbs snug in the tight gap of her thighs. Even over both their clothes, he was sure she felt it all. 

Ugh… It's getting too hot in here. 

"Cypher…"

He gulped. She sounded so tender and calm. 

"I can… feel it poking me."

No shit! What else did you expect, Jude? 

"Well… you're a beautiful woman." He replied awkwardly and shifted to lie flat on his back so he wasn't hugging her or poking her. "Don't know why you even asked me to do this. You know I'm kinda… fucked up."

"Heh, I know." 

He heard Judy chuckle and move. She turned towards him and hugged him instead, her arm draped over his chest, her face near his ear, her breath noticeable. And sadly, now he felt her soft breasts smush against his shoulder. Yeah, he only got harder.

"I know, that's why I asked," she whispered and snuggled even tighter, her arm squeezing hard over his chest while her bent knee slid up slowly and settled right on his hard-on, pressing down with her full weight. 

"You're a guy, so it's natural. Don't care one bit. But I had to try it once, figure out why everyone's gonk over it. Makes sense now. Snuggling up to a dude is way different. Bigger, broader, much better body pillow. I'm kinda digging it, Cypher."

He snorted a chuckle. The reasoning felt so bizarre. "Well shit, in that case, glad you liked the latest product from Obsidian Inc. Fair warning though, it might come with a pretty hard handle to grab onto."

Judy chuckled loudly, and her folded knee moved a little. 

Cypher gulped. That felt so intentional. She was definitely teasing him. 

"Obsidian Inc.? What's that?"

"Well, you're talking to the CEO of the most powerful company in the world, give or take a few years." Cypher tried to divert his mind from the sensations. "Registered it yesterday."

Judy raised her head a little to stare into his face, not even bothered by how close she was to him. "Whoa! That's… Crazy. Just don't go full psycho corpo on me, yeah?"

"I can't even if I wanted to, Jude. Those types piss me off the most. Anyway, I'm gonna be working on some projects. Might go work as a techie at Vik's place, pick up some eddies while I tinker on my own stuff. I'll head back to Lake Farm soon, way more room to spread out there. But I'll crash here whenever I'm in the city, long as you don't mind me invading your couch."

"Don't mind it one bit, choom. Come crash at my place... or slide into my bed. But you sure about heading back to Lake Farm? I think it's way too soon. Those Wraith—"

"Killed them," he blurted, and continued before she could lash out at him for being reckless. "I set up a trap, and they walked straight into it. Took out every last one. All who knew me and knew about the debt."

For some time, he looked at her wide, concern-filled eyes. But she sighed and relaxed again, her face beside his ear. She hugged him even harder then. 

"Just don't get yourself flatlined. Don't wanna add another name to my lost people list."

He just hummed in response. It became silent after that. None of them spoke. They could hear each other's breath. He could even feel it in his ear. He had to agree; it felt really warm and comforting. Sex was one thing, but this was… just as great? 

"You're the first guy I ever let slide in my bed, let alone hug like this," Judy muttered softly. 

"What changed?" 

"Nothin' really. Still all about girls, pretty sure. But you... I know you're battling those instincts hard, keeping the 'thoughts' locked down, and honestly? That's kinda comforting. Truth is, this feels nova. I can see myself getting hooked on it. Preem body pillow for snuggling. And... thanks."

"For what?"

"For not being a gonk over this whole thing, Cypher. I'm such a mess. I let my emotions run wild too much, and sometimes... I end up ruining the good things. I didn’t mean to shout at you."

"Hey, it's alright," he said, trying to calm her down as he awkwardly slid his arm under her head. If they were going to cuddle, might as well not lie there like a corpse. "Not that long ago, I was crying and overdosing on glitter. No shame in getting emotional. You gotta let those thoughts drain out sometimes. Keeping them locked in there screws your head up bad."

In silence, he felt her squeeze him tighter. He gave it back by holding her tighter with his arm circling over her back, under her neck. He knew she was depressed and vulnerable at that moment. 

"So…" He muttered, still hard, warm under the weight of her leg. "We're cuddle buddies now?"

"With boundaries, choom," she added. 

"As long as you don't mind the steel rod, fine by me."

She just chuckled, her face nestling close to his ear as she slowly drifted into sleep. Sure, the breakup hurt. It still did. But not being alone in that moment helped a lot. 

Cypher also closed his eyes. But he didn't even feel sleepy. That warmth, that close proximity to her body. Her breasts against his shoulder. Her breath close to his neck. Judy was a gorgeous woman. Sure, a lesbian, but she was still a woman to him. 

Oh, he loved this. Cuddling was amazing. But it felt more like a sweet torture. 

Maybe doing this will help? Make female touch less quick to affect me? 

He tried to look at the bright side. 

