7 Chapter 7: Chippin' In and a Silverhand Special
For technology not being able to register me, my name sure gets around.
I was working on my alchemy this morning when I received a call.
"Hey, this Tavish?" an unknown female voice asked.
"Depends on who this is." I respond.
"This is Regina Jones, I'm a fixer for certain jobs in Night City. I heard from a mutual friend that you're a hell of an operator. Great job on that Mox job the other night. Usually, those kinds of jobs boil down into a hell of a firefight and a standoff when they take a hostage. Your intervention saved a lot of lives, so thanks." She said.
"Well thanks, but I doubt that's the only reason for your call." I state.
"And you'd be right. I want to set-up a meet and greet with you. You're a powerful asset, and I'd like to get a handle on your skill set. Your fairly unique as far as Merc's go. A man with principle, unstoppable drive, and an unorthodox style of handling things. Shrugging off injuries that would kill normal people also shows you're not a light weight. I would like to hire you for work in Watson, so what do you say?" She asked.
"When and where?" I ask.
"There is a nice little noodle shop in the Kabuki market place. Be there at noon tomorrow." She replied.
"Preem, see you then." I return before I hang up the phone.
I have an appointment with Vik I need to get to so I put aside my newest attempt at a steel tree, or more specifically, a steel bonsai tree.
I head to my car and load up some of the crates and leave for Viktor's Clinic.
[Time Skip]
"Do I want to know where you got this Tavish?" Viktor asked looking over the different crates.
"Doesn't matter really, I got it off some Raffen's participating in some actions that I did not approve of." I inform him.
"Well good riddance anyway. So, what you've got here is some corporate grade cyberware. Neural ports, Reflex boosters, synaptic boosters, cyberdecks, arms, legs, and a bunch of experimental stuff that I would need time to identify. There is enough chrome here to outfit over a dozen Corpo black ops agents, with spare parts left over." He explained.
"Can I hire you to do some research?" I ask.
"Depends." He said.
"I need you to research what all this cyberware actually does, and I need you to oversee the instillation of my neural port." I explain.
"Oversee? Why not just have me install it?" He asked.
"It's because of the way that I will do it. I need someone to double check my work for a fuck-up." I say as I pick up the neural port system.
[Cybernetics identified.]
[Would you like to install and activate this cybernetic?]
[Yes/No]
I hit yes and the cyberware vanishes from my hand, I could feel part of the back of my head changing to accommodate the new interface.
"What the hell?" Vik murmurs observing the process with fascination.
"Did everything integrate properly?" I ask him. Causing him to focus and look closer.
He grabs an interface plug and jacks into the new neural port and puts the port itself under a magnifier.
"Incredible, I have never seen such a perfect fusion of man and machine. I honestly can't tell where the connections end and you begin." He said while running diagnostics.
"So, it works then?" I question him.
He sits back and asked. "I'm going to ignore the fact of you installing it without undergoing surgery, but how on earth did you manage to achieve such a perfect fusion?"
I pull out an Air Hypo filled with my newest alchemical mixture.
[Unity]
A mixture devised by Tavish Byrne that flawlessly bridges the gap between metal and organic matter. Specifically designed for integrating cyberware.
"I took a dose of this beforehand. It's a mixture I made that bridges the gap between flesh and cyberware. It reduces cyberware rejection chance to near zero." I explain.
He continues observing the air hypo and asked; "Any side effects? What would be the result on people with cyberware already installed?"
"No side effects. People with existing cyberware would be integrated with their cyberware more completely than before. If someone went in to get replacement cyberware after taking this, it would be like undergoing standard surgery." I inform.
"I'll tell you what, I know many people that could use this. There are so many cases of people getting improperly mounted cyberware that this could solve many of their complications. If you keep me supplied with this stuff, I'll checkout the cyberware no-charge." Vik commented while eyeing over the hypo like it was filled with solid gold.
"Deal." I said and we shook on it.
I leave Vik with ten doses of Unity before heading to my next meeting.
[Time Skip.]
Padre came through with a Netrunner recommendation. Her screen name was 8ug8ear, and I was supposed to meet her at a bar by the waterfront near Wellsprings.
I was sitting at the table drinking a can of Chromanticore when a lady wearing a coat, sunglasses and a hat joined my table. We sat in silence for a bit before she spoke;
"You're a hard man to identify Mr. Byrne." She comments
"I try. I assume you're the one that Padre sent?" I ask.
"Yup. 8ug8ear at your service. So, what's the job?" she questioned.
"Two jobs. I'd like to higher your services on a semi-consistent basis. The first job requires for certain patents make their way to the right place to be filed and they stay in this company name." I say passing her a shard containing the data.
She takes and slots the shard, scanning its data.
"Horizon is the company? Yeah, I can create this stuff. I can even set it to route any inquiries to you." She informs.
"Excellent. The second job is a little different. I need an instructor on the ins and outs of netrunning basics and cyberwarfare. In return, I'm willing to provide a Netwatch grade cyber deck and compensate for time spent." I offer.
