13 Chapter 13: Horizons Dawn
-Detoxification of Badlands region 5% complete-
I received the notification early this morning while I was working at the clinic. When that notification came over my personal network, I could sense DEMETER burst into a flurry of activity.
The subordinate function was in the process of laying out a detailed planting plan for the area and debating what she could plant, and how to plant it the fastest. This resulted in many Striders being equipped with a small amount of grass seed to scatter as they travel.
This was causing small patches of green to appear scattered around the initial cauldron area. It would look much more impressive if it wasn't for the storms that frequented the area.
Massive clouds of sand were kicked up by the cutting winds creating huge storms that often covered up any of the newly grown plants. The grass was the only thing that was consistently surviving the storms.
Unfortunately, not a lot would grow in the arid environment thanks to this. The storms would continue in frequency until there were natural barriers against the wind, namely trees.
This is why I'm sitting in my Militech Behemoth waiting for another sandstorm to pass. I needed to plant a couple of trees that I developed to help the natural barriers develop quicker.
[Barrier Tree] (Rare)
A natural protection for plants in hazardous environments. Accelerates plant growth to help retake deforested areas and combat erosion.
I couldn't plant too many of these in case I accidentally eliminate erosion completely. A little erosion is good for purposes of helping cleanse the soil and distributing nutrients, but I need to combat it a little to start truly making progress.
The Barrier trees also served a secondary purpose of hiding some of the more "exotic" looking trees from prying eyes. I think that I've come up with a reasonable explanation for some of the trees that I've created, but I would like to keep them out of public scrutiny for as long as possible.
I learned from the bio-plague tree prototype that you can only make a tree with one to two abilities for it to function properly. Sometimes I could get them to do three but it was stretching the capabilities of the tree. If I decided to use trees to combat a problem, I would have to build an ecosystem around the first tree to accomplish everything I wanted it to do.
Which is why in addition to the Barrier tree, I had several other trees to plant to help revert the land.
[Mineral Balance Tree: Desert] (Epic)
Ecosystems are made up of many different factors that assist with plant growth. This tree helps rebalance the amount of sand in the surrounding earth to ensure proper drainage.
[Topsoil Tree] (Rare)
This tree naturally converts the surrounding earth into high-quality topsoil. Useful for planting and growth of naturally occurring plants.
The sandstorm had come to a stop, allowing for me to get out of the vehicle and open up the back of the truck, revealing potted saplings and young trees ready for transplant.
Grass that was previously exposed before the storm was once again covered, but I could see little strands poking out from under the sand.
I grabbed a shovel and started the task of transplanting the trees. I could have delegated a machine to the task, the Skitarii were more than capable of something like this after all. But it just felt like something I should do myself. There is something oddly relaxing about doing things by hand. I always enjoyed working with plants and being out in nature, so hopefully, this would lead to more nature being brought back to the world.
My relative peace was interrupted by the sound of a car engine. I could see the dust trail streaming behind the vehicle. I grab the chimera from my inventory and stand ready. Most of the people who came out here were either Wraiths, nomads, or a Corpo. They all had a variety of reasons for being out here, most of them not very good.
As the car drew closer, I could identify the vehicle as a beat-up Thorton Galena. I could see that the car was definitely a city vehicle when it pulled to a stop a good distance away. The door opened and it was hard to conceal my surprise at who stepped out.
Nancy Hartley/ Bes Isis
Lvl – 86
Media/ Ex-Rockergirl
She got out of the car with her hands raised in the universal gesture of surrender.
"Easy their doc. Just want to talk." She said, keeping her hands out in front of her.
I snort and sling the chimera on my back; Talk, or interview Ms. Hartley? I know you've been looking into me for quite some time.
She grinned, lowered her arms, and pulled a pen and paper out of her pocket. "Can't it be both Doctor? You have made waves here in Night City, surely you knew you would have to answer some rather difficult questions sooner or later." She finished.
"I suppose. Alright, what would you like to know?" I ask, walking over to the back of the truck and hefting another tree out.
"Those strange machines wandering around the Badlands, what can you tell me about them." She questioned, getting right to the point.
"I designed and built the prototypes before I automated the process." I state without preamble, causing Nancy to start in surprise.
"That is unexpectedly forward of you. I had traced them back to your company as possible secret projects. What are they for?" She continued, scribbling down in her notebook.
"Project Zero Dawn. It's an eco-green initiative to combat the damage done to ecosystems and weather patterns around the area. I'm hoping to expand it to a worldwide initiative if it proves successful." I explain.
"What exactly are the machines doing in that regard?" Nancy asked.
"Each one has a designated purpose. The ones tilling and processing the earth are removing harmful materials that prevent plant growth and cleaning pollution. They also have a secondary function of storing useful materials to build more of their kind. Some of them serve as lookouts to protect the "Acquisition" class machines and the others have strong offensive and defensive capabilities and are capable of fighting off anything that might attempt to harm the herd." I describe.
"Humans, you mean?" Nancy clarified.
"If needed, then yes. Wraiths have attempted on multiple occasions to attack or capture one of the machines. All of the attempts have been unsuccessful so far."