Uh…

Sadly, for now, all he got was the hard side. 

####

No, it didn't help. For the coming nights, he stayed at Judy's place as he was still setting up a few things in the city. At first, he was awkward about it. He went to sleep early the day after their snuggle night. 

When he woke up the next morning in bed, he found Judy right in front of him, her back against his chest, his cock probing her back without him even being awake. After that, it just became the norm. If he came home late and found Judy in bed, he'd just slide in beside her and go to sleep. 

Things became a little hard later when she became a bit too relaxed and started to sleep in a loose t-shirt and just her undies. His shaft was happy to feel the softness of her skin. But it was hell for him. He never dared remove his shirt or joggers; he was scared he'd wake up all creamed up. 

But still, there was no denying that he really enjoyed it. He woke up each morning fresh and ready for work. And Judy seemed the same, smiling more, still sad but dealing with the breakup much better. 

That whole thing was just a small part of his days, however. Right after that snuggle night, he went to Vik to seek permission to rent the unused space in his shop, mostly the back area. Initially, the ripperdoc wasn't interested. 

But then Cypher asked for a ruined cyberware that the man couldn't fix or even sell. He worked on it for an hour with his Sonic Screwdriver and repaired it. The middle-aged ripperdoc then ran all the tests on it.

"It was… broken beyond repair."

"Not for me."

Cypher had the Sonic Screwdriver to work on a much deeper level than the eyes could see. And his tech understanding had heightened after building the thing. Fixing a broken cyberware arm was easy. 

From that day, he received Vik's permission to use the back of his shop. Hell, the man didn't even ask him for rent. Just said that he had to repair his customer's broken or discarded cyberware. Not for free, of course. But for a pretty low price. In turn, Cypher could use the shop to sell. 

Cypher didn't hide the source of cyberware he'd sell, however. Viktor didn't like it, but he was no stranger to the darkness of the Night City. He allowed it as long as the source wasn't Scavs, and it genuinely came from dead bodies of natural sources, not ones 'harvested' for chrome.

It was great for Cypher because income from his BD collection had already dropped. And Viktor had a pretty big lineup of customers. Anyone who came to get some chrome fitted or repaired also saw Cypher. 

Not just that, Cypher asked Viktor to buy whatever broken cyberware he could from his connections. Both of them could share the profits from the refurbished sales. It was a pretty sweet deal, and the market was big. Not everyone could afford new gear. 

Still, all of that was just a face for Cypher. He used his role as a techie to feed himself and afford all the items needed to work on the 'itches' he got in his head. Three days had passed since he got that Quantum Condom knowledge. He'd made that, but the Leaper from before that was still in his head. 

And that itch was starting to feel like a headache. He had to work on it to stop it. Or else, he knew it'd just keep getting worse. Moreover, he fully understood the whole thing. Every three days, his brain comes up with strange new ideas, blueprints, or some random invention. Where it came from didn't matter. The level of tech was random. And each new idea gave him an itch in the brain, like an ever-present tumor that screamed at him, 'Look, I'm here'. 

To get rid of it, he had to make the thing. If he didn't make it, the itch would progressively get worse. All the while, he'd keep getting new ideas every three days, and they pile up if he doesn't make them. That meant he didn't have the luxury of waiting. 

Also, that meant he couldn't give a fuck about ifs and buts. He had to make whatever appeared in his head, or he could swear his head would explode eventually. 

It was the last day before he'd get the new 'itch' in his head. He had no idea what it would be, and he was too busy to care. He had started working on the Leaper, using all the materials he could get his hands on in Vik's shop. Gloria had also made her first delivery of cyberware. Nothing fancy, however. No sandevistans. 

It was an experiment, however. To make a Leaper, he needed a few things. Arc Allow was time-consuming to make because it covered the entire body of the Leaper. The thing was also massive. That meant he needed a lot of it. 

So he wondered what would happen if he made a miniature Leaper instead. It would require less ARC Alloy, Arc Flex Rubber, and Arc Performance Steel. The rest, however, the Leaper Pulse Unit and Advanced Arc Powercell, he made in normal size because it was already made as small as possible by whoever designed it. 

Fabricating ARC Alloy wasn't too hard. It could be made using metal parts lying in the shop. And it was amazing. ARC Alloy had great armor capabilities against lower-calibre bullets. Then there was ARC Flex Rubber, which was nothing but rubber parts with a coating of ARC Alloy. Making ARC Performance Steel was also simple; it just required more metal parts. 

Finally, he made an Advanced ARC Powercell. It was an entirely new thing, a brilliant energy storage invention. The best thing about it was its ability to instantly discharge a heavy burst of energy. It also fueled the Leaper's propulsion system that allowed the four-legged machine to leap far distances. 