8ug8ear leans back in thought as she mulls over my offer. I wait patiently for her answer.
"Alright, I'll teach you. Make sure to stop by the netrunner store in Kabuki to pick-up some "soft" and a good deck. Once its installed contact me, I'll send you deets on our next meet." She said while forwarding her contact to me.
"Alright, will do. Pleasure doing business with you." I say, passing her a cred chip and an info shard containing a patent for a Watcher.
This is going to be 8ug8ear's test run. If she holds her end, the design won't see the light of day for a while. If it shows somewhere, I'll know she back-stabbed me, but I won't be as screwed as if I gave her the blueprints for a Titan or a Thunderjaw.
She nods and departs heading back towards the street and vanishing into the crowd. I finish off my drink and I depart from the Waterfront.
[Time Skip]
I finished my first lesson with 8ug8ear. Our lessons took place in an isolated data fortress in the net. 8ug8ear was a harsh task mistress, running me through simulation after simulation. Testing me in hundreds of thousands of different environments for netrunning.
When your jacked in, your perception of time goes from seconds to milliseconds and realspace moves excruciatingly slow in comparison. This enabled us to knock out multiple lessons at a time. The only thing that caused us to stop was proper cooling. If we were jacked in too long our bodies would overheat causing our brains to fry.
8ug8ear recommended a netrunning suit for longer operation, and to setup better connections and a netrunner chair to assist with cooling. I thank her and wire her the eddies for the first session.
I was now more in touch with my technomancy abilities. 8ug8ear was consistently beating me in mock net battles because she has more experience. My mind was faster and could process more programs than she could ever dream of processing without going full 'borg. So, it was just a matter of time before I started beating her.
New Skills Added
[Quick Hacking] (25/100)
[Breach Protocol] (35/100)
[Programming] (20/100)
Your understanding of Technomancy augments your hacking further.
When a netrunner accesses their cyber deck to hack, it's basically using their brain as a processor and the deck contains a series of pre-loaded programs. The netrunner with the better deck has more daemons and programs with more power, granting them the bigger arsenal. The super computer always triumphs against the windows XP, to put it in perspective.
I also started writing my first Black-ICE suite. I named it Asgard. The suite consisted of multiple different programs. The first is ODIN. Designed to hunt hostile programs that attack my systems and strategic decision regarding other programs. The second is THOR. Designed to assault other systems and disable them. The third is LOKI. Designed quietly infiltrate systems and extract data. The fourth program is named VALHALLA. Part of ODIN's job is when it hunts a program is to judge if it falls within certain set of parameters. If it does, when its defeated, the program is cloned and altered slightly to defend my systems. The final program is titled FREYJA. Its job is to coordinate VALHALLA and keep its defenses ready.
Once I had Asgard passively running, it started quietly building itself up. So far, I have four new programs in VALHALLA.
Moving on from Netrunning, I had started hitting the Scav locations within the city.
[Flashback]
I had been sitting outside a small two-story building in my car for a couple hours watching scav's go in and out of the building. I left my armor in my inventory so I would stand out less. After a while, an unmarked van pulled up, and a guy in a suit stepped out. He was followed by two guards that started unloading top of the line Ripperdoc equipment. The suit and his goons went inside.
I hacked into the network and started watching them through the cameras. From what I could determine, the Corpo was paying the scav's for a kidnaping job of some sort. I waited for as soon as the suit left before I made my move.
I sent a ping through their network identifying the locations of the scav's inside as I got out of my car. I drew my silenced pistol and pulled out my knife and waited outside the door. Thirty seconds later, the front door slid open and a scav walked out. My knife found a spot in his neck as soon as he stepped out. Moving quickly, I moved the body off to the side of the doorway and continued in.
The next two targets facing away got a bullet to the back of the head as I swiftly made my way deeper into the building. The stench of rot became apparent as I made my way to the sublevels.
I killed another person coming towards the stairs with a cooler. I shot him and caught the cooler before he dropped. I checked inside the cooler and found a liver and several other internal organs. I shut and set the cooler down and continued deeper into the sublevel.
The general grime of the building started mixing with puddles of blood and gore scattered across the floor by abandoned surgery chairs and equipment. I went down another floor to a room that opened up into a boiler room.
The grating on the floor was stacked high with piles of mutilated bodies. There was no discernable difference in the people the scav's grabbed. Old, young, male, and female. All were harvested of their implants and organs. Two scav's were standing in the center of all the carnage steadily feeding corpses to the furnace. I shot them both. I just felt a feeling of fury. Nothing I did would be able to help the people who died down here. And making them suffer would just be a hassle. So, my solution was simple; Let their god sort them out.