"What about the Corporate agent who has died trying to capture your machines?" Nancy questioned.
"They should learn to ask before trying to touch what isn't theirs. The machines have very strict defense protocols when they are attacked. Plus, they transmit recordings of the events in the event that something happens. I am well aware of Kang Tao's attempts to get grabby with my machines." I reply.
"You do realize that is the nature of competing corporations, right?" Nancy asked, bemused.
"Doesn't make them any less of a twat for trying it." I said, with a huff.
This drew a chuckle from Nancy as she continued her questioning; "I'll omit that last part. I would like to ask more in-depth about each individual machine, but I would actually like to discuss the possibility of a media contract."
"Media contract?" I asked, unfamiliar with the term.
"I would like the rights to future press releases from your company. I'm gonna be honest with you here doc, you're making a lot of waves since you cropped up in Night City, and people are asking a lot of questions. Corporations, gangers, civilians, everyone wants to know what you're about."
"You came from nowhere and in the space of a few months, you started a business, became one of the most renowned rippers in Night City, start a small company responsible for its own unique brand of machines and cyberware, propagated a new drug that has reduced cyberpsychosis and cyberware rejection, developed a brand new cigarette that removes toxins and harmful pollutants from the body, became a famous face at the Afterlife working directly with Rouge, not to mention you are suspected of personally putting the Tyger Claws on the endangered species list. And that's only the stuff I managed to keep track of, who knows what you've been up to during the periods that no-one can account for where you are."
"But even after all of that, the one thing that is driving everyone up the wall is how the hell you are doing all of this without getting caught on camera once. Literally, nothing electronic is able to track you. The closest I managed to find for an image of you was some drawing by a witness."
"Nobody can even find traces of your net activity either. It's like you don't even exist!"
She continued her rant. It was obvious she was trying to find info for a long time but was having a hard time finding anything.
"Bottom line is doc, you've done quite a few things that are worth paying attention to. And people are demanding answers." She finished.
"How does this relate to a media contract, and how does it benefit me?" I ask.
"It allows you to have some control of what information is put out for the world to see and gives you a line of communication into a media company. On the flip side, it gives us a way to contact you regarding any questions that may arise on our part. It makes it easier for us to stay in contact more than anything." Nancy replied.
I guess that means that I am going to have to hire a media liaison in the near future. Unfortunately, what she said made sense, if they haven't attempted any spying attempts already, they would most likely up their game soon in an attempt to gather more information.
"Alright, Nancy let's talk biz." I state, holding out a hand for her to shake which she took.
"I knew you were a reasonable individual. By the way, how come you know me as Nancy? I haven't gone by that name for a long time." She asked.
"Been doing research about the people who come searching around my business. Your name cropped up, so I dug deeper and read that you used to be a member of the band Samurai as their keyboardist. Worked my way forwards in your history from there." I explain, causing her a small smile.
"It's odd having someone of your age knowing about Samurai. What did you think of them?" She questioned.
"An interesting band that had the potential to go far. Decent music that possessed a message that grabbed the hearts and minds of the people, and would have lived on to infamy if most of the data about them hadn't been lost after the Arasaka tower bombing." I inform, causing her to sigh.
"Yeah, unfortunately almost no one can remember them anymore, and anyone who is still alive that can remember them would be accused of propagating their own music." She said sadly.
"Damn shame that. I wasn't exactly a fan of Silverhand's screamo style, but you guys did have some pretty good music." I return, causing her to smile again.
"Not a fan of Silverhand huh?" She questioned.
"I liked what he represented for his time period, I thought he went slightly overboard with the bomb but he stayed committed to what he believed in." I comment.
"Well enough about ancient history. I believe we have a contract to discuss." She said with a shark-like grin.
The next few hours were spent discussing what the contract would consist of.
[Time Skip]
Signing a contract with Nancy brought a lot of things to light that I hadn't wanted to mess with previously. The most important of these was that I needed human employees.
All of my workers with the exception of certain jobs were purely machines. While the machines developed varying personalities, the people of this world would identify them as independent thinking systems and they would be either destroyed or turned over to Netwatch.
Netwatch is a policing organization that deals in the protection of the net. If they deemed my machines in violation of the UN treaties in place regarding the net, I may find myself under assault from Netwatch security forces.
It would also look better to the residents of Night City if I had actual people working for me. People they could identify with and people who I would want working for my company.
Truthfully, I wish I could get away with only my machines because I didn't want to invite the opportunity for corporate espionage, or the attempted assassinations by Corpo agents.
So, who could I hire quickly and put to work? People who much bigger corporations of course have screwed!
The most prominent people that I could look for were those that had military experience. If they don't join the 6th Street gang or land a job at another corp, they tend to end up on the street working whatever menial job they can find.
These people were often cut off from benefits mid-treatment and had a host of issues from diseases and missing limbs, to PTSD and cyberpsychosis. They are left to wither away to husks of their former selves, often selling off their military-grade cyberware just to make ends meet.
Giving these veterans abandoned by the people they fought for a job, would also win me brownie points with a lot of different factions within Night City.