Making all those was possible because he had the Sonic Screwdriver. The most advanced part of it, the Leaper Pulse Unit, was impossible entirely without it. The Leaper Pulse Unit was an explosive in itself. If thrown like a grenade, it could create a small, violent singularity. 

The last things needed to make it were the explosive compound and some mechanical components. They were the easiest to make. 

That night, he just finished building all the components. The plan was to connect the miniature Leaper's body with the Advanced ARC Powercell and Leaper Pulse Unit using wires. As long as the machine came to life, he reckoned the aching itch would vanish. 

But for now, he prepared himself for the new one that was just around the corner. It was just a few minutes left before midnight. Vik had gone home. He'd also sent Misty home, with whom he ate lunch daily and dinner regularly. 

All alone, in the back of Vik's shop, he reclined on the chair, staring at the four computer screens; some ran materials related to cyberware he was fixing, others showed designs of the Leaper he'd worked on. 

Leaper's pretty weak against fire. 

He thought about the four-legged thing. On paper, it was amazing as it could jump far and chase enemies. But its offensive capabilities were limited. Other than stomping, it could only release kinetic energy. Its joints and eye were also weaknesses. 

Staring at the thing's design, he thought of some ideas. 

What if I put a DL-18 blaster in its eye?

That idea made the most sense to him. Since he'd already programmed the thing, he knew that the Leaper had an insanely good enemy spotting and tracking system. It could leap great distances once it tracked someone. So, shooting energy blasters would only make it better, more dangerous. 

Should try that when I make the full-sized real deal. 

Beep! Beep!

That marked the alarm for midnight. He closed his eyes and felt it with the full intent of learning something about this strange knowledge inflow. 

Uh… What the hell is this now? AI? 

Unlike anything before, this time the inflow of information was just so vast. It wasn't just blueprints but also codes and languages he was sure didn't belong to any place on Earth. The script was weird, and… the AI was so powerful that the only word to describe its scope was… cosmic.

It lasted so long. He could feel his brain inflate with knowledge, and he tried to trace the source of it all. It was clearly coming from somewhere because he could feel it. The source was outside his head. 

Who the fuck is giving me all this? 

AI Ethics verification stack. AI Architecture. The shell of the AI. It was too fucking advanced, even from the Sonic Screwdriver's level. He could feel it, its scale. It was beyond any AI that he knew existed in the Cyberpunk world. Alt Cunningham was going to be its bitch if he made it. 

"Uhh… too much."

Oh, the itch was severe this time. Not just a tumor, no, it was a top-tier cancer. It made the effects of the unfinished Leaper worse, as that was old and still occupying the space where he stored all that information in his head. 

If I make this… It'll… dominate everything. 

There was fear, awe, and excitement. This AI could simulate the entire universe. All the rogue AIs behind the Blackwall wouldn't mean anything to whatever this was. The only name he could find in this new itch was 'Mind'. And it wasn't the name of the AI but the classification of it. 

Can I even make this thing?

It was so complex. So unique to him that even figuring out where to start was annoying. Sure, he had the recipe in his head, but he'd still need to come up with ingredients, and some of them weren't even possible.  

Hyperspace? Warp Unit? 

The information said that the computational and memory components of the AI were dense and located in hyperspace. He already knew he could make the memory components with the Sonic Screwdriver. But what the hell was hyperspace? It said it was the fourth-dimensional space of meta-space, which was a multi-dimensional space that contained eleven dimensions. 

What the fuck even was that? Eleven dimensions? Even understanding beyond the third was unimaginable, and as far as he knew Cyberpunk universe, nobody had done it, be it Arasaka or Militech. This level of science was beyond anything he even considered science.

And somehow, someone or something out there was feeding all this to him.

But I still gotta make it. Can't afford not to. 

Thud!

"Hm?"

Lost in thought, he suddenly jolted awake by a sound nearby. He turned his chair around to look, but already, a gun's muzzle aimed flat at his forehead, an outstretched arm holding it. 

"Why did you kill Nash?"

Panam? This one's unexpected. 

There was no way he could forget that face. It was just too memorable. Her tanned skin and the high dreaded braid bun with messy locks falling over the sides. Her sharp eyes aimed at him. That green leotard, the blue jeans with straps clung to her curves, and that red and blue jacket. She was too recognisable for him. 

But he wasn't expecting to see her anytime soon, not at all. Absolutely not because of killing Nash. Still, from the looks of it, it seemed she didn't know Nash's background. 

"Wait, you need a real reason to kill a Wraith? Hold on, don't tell me you were sweet on that bastard? Ugh, trust me, you can do so much better."

As expected, he saw confusion written on her face. 

"What? Wraith?"

Gotcha!

__________________

Major story poll - What should the female V be?