My next action was to open a portal to the fortress and bring a Tech-Priest and Skitarii units through. I gave them instructions to catalog and identify the bodies and clean out the scav haunt. They were to establish a base of operations and monitor scav activities. I jacked in and uploaded netrunner protocols to the Tech-Priest, providing cyber defenses and enabled him to start monitoring local data. The final instruction I left was to notify me when this facility was fit for human habitation. I grabbed the new Ripperdoc gear and put it in my inventory and departed.
[Flashback End]
The Tech-priest sends me status updates from time to time, monitoring activity in and out of the area.
But I have to set all that aside for now, I have a meeting to attend.
I walk into the noodle shop and spot the distinctive eyepatch of Regina. I walk over and she starts speaking;
"So, "The Ghost of the Storm" makes an appearance. Take a seat, the names Regina, or Reggie if you prefer."
I take the offered seat and place my order.
"The Ghost of the Storm? A bit of an ostentatious title, don't you think." I ask her.
"But a true statement regardless. Your actions have taken the city by storm, and yet, no one knows where you came from, what you look like, where you live, and you have no digital footprint. The only way people know of you is by word of mouth. I was only able to find you because I heard a rumor that you made contact with Padre. He owed me a favor, so he allowed me a one-time phone call to talk to you." She responded.
"You said you were interested in having me do merc work?" I question.
"Yeah, let's talk biz." She said.
We ended up talking for a few hours as we talked about my proficiencies so she could assign the best suited jobs.
I left and headed back to the El Coyote Cojo and started practicing my Gallifreyan on the trunk of my Thrax.
[High Gallifreyan] (55/100)
[Circular Gallifreyan] (63/100)
I stopped when I heard a knock on the frame of the garage. I turn to see Mama Welles standing outside the garage with a little girl holding her hand.
"Hey Mama, what can I help you with?" I ask, gently setting down my sketching tools.
"Could you watch little Maya here? Her parents had to leave her with me for the day, but we are absolutely slammed with customers right now." She asked.
"Sure Mama, we'll figure out something to do in the meantime." I say.
Maya smiles shyly up at me and Mama Welles heads back inside.
"What were you doing Mr. Byrne?" Maya asked.
"Come see for yourself." I invite her to look in the trunk.
[Maya POV]
I look inside the trunk of Mr. Byrnes car and it takes my breath away. Inside are a series of concentric circles and equations glowing with a soft light cycling through blue, purple, black, and green.
"Wow! What are they?" I asked.
"This is a long-forgotten language. It's words when spoken, sounded like music to our ears, but once had the power to raise empires, and kill gods." Mr. Byrne said in a hushed tone.
"Even Santa Muerte?" I question drawing a laugh from Mr. Byrne.
"I don't think so, Santa Muerte has domains that can put her on equal footing with these words." He explained.
"Who could speak it?" I ask.
"Their once was a race of beings know as Time Lords that could speak it." He informed.
"Once? Are they all gone?" I question.
"Most of them, there is one left somewhere." He tells me with a small smile.
"What's are they like? Could you tell me about them?" I ask.
Mr. Byrne smiles and grabs an extra chair. Once we are settled, he starts telling a story.
"There is a being, simply known as the Doctor . . . ."
[Time Skip]
[Tavish POV]
Mama Welles came by to pick up Maya a few hours later. Maya was excitedly babbling about what she had learned drawing a grin from Mama Welles. They both head back inside after a quick goodbye.
The little girl had a very inquisitive mind causing me to raise some questions of my own. Gallifreyan is a language, and it is use in most of the technology in the Tardis. So theoretically, could I write a powerful black-ICE program in Gallifreyan? No one could beat it since only I could read it. Something to mull over for later I suppose.
A ding came from my internal alarm, signifying another batch of Unity was ready. I Started filling a crate that I would drop off at Vik's later. I finished filling the last of the hypos and started thinking. It would be a lot easier if I could automate this process, but I don't want to do it here. I need to start transferring some of my operations to the scav haunt that I cleared out. I also need a place for people to buy some of this stuff. Unity is a mixture that I think will be provided by two sources, Vik and Myself. The rest of the stuff I could sell through my clinic once I got that up and running.
I have taken the test to receive my degree as a doctor, I'm just waiting for the results of the test to return. I had a couple of locations that I had spotted out to put my clinic. Buck's clinic was my first choice. Next to no remodeling was necessary, plus he was a scav ripper, so I was going to be taking his ass out anyway. My other choice was a location near the bridge between the Heywood and Westbrook district's. This would put me in a fairly centralized location for four separate districts.
But that's a plan for another day. My next alchemical project is going to vary a bit from my potions. It occurred to me the other day how popular smoking was. People just added it onto their normal vices. No one had to worry about lung cancer because you could replace your lungs if they got that bad. But what if you didn't have to. What if you could smoke something that actually regenerated the damaged tissue and cleaned out the pollutants in your body. After an hour of testing, I had a result.
[Purity] (Cleansing Cigarette)
When smoked, cleans out your body of pollutants and foreign particles and expels them as smoke. Has a very minor healing effect.