I had a point to start from as far as finding "some" personnel, now I just had to see what I turn up in regards to any other positions I may need filling.
Pulling out my phone, I dial up Regina Jones.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Hey Reggie. It's Tavish." I reply.
"Tavish! I haven't heard from you in a while. How are you doing?" She asked.
"Not too bad. One or two hiccups here and there but that's life." I return.
"Ain't that the truth. So, what can I help you with?" She said, getting down to business.
"I'm looking for Veterans Reggie. Anyone who may have gotten screwed over when the corp was done with them and fell on hard times. I'd prefer if their mental issues weren't too extreme because I haven't found a psychologist to refer them to." I explain.
"May I ask why?" Regina questioned, her voice on edge.
Regina was once a wartime reporter so she tended to have a soft spot for vets. She tended to be overprotective of them whenever they came up.
"I'm looking to hire some for work. I am currently lacking a human workforce so I thought I'd make them an offer. I have a variety of positions that need to be filled and I figured the vets would have a diverse skill set amongst them." I explain.
All I get for a full minute in silence as Regina debated internally. Finally, she replied. "I'm sending you one name and an address to find one that I know of. I want you to give updates on his progress as well as any other people I send your way. I'm putting a lot of faith in you here Tavish, don't screw me over."
"Thanks Reggie." I return.
The phone hangs up and I receive a name and location.
[Time Skip]
I knock on the door of a dilapidated apartment building. It looked to have been abandoned for years and part of the roof had caved in.
The door opened a crack and a rough voice answered; "What do you want?"
"Mr. Laraford?" I ask.
"Who's asking?" He said suspiciously.
"My name is Tavish Byrne I was wondering if I could talk to you about a job offer?" I reply.
He stands there for a moment before opening the door fully, revealing his features. His dark shaggy hair covered his eyepatch partially. I could see the scars from old cyberware on the little exposed skin I could see. His arm was missing and I could tell he was using second or third hand cyberware judging by the quality of the materials.
"What kind of job?" He asked, watching me closely.
"I am here on behalf of a new company by the name of "Horizon". We have a variety of job positions open depending on your skillset and what you're willing to do. We have all positions from security, combat, medicine, science, mining, agriculture, and others." I explain, drawing a look of skepticism from the ex-soldier.
"Uh-huh, and how much is the pay?" He asked.
"Depends on what field you plan on going into. Not counting any of our standard benefits or any extra cash to be made by participating in various company programs, I can guarantee a 20k salary minimum." I inform, causing his eyes to bug out.
"No fucking way! That's at least quintuple the average salary in Night City. Your benefit plan can't be all that much if that's what your initial salary offer is." He exclaimed.
"Each employee of horizon will receive access to standard cyberware and medical care. Higher tier cyberware and bioware are offered as part of our incentive performance program. You also have the ability to rent or purchase employee housing once it is set up with the guarantee that you own it until you die or violate terms of employee housing." I state, handing him a document to read over.
He scans through the document, double-checking everything that I was saying.
"If I signed up, how far would you be from setting up housing?" He asked, hope evident.
"A month or two for actual houses, I have some barracks available, and some apartments for rent." I inform.
"Well damn, I guess you could consider me a Horizon employee then." He said holding out his good hand to shake which I take.
"Good to have you onboard Mr. Laraford." I reply shaking the hand.
[Time Skip]
Devin Laraford was one of the easier veterans to convince as I continued recruitment. Laraford decided to join the security branch of Horizon and surprised me with his agreement to participate in our Spartan program.
I turned him over to the tech-priests oversee his conversions. He had to be cleaned up and go through some healing before he could participate, but other than that, he would make an ideal candidate for the program.
Most of my technology base was far enough along that I could give him the spartan augments, the one problem was the power armor.
It was horrendously expensive to manufacture. Something along the lines of $170,000,000 per suit.
With a combination of the training time required and how long it takes to manufacture one suit of MJOLNIR powered assault armor, that program wouldn't come to fruition for a few months at the earliest. I had a few ideas on how to speed that up but that would take time to implement.
Regardless, I was able to start building up my workforce using what was abandoned by the Corporations. I was also drawing new employees from the residents of Night City, providing a small group of entry-level jobs for those seeking honest work.
After my initial hiring spree, I managed to snag some time for myself to examine the "Axe" of the Slayer.
Plucking the string of the guitar, it makes a single note that reverberates throughout my apartment.
I quickly double-check the perk.
["Axe" of the Slayer] (1/100)
While technically a weapon, this crucible themed guitar was designed to capture the riffs that make up the music of Doom. Use to initialize Background music, kill people/demons, or play music of your own.
Strumming the note a second time, this time envisioning background music, I receive a notification.
[Doom BGM: The Only Thing They Fear is You]
My hand is infused with red energy as it starts playing out the cords for the score.
Skill added
Musical instrument (Guitar) (1/100)
Displays your proficiency at playing the guitar.
The notes sounded a little off as I continued to play the song. I can improve it slightly by concentrating on playing, but what I really needed was practice.
A quick purchase at the gamer shop, and I now possessed the book "Strumming Strings: a guide for the amateur". Reading through the book helped fill in some of the blanks, but regardless, I just had to play more.
Who knows? Maybe someday I'll take a bard class or become a Rockerboy. Might make for a fun pastime.
But now, I needed to focus on a more important task. Namely, Gacha!
[Lawgiver Mk. II] (Rare)
[Box of Cheez-its] (Common)
[Deadshot's Flight Exo] (Epic)
[Laser Pistol] (Rare)
[Regalia Type-F] (Epic)
[Fat Man] (Rare)
[Perk Token] (Rare)
[Psychic Paper] (Epic)
[Rail Gun (Halo)] (Rare)
[Argus Shotgun] (Rare)
[Tempest] (Legendary)
Sweet! I have a new car! I do need to investigate a few of these items though.
[Tempest] (Legendary)
A highly modular revolver, nano machines enable it to quickly switch between different firing modes and styles.
Pulling out the revolver, I admire its design with the rail gun-like barrel running up the center. I might have to find a Scav to test it out on.
[Deadshot's Flight Exo] (Epic)
The Exo suit worn by Deadshot in the Suicide Squad game. Comes equipped with his signature wrist guns and jetpack.
I mean, its cool, but I don't see myself using it anytime soon. I go ahead and feed it to my nanomachines on the off chance they develop something from it. They quickly developed a few interesting augmentation options that I might have to explore later.
I go ahead and snap the perk token causing a new notification to pop up.
Perk Acquired
[Shapeshifter] (Rare) (1/100)
Enables the Gamer to alter their appearance.
Very useful, but not exactly my style. I guess it's nice to have easy access to a character creation menu of sorts. Could do something interesting if I level up the perk all the way. I could probably use it to "borrow" someone's face for a bit. It would be hilarious if I was seen robbing a bank as Dexter Deshawn.
At that moment, I resolved to commit half a dozen felony's in Dex's name. Even if nothing came of it, it would make for a couple of interesting conversations at the Afterlife.
Speaking of the Afterlife, my phone rings showing Rogue's number.
"Hey Rogue, what's up?" I answer.
"I have a request here for twenty-four crates of Unity for Maelstrom." She starts out.
"Easily doable, I can bring the crates by later today." I reply
"And I wanted to know if you have had any contact with a Muamar Reyes." She finished.
"No. I am aware that he is a fixer that works out of the Santo Domingo area, but other than that I couldn't tell you much." I muse.
"Doesn't matter really. Point is, he's heard of you, and he needs your services. One of his people is experiencing symptoms similar to cyberpsychosis, and he'd like a second opinion before shipping them off to a rehab that may or may not work." She explained
"When and where?" I ask, standing up and start collecting my gear.
"Now and I just sent you the location." She said, hanging up.
[Time Skip]
I pull up outside of a building in the Arroyo district of Night City.
Arroyo is an area of the city that seems to be perpetually under construction. Investors are always putting money in and taking money out of the area, leaving only a handful of active factories left behind by the Corps.
The dilapidated structures left behind served as hideouts for 6th street gangers and anyone down on their luck.
I walk up to the door and knocked causing it to open revealing one of Reyes's men. He checked up and down the street before ushering me inside.
He led me back through the building until we reached an open room. The room looked as if to have been converted to a medical area where there were a number of people bustling about. Over in the corner, there was a group standing near a person strapped down to a table. This is where I found Muamar Reyes.
"You must be Tavish, a pleasure to make your acquaintance finally. I'm Reyes, most of the locals call me El Capitán." He introduced, shaking my hand.
"Likewise, Reyes. Wish it was under better circumstances." I state eying over the young woman strapped down to the table. She looked drugged out her mind as she was laying on the hospital bed.
"Yeah, we had to knock her out for a bit. She was acting so unlike herself that we knew something was wrong, and we didn't want her hurting herself or others." Reyes explained, following my gaze.
"Did she make any sort of a trip to a doctor for a tune-up, or did she have anything new installed." I question, beginning my initial checks on the young woman.
"She made a visit to a ripper about a month ago. She received an upgrade for her position at one of the local factories." A man standing next to the bed volunteered.
"Any visits since then?" I ask, jacking into her neural port with a diagnostic tool.
"Once, when she was threatening to forcibly remove the ripper's balls for "getting handsy" during an examination." The man said with a slight grin.
I re-examined her cyberware and discovered that everything was overclocked 200% past their operating specification. Moving further up, I discovered that her neural lacing was looped back on itself causing synaptic feedback. I reset all her cyberware back to normal and switched all of her cyberware off.
Disconnecting, I start instructing the orderly assigned to the woman; "Go ahead and let her wake up. I've switched off her cyberware, but we need her awake to answer some questions."
After waiting a little bit, the woman started waking up.
"Miss, can you hear me? What is your name?" I ask drawing her attention to me.
"Susan Bates, why?" She slurred
"I'm Dr. Tavish Byrne, can you describe the last thing you remember?" I question.
"I started making dinner, and it just goes blank after that." She described, experimentally testing her bindings.
"Can you describe the visit to your Ripper when you received the upgrades?" I ask.