Provides a soothing effect and a refreshing mint aftertaste.
Bingo.
A cleansing potion disguised as an everyday object.
In my previous life I always observed the act of smoking with a sense of fascination. People smoked knowing that it would probably cause complications later in life. The reasons they did so were varied. Stress relief, Pleasure, social obligations were the primary contributors, but there were also people coping with PTSD. But in the end, it was just providing a quick fix.
So, with my good deeds for the day done, I started making a Dragons-breath potion into a smokable.
[Time skip]
I may have underestimated how popular the smokables would be.
It all started innocently enough, I offered Pepe a cigarette while he was on break. We chatted for a bit before he headed back inside. That evening, he requested an entire pack of the things because "he never felt so clean after that cigarette". Apparently, it also cleaned his teeth and mouth.
In the following days, I was requested by multiple people for packs of these cigarettes. I was forced to make a MRVN to help offset the order volume.
I went ahead and purchased the clinic location the second I got my license. It was on the east side of Heywood and I quickly started setting up at that location. I started setting up my hospital area with my recently acquired Ripperdoc equipment and I had the MRVN start the automation process for my alchemy.
Pretty soon, I had a consistent source of income coming in while I was setting up the clinic. I was making roughly 100,000 eddies a day and growing.
This did not go un-noticed however, as I was quick to discover.
[Flashback]
I was busy setting in the new counter for the reception desk with the help of a couple of hired workers when the front door opened.
Three Tyger Claws members walked in the front door. One had an Oni mask covering this face while the other two had yakuza tattoos and katanas.
"Hey which one of you is Tavish?" The lead one asked.
"That would be me. What can I help you gentlemen with today? I'm afraid we are closed at the moment but if you come back in a few days, we should be open by then." I reply eying them over.
"Nah, we are not here as customers. We heard you make a fancy new cigarette?" the second one questioned.
"Ah, you're here about those. Sorry lads, fresh out. You're going to have to come by bright and early when we've made more." I inform them.
"No, you don't understand. We are here for our cut." The third one supplied, twirling his blade.
[Perk activated]
[The only thing they fear is you]
The tygers froze as an overwhelming presence swept over them. The polite shop owner was replaced with the presence of an apex predator.
"Oh? I wasn't aware that I owed the Tyger's anything. Are you sure? Think very carefully about your answer." I growled out.
The tygers were shaking in the face of the presence being released. They fucked up, time to backpedal.
"E-easy choom, w-we were just playin'"
"Y-yeah, d-didn't mean anything by it." They stuttered out
They quickly backed out of the office and ran down the street.
[Flashback End]
Since then, I have had Skitarii out on watch guarding the clinic and keeping the Tyger's from getting any ideas. I finished the main portion of the clinic, enabling me to finally be able to conduct business. It was a Six story building with an attached garage area, I haven't figured out what all of the floors will be used for but trust me, I will find something to occupy the space.
The top floor is my own personal living quarters. I now had a large bed that I could lay out on, a space to entertain people, a full bathroom, a kitchen and a balcony. I wish Jackie was back so we could hang out. Maybe help me throw a house warming party.
I heard a ring on the buzzer down stairs. I went down to find Mama Welles, Pepe, Gustavo, Martha, Rita, and a half dozen other people.
"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" I ask
"We are here to help throw a house warming party!" Rita exclaimed cheerfully.
"We know how hard you worked for this mi hijo, this place should feel a little lived in before you officially open." Mama Welles chipped in.
I invite them all inside.
We have dinner and spend some time drinking and playing games late into the night.
After most of the guests have headed home, and I was cleaning up, Rita came over.
"Hey Tavish, Judy wanted me to give you, her number. Apparently, you left quite an impression on her." She said jokingly and passed me the phone number.
"Got it, I'll give her a call when I get the chance." I reply
"Nova. See you around Tavish, maybe I'll stop by next time I need a tune up." She states wandering off.
I shake my head and get back to cleaning up the party. Rita has a fun outgoing personality. I wouldn't mind hanging out more often.
[The next day]
I'm dressed in a pair of dark short sleeved scrubs with a white doctor's coat. I've settled out in the lobby behind the front desk reading a book while quiet synthwave plays in the background. The clinic opened for the first time today and I had to leave a favorable impression. I decided that the Name I would go with is Horizon M.D.
The lobby has a theme of circular Gallifreyan circling the room shifting between colors.
The day continued before two joytoys, a male and female, wandered in looking around.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Byrne, how can I help you today?" I ask causing them to jump.
"Hey, we were wondering if you do chrome? My friend here needs help." The woman speaks up gesturing at her friend."
I took a closer look at the two. The woman was guiding the man around as if he couldn't see.
"Absolutely, I am a certified medical practitioner and a Ripperdoc. Let's get you on a table and we will find out what's wrong." I help guide them both back to the operating room and pull up a stool after we lay the man back on the chair.