"I had to be put under for the neural lace, and I also had most of my cyberware replaced." Listing off the appointment.
"Alright give us just a moment." I state, motioning to Reyes and we step out of the room.
"What's the damage?" He asked as soon as the door shut.
"As far as I can tell, her chrome was never replaced. Instead, it was placed into an overclocked state making it seem like she had new stuff installed. Whoever installed the neural lace she has also installed a feedback loop. Whether it was an accident or not I couldn't say, but the result is the cyberware operating at 200% past its operating parameters in addition to the synaptic feedback, probably forced her cyberpsychosis-like state." I explain, causing Reyes to adopt a dark look.
"Will she be alright?" He asked
"Re-doing the neural lace properly should fix most of her problems. I would recommend finding her Ripper and taking back the cyberware he was supposed to install." I advise, causing him to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thanks for making the trip Doc, I'll get my people on it." He said, handing me a credchip.
"Pleasure working with you Captain. If you need anything medical, I assume you know where my clinic is. Everyone's welcome, just leaves your grievances at the door." I return, pocketing the chip.
"We'll keep you in mind." He replied
I start heading towards the door. When I get outside, there were a couple of 6th street gangers hanging around my car.
6th Street gang was originally formed from veterans of the fourth corporate war. It was a group of people who were tired of how ineffective the Police were in Night City. These ex-soldiers taught their friends and neighbors how to defend themselves and they became a neighborhood watch of sorts.
Nowadays, their creed was a bit more self-serving, taking part in extortion, robbery, and gun smuggling activities. While I could see the irony of them devolving to activities that they once fought against, all it resulted in was gangers yelling patriotic phrases at you while they gunned you down.
"Tavish Byrne, I never expected to see your face around here." One of the gangers commented.
"I go where work takes me. Can I help you with something?" I ask, watching as some of his friends circle us.
"Yeah you can. We know you're the one who created the drug known as Unity. What we don't know is how you distribute it. We were hoping you could enlighten us." He said, watching me.
"I sell it through my clinic and it's usually included in the cost of your cyberware when you have it installed. One or two Rippers in the city buy it from me, and Maelstrom buys it in bulk. Other than that, there should be no other distributors." I inform.
I see no reason why not to inform them, just about everyone else knew so it was fairly common info.
"What is the drug supposed to do?" He asked sharing a look with one of his compatriots.
"What the drug does, is bond flesh and cyberware into a cohesive whole. It bridges the gap between metal and flesh in such a way that it severely reduces the chance of cyberpsychosis, and provides a perfect bond with the implant." I explain.
"So, it's not an aerosol?" The man asked for clarification.
"No. If it was turned into an aerosol, it wouldn't have the same effect." I reply, causing him to sigh.
"If hypothetically, someone inhaled an aerosol version of the product, could you reverse the effects?" He asked.
"I don't know, I'd have to examine them." I offer.
The man nods to one of the other gangers and nods. The ganger disappears around the corner for a moment and pulls around with a car.
"Could you please take a look at him Doc?" the man gestured to the car as they help a limp man out of the car.
Taking a closer look at him I hit him with a observe.
Jake Owens
Lvl – 120
Status – Poisoned
I could see that his breathing was shallow, so I pulled a stick of Purity out of my jacket and light it up. Taking a deep puff from the smokable, I blow the smoke into the catatonic man's face.
He coughs, opening his eyes blearily.
"Smoke this for a bit." I instruct him, passing him another stick.
I eye over the man I was talking to.
Mike Brown
Lvl – 127
"He's going to be fine, the Purity will remove the poison from his system." I explain drawing an impressed look from Mike.
"That's pretty impressive. What exactly does the cigarette do?" He asked.
"Smoking it will removes toxins and foreign materials from someone's system in the form of smoke and provides a relaxing effect." I state, offering him one which he took.
"Alright now for the big question; how much will it cost us?" He asked, lighting up.
"I won't charge you this time around, just make sure to buy the Unity from me next time." I inform.
"Your a good person Doc. We'll remember to just buy from you next time. I'm Mike by the way." He said, holding out a hand which I shook.
"Remember, you and yours are welcome to come around the clinic Mike. The only stipulation is to leave your issues at the door." I state.
"Good to know, thanks again doc." He replied.
The 6th street gangers departed shortly after.
This meeting brought some things to light that I needed to jump on fast.
I call up one of Sicarian Infiltrators.
-"Infiltrator Alpha 0257 Reporting"-
"I need you to track down who is manufacturing a fake version of Unity and trying to sell it off. The drug is being sold as an aerosol." I order.
-"Understood. Should we have any follow up action?"-
"If it's Scav's, shut them down and torch their haunt. If it's Maelstrom, conduct surveillance and report back in." I return.
-"Alright. I'll message you if I find anything."-
The Skitarii ends the call.
With the impending rise of my company, I had to keep an eye on our image, and someone selling a knockoff drug as something I produced is a big no-no in my book.
My phone rang once more showing Rogue's number.
"Twice in one day? That's unusual Rogue." I comment, answering the phone.
"What can I say? You're in high demand today. This next one isn't as pressing though." She replied.
"Alright, what's the job?" I ask climbing into my car.
"I believe you're acquainted with the Peralez's?" She asked.
"Ran into the family briefly on an unrelated job." I return.
"Well, they have requested a house call with you. Sounds like their daughter was looking at new chrome, but I think they were also looking to talk to you about one of your other "ventures"." Rogue stated.
"I can take a wild guess as to which one. When did they want to meet?" I ask.
"That's up to you. I'm just passing on contact info." She replied.
"Neat. Just out of curiosity, how much are you charging for someone to get in contact with me?" I question jokingly.
"I'm making a few thousand for each request. Makes for good pocket money on my end." She informed.
"No kidding, well thanks for the info Rogue." I reply, causing her to hang up.
[Time Skip]
I pulled up outside of the Peralez's apartment dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase. The area that I was in is dedicated to the upper-class citizenry of Night City, so being "dressed to impress" definitely helped me blend in with the locals.
Ringing the buzzer, I wait for a moment before the doors of the complex slid open and I was directed to the apartment.
When the door opened, I was immediately met by Elizabeth Peralez.
"Dr. Byrne. So glad to meet you under better circumstances." She stated.
"The pleasure is mine Mrs. Peralez" I reply.
"Just Elizabeth please, how is the rest of your team doing?" She enquired.
"They're doing alright. Both of them are enjoying a little downtime before their next job." I inform as she leads me deeper into their apartment.
I could see Jefferson on his phone in the other room, while Xochi was watching TV.
"Xochi, this is Dr. Tavish Byrne." Elizabeth introduced, causing Xochi to eye me up and down with a critical eye.
"Thank you for coming Doctor." She said formally.
"It was no trouble. I heard you were interested in some cyberware?" I ask setting my case down.
"Yes. The incident with the Scav's opened my eyes to the prospect of more protection." Xochi said, wincing a little.
"What were you looking for? I have most of the standard options for cyberarms, maybe a concealed holster or two. We could also go a bioware route and just naturally enhance yourself." I inform.
"Something easily concealed, preferably ranged." She started listing off.
"Do you want it to be a lethal option? How many functions do you want it to have?" I ask, causing her to hesitate.
"Tell you what, I have a list of options for you to choose from. Decide what you would like, and then we can go about designing it" I explain, handing her a shard.
She gratefully nods and accepts the shard, slotting it in to browse the choices.
"While she is doing that, I believe you and your husband had a proposal?" I ask, turning to Elizabeth.
"That's right Doctor." Jefferson's voice interjects, having finished with his call and walking in to shake my hand.
"Please just call me Jeff, we wanted to talk to you about your company." He continued, guiding us out towards his patio.
"If you insist then call Tavish. More and more people have been asking me that lately, so what are you curious about?" I question.
"You are currently sitting on a massive potential PR boost. And whoever is associated with the ascension of your company stands to gain." Elizabeth explains.
"Your "Project Zero Dawn" has grabbed the attention of everyone in Night City, everyone's eyes are on those machines wandering the Badlands. People all over the world are making a trip to the city to see them in action. The grass and trees returning to the Badlands have grabbed everyone's attention." Jefferson continued.
"Your company has continued improving its image by employing veterans, giving them back the life they once had. People see your company as personable, down to earth, and understand the very struggles they encounter every day. People don't worry about expensive doctor's appointments since Horizon has hit the scene. Your line of "Simple cybernetics" cyberware provide people in need of spare parts a viable, safe option in place of used cyberware." Elizabeth followed up.
"And that is just after a host of other achievements. However, certain individuals have been attempting to take credit for your hard work." Jefferson finished, watching my reaction.
"Lucius Rhyne I'm assuming?" I enquire, prompting a nod from Elizabeth.
"The very same. Rhyne has been spinning press lately to make it seem as if the drop in crime and poverty is thanks to reforms passed by his administration." Elizabeth explained.
"While my entire campaign is based around not accepting support for large corporations, there is something to be said from receiving support from local businesses. We would like to offer a partnership with Horizon to "clean-up" Night City." Jefferson continued.
"As a growing company, you are providing a constant source of short and long-term jobs to the community. Your jobs provide a sort of trade school-like education that enables them the chance to better themselves, and your frank disposition in your dealings leave you with a trustworthy history for both your employees and customers alike." Elizabeth added.
"But more importantly, you have the type of company that we want to see grow! If you manage to revitalize the earth for growing once more, you could kick-start a much-needed economic boom in Night City." Jefferson finished
"Alright, that sounds pretty swell. But what is it that you are wanting me to do exactly?" I ask, fixing them both with a look.
I am well aware that they are playing politics with me, and they were about to drag me into Night City's politics whether I liked it or not. The question was, how upfront they would be about it.
"We want you to make it clear that you built Horizon yourself. It was your actions and work alone that made that companies success. We also would like to possibly shoot a commercial with your company within a month or so. A sort of endorsement for your company from our campaign. We aren't looking for a formal agreement right now, but we really do respect the work that you have put into Night City. Due to the way our campaign is being run, we cannot offer you compensation at the moment." Elizabeth explained.