I jack-in to his cybernetics and take a start at what I see. This guy can't see at all! I quickly check the logs on part replacement and couldn't find anything.
"What happened?" I asked
"He tripped and fell . . . . ." The woman started off before I interrupted her.
"Miss, I'm going to need you two to be completely honest in order for me to determine what's wrong. His face plate is all out of sorts, that doesn't happen from a fall." I state.
They are both silent for a moment before the man speaks up.
"I was with a particularly rough "client" a few days ago. I had to visit Fingers to get a replacement. I ended up with what you see now and he told me there was nothing wrong with it. I had some blurry vision but he said that would continue for a few days before my eyes adjusted. Late last night, I lost vision completely while with a client. Fingers claims it must have been something I did."
"Dammit Fingers. Alright here's the damage, I'm going to have to repair the damaged nerves in your eyes and fix the optics themselves. I'm also going to need to remove the faceplate and reshape it to match your bone structure. Are you alright with this?" I ask the man.
"Fix me up Doc." The man states.
I address the woman; "Do you want to stay for the procedure?" She nods.
"Alright, some anesthesia and we are good to go!" I say as I start the procedure.
I remove the man's face plate and take it over to a work bench and quickly reshape it with technomancy. I return to the man and inject him with healing potion and Unity causing the damaged nerves to heal and the eyes to realign properly. I gently attach the face plate to the man and step back, allowing him to sit up.
"Alright how many fingers am I holding up?" I ask holding up three.
"You're holding three." He said in surprise.
"Any pains or does anything feel uncomfortable?" I ask.
"No. . . . I feel better than ever! Like I actually fit my chrome! What did you do doc!" He asked.
"I re-did the connections in your eyes and re-shaped your face plate. You shouldn't have any problems for the rest of your life should you keep that chrome". I explain.
"What's it going to cost us Doc?" the woman asked. She was looking down cast.
"A simple adjustment like this? How about 300 eddies." I said. Their eyes were as wide as saucers.
"$300! That is way too cheap? Are you messing with us?" The woman asked.
"No, that's what I'm charging you. You were respectful, and your issue was simple. I don't know what Fingers is doing over there on Jig-Jig Street, but the state your cybernetics were in was deplorable. I have half a mind to go tell him that myself." I state.
The man clasps my hands; Thank you sir! I was afraid I was permanently blind." He stuttered.
They pay and depart for parts unknown.
I settle back down behind the front desk and wait for my next customer.
Surprisingly, within twenty minutes, Susie "Q" walked in my front door.
She was followed by a few Mox and Judy.
"Susie! Judy! What can I do for you ladies today?" I ask cheerfully.
"We heard that you delt with a few Tygers that tried to show their claws the other day." Susie questioned.
"Yep! Almost skinned me a few rugs to decorate the foyer. I decided it would detract from the theme." I reply causing Judy to snort.
"Yeah, it would, by the way Tavish, totally nova theme you have going on." Judy commented.
"Thanks Judy." I say with a grin.
"Any way, since you obviously made it out of that encounter unscathed, would you mind giving us a check-up?" Susie asked interrupting me and Judy's banter.
"Of course, right this way ladies and gents.
I spend an hour checking them all over. I give them a shot of unity each just to be safe.
"You all are in remarkably good condition. Whoever was your ripper was did a good job. The shot I just gave you, helped merge your cybernetics more thoroughly, so you guys should be good to go.
"Thanks, Tavish." Judy states giving me a hug.
The Mox pay their bill and depart, leaving me all by my lonesome. I start cleaning up the clinic. Once I finish, I sit back down with my book and continue reading.
[Time Skip]
I really need a receptionist. I ended up stopping at lunch to make a Mr. Handy to take care of cleaning, but while that was happening, no one was out monitoring the front. This is hardly ideal business practice. I can't exactly use a machine for the job because they don't have good customer service generally, and tech priests look generally off putting to the populace.
I'll start looking around for anyone who could do the work. In the meantime, I start closing up for the day. As I walk around shuttering the windows and locking up, I spot a couple of Maelstromers leaning against a car across the street.
Maelstrom, a highly feared gang with a reputation for extreme violence. Its members worship the mysteries of cyberspace. This fascination inspires them to dehumanize themselves with drastic cybermodifications.
They mostly stuck to the Watson district. What were they doing all the way over here? Outside my clinic no less? I check the surrounding area and their appears to only be the one group. Which means they're here to talk to me.
I open the front door and start walking towards the small group.
"Finally, wasn't sure if we were allowed inside." The leader of the group comments, his spider like eyes examining me.
"If it's a medical issue, almost anyone is welcome as long as they are not here to cause trouble." I state drawing looks of surprise from the group.
"After hours business however, I have another location for that. What can I help you guys with?" I ask. It's best not to try their patience. Most Maelstrom gangers were borderline cyberpsycho already.
"We heard you created a new drug called Unity, right? We want to negotiate the purchase of a few cases." Their leader states.
"Alright, each case costs 20,000 eddies. The case contains forty doses of Unity each." I inform them.
"Ten cases. We're good for the eddies now if you have the product." The leader replied.
"Preem, we'll have that right out." I said.
I quickly have a group of Skitarii bring the cases out and load them into the vehicle while the boss paid me the eddies.
"Pleasure doing business with you." He said climbing into the vehicle and driving off.
I was happy that the confrontation ended peacefully, but that brings a new question. What did Maelstrom want with Unity? They can't duplicate it, and Unity reduces the chance of going cyberpsycho, a state that Maelstrom covets.
I really need to employ a spymaster, or someone of similar occupation to send me relevant data on what different factions are up to. Realistically, there are too many people handling too many different things that I can't afford not to just keep my head down and hope for the best.
With that last thought, I head back to my building and turn-in for the evening.
[Time Skip]
Leaving the techie to work on the Quadra was well worth it.
It turns out, that Raffen's pride themselves on functionality, which left me with a very good vehicle, with weapon mounts and a surprise or three for anyone who decided to engage me in vehicular combat.
The Techie had repainted the modified Quadra to sport a dark theme with a golden mural of Santa Muerte. When I asked the techie why he answered; "Santa Muerte is often the patron saint of protection, as well as death and a plethora of other things. You're going to need all of the protection she can offer with the stir your causing my friend."
I thanked him and paid for his services and drove off with the Quadra. I drove it to my office and left it there while I went to manage several other projects.
I finally got around to summoning B.O.B and upgrading him to serve as my own bodyguard
[B.O.B] (Lvl. 115)
B.O.B. was the butler of Elizabeth Ashe's family. Her parents paid little attention to her, and care of their daughter was mostly relegated to B.O.B. Thus, B.O.B. was there when Ashe's parents weren't. He was there when she partook in target shooting on the family estate, and was there when Ashe was released from prison. Throughout her youth, Ashe spent a lot of time talking to B.O.B., even though he apparently couldn't talk back.
Like bastion, when I summoned B.O.B., he negotiated his own contract with me to include, days off, pay and necessities. In exchange, I got a partner and a bodyguard to assist with day-to-day activities. After upgrading B.O.B.'s armor, weaponry, and security software, I was able to resume other activities.
Like playing with the Gacha! I have a mythic token that I was itching to use!
Perk Gained
[Aspect of the Storm] (Mythic)
Your being has been infused with a kernel of this mythical power. What that means for you is yet to be seen until it develops further, but your mana has new affinities for lightning, water, and wind.
Mysterious, and exciting! I'm really curious what that will turn into. I should try exploring aspects of my magic, but I only really used it for technomancy and alchemy. Most other aspects of my life so far haven't required magic.
Well, I'm always up for trying something new. But first, Gacha!
1x Machine pack (common)
1x Bag of Cheese Doodles (common)
Dingo (BO3) (rare)
Nano Machine hive: Gamer edition (Legendary)
Ark Tek Bundle (epic)
Tracy's left shoe (common)
Deus Ex Augmentation blueprints (epic)
A Quarter (common)
Asian Short clawed otter (familiar) (common)
Bag of "Magic" beans (common)
Sling Ring (rare)
Halo BGM soundtrack (common)
Midget Assassin (epic)
Schockhammer X (rare)
Mk. 3 Lancer Assault Rifle (common)
Viper Rifle (rare)
At least its never dull, though I think it would be a good idea if I stopped receiving people as items.
The nano machine hive is something that will improve my technomancy to new heights, allowing to manipulate all machines on some level. I integrate the hive without a second thought.
Once its installed, I discover that the machines are in their most basic stage at the moment. The nano machines require "exposure" to different things to build up durability, abilities and knowledge. The entire hive is managed by a section of my mind that is slowly assimilation and optimizing the rest of my body. I have no clue if that would work but it seems to help them out in improving their durability and resistances.
The Sling ring was an oddity, considering I had no idea how to use it. I imagine it would be dead useful, but I have neither the time nor patience to figure it out. That will probably change in the near future, but I have other things that take higher priority.
The Viper on the other hand . . . . . .
I take over to a work bench and start tinkering on it.
[Time Skip]
I completely retooled the lever-action, partially to see if it could be done, but mostly because I thought it would be funny.
The Chimera (legendary)
A lever-action modified to the point its basically a new weapon. Using a combination of different technologies, this rifle fires magnetically accelerated 20mm rounds infused with sentinel energy.
I left the base style of the rifle alone, and adjusted the rifle for the larger caliber. The magazine of the rifle was expanded with Gallifreyan sequences and the size of the rifle was increased to fit my size. Hidden beneath the rifle casing along the length of the barrel, were magnetic accelerators and heat vents that opened at regular intervals along the length to allow for continuous operation. I adjusted for shock absorption from the vents and recoil compensation was also handled by heat dispersion.
I realize that a 20mm rifle was overkill, unnecessary, and inefficient, but they were a whole lot more fun!