"However, that doesn't mean we aren't willing to grant new contracts to Horizon. Keep up the good work you're doing, finish projects left behind by corporations, and revive Night City. Pacifica or Arroyo would be wonderful places to start. Plus, Rhyne has officially removed all police presence from Pacifica. It will look good on our end for supporting you and assisting you, plus it takes away popularity for Rhyne." Jefferson finished.
Thinking about it, I would much prefer working with the Peralez over Rhyne. It was an open secret that Rhyne was in Arasaka's pocket. I didn't trust politicians in general, but these were the ones that I could work with for the time being.
"Alright, I can agree to that." I say, causing them both to smile.
"Fantastic. I'm glad we could come to an agreement." Jefferson replied, shaking my hand.
At this point, Xochi walked out onto the patio.
"Doctor, I've been looking over the options provided, and I think I found one that I would like." She stated handing me back the shard.
I slot it in and examine the one she had highlighted. She had selected an experimental design that I was toying with not too long ago of incorporating a CEL-3 Cauterizer into a cyberarm. I had added it to my cyberware collection as a replacement for the Schockhammer shotgun I had favored for a time. She had also selected a dermal plating, a smart-link, and a projectile launch system.
"Geez, that's a lot of chrome. Are you sure that's what you want?" I ask.
"Yes. Are you sure you can conceal it?" She shot back.
"Of course, I'm just confirming." I say, standing up.
"Your cyberware will be ready to install within a week. I'll call when I have it completed." I state.
"It was a pleasure meeting you Doctor." Xochi said formally.
The Peralez's walked me out to the elevator and I departed.
[Time Skip]
I was sitting atop a building directly across from an apartment observing with the Chimera's sights.
Padre had issued Jackie, V, and I with another assignment in the area. The job? Stealing important data about some official.
This was supposedly their apartment, so I was providing over watch outside, while V was retrieving the actual data. Jackie was currently distracting one of the security guards for the apartment block. Three of us was probably overkilled for something this small, but it provided ample learning experience for both Jackie and V. I'd much rather we make a mistake here than if we were on a higher profile gig.
Jackie had a natural charisma that made the average person open up to him more easily. His charming nature and disarming smile was put to good use when providing the right distraction. After all, you wouldn't think twice about the pleasant conversation you had with a stranger on your smoke break.
V was very good at sneaking and data extraction. Before this, her nomad lifestyle provided ample practice of staying undetected from border patrols as she smuggled stuff across state lines. She took to netrunning like a duck to water, sneaking in and out of systems, and absorbing anything about the net like a sponge.
Both would probably be fine if I turned them loose for their own jobs, but if I'm honest, I have been enjoying the last few months as a part of their team.
Rogue's crew hardly ever does a job together, and most of the crew prefer to be working on their own projects.
I'll sometimes share a beer with Shaitan, or swap stories with Nix, I'll even hang with Weyland from time to time. But the truth of it is, we are work friends, and we all have our own activities outside of work.
And then their was Rogue. She was always trying to get something out of you. I half suspected she turned the job of Fixer into a lifestyle. Always the first to arrive at the Afterlife and always the last to leave. Who knows what she actually did in her free time.
I find it more entertaining to speculate than to actually find out.
My favorite speculation is that she is secretly hosting Samurai fan club meetings in her basement.
And my mind is wandering again.
Refocusing on the task at hand, I can make out V climbing out of the window onto the catwalk, and down the fire escape.
I signal Jackie causing him to bring his conversation with the guard to end, and I make my way down from the roof.
We all climb into V's car and start driving.
"You get the data V?" Jackie asked.
"Of course I did, now let's get it to Padre to receive our pay." She replied.
"How did it go with the guard Jack?" I ask.
"It went great, but I might have to come up with a disguise or face covering of some sort if I keep doing this. People may start recognizing my face." He explained.
"True. Hopefully, we are on to bigger and better jobs before that happens." V comments.
The rest of the trip passed in relative silence, we dropped off the data to Padre, and Jackie took off to hang with some of his Valentino friends.
"So V, have you thought of a vehicle for racing?" I ask.
"I've been thinking either a Thorton Mackinaw or a Quadra. The Quadra is easily acquired and faster, but the Thorton provides more armor and a better shooting platform during the race." She explained.
"Both vehicles we could modify to be faster if needed, but a Thorton could be modified for other purposes outside of racing." I supply, causing her to nod.
"That's what I was thinking. We don't exactly have the disposable income from merc work to justify buying a vehicle for racing, but if we modified the truck with other work in mind, we could justify it. Add a heavy weapons mount, a tow hitch, probably most basic nomad modifications like crystal dome tech." V mused.
"If we mounted a turret, we'd have to demount it for races. That's one of the few rules they have in the races. I can source a garage to work on this stuff. I know of some spots in Arroyo where we could start working." I offer.
"I may know a nomad or two that would willingly sell us a truck with most of the nomad mods installed. After that, we just need to check it over and add whatever parts we need." V finished.
[Time Skip]
[Skitarii Alpha 0293 POV]
The Voodoo Boys are starting to become an irritant.
They have started recruiting from the swaths of remaining ex-tyger claws members to do their dirty work. While inducting the dregs of the gang was against Voodoo Boys policy, they weren't above recruiting them for their dirty work.
City infrastructure, local networks, and connections were something the gangers were intimately familiar with and used to their advantage to actively sabotage any Storm Spirit in the area.
The Tygers still had some remaining supporters in the region that increased the difficulty of rooting them out. People who were angry about the displacement of the gang often hid hints of the ganger's activities and hindered any Skitarii investigation into the matter.
Thankfully, that particular issue was removed from my hand's thanks to our new deployment orders.
My squad along with many others were headed to Pacifica.
It was deemed that if the Voodoo Boys would continue to encroach on our territory, then we would do the same.
The Boss had officially offered to buy large swaths of the district to take it off the mayor's hands, and it came as a surprise when city hall offered the purchase of the entire district for a measly $100,000 eddies. That was less than a twentieth of the cost of the boss's clinic.
We later found out that city hall was contemplating a similar deal with Kang Tao, but they were going to charge one eurodollar and a promise to clean-up the area.
Without monitoring from the city, it would allow for Horizon to grow unimpeded while cleaning up the most crime-ridden district in Night City.
So here we were on the edge of the district slowly clearing buildings one by one. We had managed to recruit some of the homeless in the area with the promise of work, so they were quickly shuffled off to construction projects or anything that we could guarantee a paycheck from.
The others we encountered in the abandoned buildings were less than willing to leave due to various reasons from drug use, to fight clubs, and a plethora of other illicit activities.
One thing was for sure. Rhyne wouldn't be enjoying his 3% drop in crime for very long as the locals moved their activities elsewhere.
We had managed to re-take a partially finished botanical garden that we immediately dedicated workers and drones to finishing. It was in a perfect position to convert into a hydroponics facility to start producing fresh food in the district. The fact we could open up more jobs as fruit pickers was icing on the cake. Some of the locals had welcomed the prospect with open arms, others not so much.
Many of the locals were highly suspicious of our activities. To them, we were intruding on their way of life. They were right of course, but the fact was they were living in the trash on private property. They were free to keep their traditions and culture, you could keep your job and you could live how you wished. However, when your supposed "home" is considered the murder capital of the world, someone is going to step in.
The fact that this served to piss off the Voodoo Boys was a much-desired bonus.
They had spies watching our activities from all over the district. We have been besieged constantly by their assassination attempts, traps, and constant assaults on our network. They didn't however, account for a trait prevalent among all Skitarii.
When our orders are given, our pace does not slacken, we do not falter, and we do not yield until the enemy has been rendered silent.
Taking out Voodoo Boys has been rendered to a tertiary assignment as far as priority. So for the moment, we relegate ourselves to setting up infrastructure and bases of operations in the areas we have already cleared.
We had already initialized a construction hive to build another Cauldron. The locations of some of the structures that would disguise a Cauldron were ideal for Snapmaw deployment. But for now? They would serve as construction facilities for additional Skitarii troops and Battle Automata deployment.
Until it was completed, we would focus on the decade worth of degradation and vandalism in the recaptured areas.
[Interlude: Scav's In Space! Part 6]
The first thing I noticed upon waking up was how everything felt. I still had a sense of touch and taste, but it was ever so slightly altered.
My appearance was altered as well. I couldn't even recognize the roguish supermodel face that looked back at me in the mirror. The kit of swappable cyberware that was provided was out of this world too. I had a peg leg, a beard, a mechanical parrot, anything I could need to be a real-life space pirate. It was probably for another movie of some sort, but still, definitely a surreal experience.
When I wasn't in the recovery ward, I was able to enjoy the sights throughout the Crystal Palace. I had never seen so many expensive things in my life, and I smuggled for Corps for a living!
A few more weeks and I would be out of rehab and officially cleared to start shooting the show.
Who knows? Maybe acting was my missed calling in life all along?
[Interlude 2: N54 News]
"Good evening Night City, I'm Gillian Jordan."
"The machines wandering the Badlands have finally been traced to the company Horizon."
"Dr. Tavish Byrne admitted as much when questioned and explained that the machines were part of an eco-green initiative to revitalize the land around Night City. This was stated to be a solo initiative of the company and not supported by any other corporation or backer."
"The project is already presenting results in the form of new plant life appearing throughout the Badlands area. Locals are thrilled about how the company is handling the revitalizing of the former warzone and are thankful that someone is finally "cleaning up the mess"."
"The company also went through the purchase of the Pacifica district from the city for $100,000 eurodollars. Inside sources state that it was part of an apology plea on behalf of Mayor Rhyne for claims he made implying his involvement with the company."
"Horizon also released its first line of cyberware titled: Simple Cybernetics. The cyberware is targeted to "anyone that needs it." According to the Doctor. Coming in a variety of styles, this cyberware is designed to be inexpensive, well fitted, and durable. The line includes replacement organs for most of the human body."
"We here at N54 welcome the emergence of this company and hope that it continues its rise as a company to definitely keep your eye on in the future."