Now, I just need to find something to test it on . . . .
[Time Skip]
[Shopkeeper POV]
This was the second time this week the Tyger's showed up demanding payment. They went through the standard routine of holding me at gun point while a friend of theirs went digging through the register.
The mook that was shuffling through the register let out a shout of triumph, raising a fist-full of Eurodollars for his friends to see.
Just as I resigned myself to another week of going hungry, the Tyger's head disappeared, followed shortly by a distant boom of a rifle.
The other gangers frantically looked around trying to determine the source of the sniper. When they went to look, two of them lost a portion of their upper bodies while the thirds ignited into flames and quickly burned to ash in a rapid sequence of booms. The final one, took of running, leaving his compatriots to their fate. A final round tore him in half, ending his life.
I got up and started putting the interior of the shop back to normal. I took a moment to silently thank the person who actually stepped up to help. The police wouldn't be here for another couple of hours so I'm happy they showed when they did.
[Tavish POV]
Excellent test.
I threw in an incendiary round to see what it would do and it was a very successful result. As I was reloading the rifle, I receive a call on my phone.
"Tavish, do you do house calls?" Padre asked urgently asked over the phone.
"I can for you Padre, what have you got for me?" I ask, jumping down from the roof and landing next to my Quadra. I put the rifle in the trunk and hop in the passenger's seat. B.O.B. was sitting in the driver seat.
"Emergency call at the Afterlife, a job went south against Arasaka, multiple casualties. Rouge called in a few favors to me, and now I am calling out favors to you." Padre explained
B.O.B. hit the gas and took off into traffic, after half a second of calculation, B.O.B held up two fingers to me.
"We're less than two minutes out Padre, please inform them we're coming in hot, and to crack the door for us." I inform, which he affirms and hangs up.
B.O.B. and I drove in silence as I switch to my doctor gear. We skid around the corner into the parking lot startling the people loitering in front of the entrance to the afterlife.
I jump out and grab a trauma duffle from the back of the Quadra and start running to the entrance.
"Make a hole!" I yell at the people and they scramble out of the way. I skid down the stair case and run down the hall, B.O.B. just behind me. The guard spots me and opens the door ushering us through.
I walked into a scene of chaos; several injured bodies were stacked on the slabs of the former morgue. The biggest hive of activity was over by Rouge as they were trying help a man that went full cyborg.
Rouge Amendiares
Queen of the Afterlife
Lvl. 130
In her younger days she was a professional merc - today she's the queen of fixers. One of the last legends of Night City who's more than just handed-down stories. Unlike her friends from the good ol' days (read: Johnny Silverhand), Rogue does more than get by - she runs the Afterlife and by definition almost the entire Night City merc network.
"Get me another Maxdoc! Come on Shatan! Hold out until that Doc arrives." Rouge yells at the unmoving body in front of her.
"Doc's here Rouge. One Dr. Byrne at your service." I say as I step in and take over and start administering potion from hypos and repairing cyberware. I let my nanomachines loose to help repair his critical life support systems. After a few minutes of removing shrapnel, repairing his lungs and rewiring his optics, I call my nanomachines back and finish patching him back together.
"Alright he's stable, get me my next patient!" I shout.
I perform twelve separate procedures over the course of a few hours, B.O.B. kept the crowd back and out of my way as I continued delicate procedures of extracting bullets, and whatever else they got in their wounds.
As I finish the last stitches, I hear Rouge's voice over my shoulder.
"What's the prognosis Doc?" She asked.
"Full recovery for some of these guys and gals within a week, maybe two. Shaitan can and will be up and hitting Arasaka no later than tomorrow once I have proper parts. In other words, everybody lives!" I list off, taking an offered rag by someone and wiping the blood off myself.
The crowd behind cheers and claps at the announcement.
"Fucking Nova. A Doc that has faster response times than trauma team, and tells me I won't lose my people. What's it gonna take to keep you on retainer?" Rouge asked with a grin.
"Buy me a drink, and we'll talk biz. I say with a wink as I finish wiping the blood off my front and B.O.B. hands me my coat.
Rouge leads me over to her booth in the back and the bartender brings over some drinks. I received what they call a Johnny Silverhand, which is a tequila old fashioned with a splash of Mexican beer and a chili garnish. Got to say, its not bad, not bad at all.
Rouge gets down to business; "So, Dr. Byrne, I've been able to dig up precious little info on who you are other than your title and a little word of mouth. "Ghost of the Storm" huh? Know who started that one?"
"I believe that Regina gave me that one, I was originally planning to start quietly as a merc before I kinda just fell into the doctor job." I explain.
"Why not both? Plenty of crews and jobs that require a doctor. Could make extra cash to help offset your regular customers. You're doing some solid work, and from what I've found out so far on your work, your wide skill set will get you a lot of jobs. All you need is the Cred to get those jobs. I am offering to be your fixer for those jobs. I'm not going to say you can't work for other fixers, but my jobs need priority. Do we have a deal?" Rouge asked.
"Long as I can maintain my office hours, you got a deal" I reply drawing another smile from Rouge and she raises her glass to me.
"Cheers to you kid." She said as we toasted to our deal.
I spend the night getting familiar with the rest of Rouge's team and finishing the last of the repairs on the mercs before leaving with B.O.B..
I give Padre a call as I leave the Afterlife.
"Good evening Tavish, what are the results?" he asked.
"A total success, everyone will make a full recovery. I'm debating adding emergency response to my resume." I inform him.
"Good, you have lessened gods work this evening, not every soul needs to meet him before their time. I have sent you compensation, as well as contacts for a reliable source of cyberware. She manages to acquire the factory rejects and used 'ware that turns up. I imagine someone with your aptitude could repair it into something usable for those less fortunate souls." Padre replied.
"Thank You Padre." I return
"On the note of emergency response, I would set it up for merc's to include it in their contract before hand, and figure out how to increase your response time. Don't leave yourself running on stims of you have appointments the next day. We don't want to see you run ragged." Padre finishes before he hangs up.
I thought over what he said, and he was right. I couldn't just offer an emergency response to whomever, otherwise I'd be up all night. It would need to be by contract only until I could either hire or build a response team. Maybe a retrieval team could be created, and send them to get the patient. Their job would be to then put them in stasis somehow until I could work on them. How would I get them in stasis though?
Eh, I'll figure it out eventually.
[Time Skip]
Several weeks had passed and I was having dinner at El Coyote Cojo. I was talking with Pepe, who was helping me brainstorm different flavors of smokables. People loved them, but a frequent request was for another flavor.
I heard a familiar voice call out from behind me.
"Hey Doc, care to spot me and my new friend a beer?"
I grin and turn around to see Jackie and a Female nomad who just walked in. She kind of looked like Female V from the Cyberpunk trailer, a little less cyberware, but V all the same.
"Sure thing Jackie, only if you introduce us though." I reply, ordering two more beers from Pepe.
"V, this is Tavish Byrne, one of the smartest and toughest people this side of Heywood. You have him as backup, and nothing short of a tank will stop him. Tavish, this is V, she helped me with my latest job on the boarder. She's a hell of a shot, and a deft hand with her vehicles." Jackie introduced.
"Pleasure to meet you V, thanks for taking care of Jackie." I say shaking hands with V.
"And for the record Jack, the last "tank" I ran into got totaled." I inform Jackie, causing him to almost spit his beer.
"When was that?!" Jackie sputtered causing V to laugh.
"Few weeks ago? I think it was the night you left actually, I did a job for the Mox and I ended up running into a Militech Behemoth head on. It hit me and I walked away without a scratch." I explained.
"No way, pics or it didn't happen choom!" Jackie exclaimed.
"I'd check with the Mox, one of them probably grabbed video" I said and Jackie sends off a message and gets a reply back shortly with a video clip.
The video doesn't have much, but it does show the Militech behemoth hitting an invisible man shaped object.
"What's up with the video? Its like something was removed from the video, yet there is no evidence of editing." V comments.
"For some reason, tech doesn't register me properly. Optics, camera's, drones, computers, anything electrical." I explain drawing a look of surprise from V.
"So tech doesn't register you period?! What about personal pictures? And mirrors! Most of them are electronic in some aspect these days." V asked.
"Don't quite know, it works in some instances and doesn't in others. Don't know how to properly explain it." I inform her.
V looks skeptical for a moment before she pulls out her phone.
"Can I try taking a picture then?" she asked
"Sure, why not?" I reply.
V grabbed me and pulled me in for a selfie and snapped the picture.
The picture did turn out in full, it was actually the first device I actually showed up on.
[It has to do with intent, you gave permission to V to take your picture.]
[Thus, the perk allowed you to register with her phone.]
Well, that's one mystery solved. I hadn't particularly searched for a proper explanation because it worked when I needed it to, and I hadn't bothered looking further than that.
"Definitely odd, but I guess you don't need to be worried about anyone you don't want getting ahold of your likeness." V comments while looking at the picture.
"Yeah, so where do you hail from V? You have the feel of a nomad about you." I say, switching the topic.
"Used to be a nomad of the Bakker clan, and no, I wasn't banished or anything like that. We just sort of disbanded. My last job with them was to smuggle some stuff over the border. Theoretically, I could get enough scratch to set myself out a place in Night City. Our buyer screwed us over and we had to fight our way across the border. Now we are out my ride, and have the cargo but no buyer." She explained taking a drink of the offered beer.
"What were you smuggling? Depending on what it is I might know someone." I offer.
"A real organic iguana! If we didn't need the cash, I'd be looking to keep him!" Jackie said with childish excitement drawing grins from both V and myself.
"Give me a moment." I send off a quick message to Rouge and got a reply back almost immediately.
"Is the iguana stored in a cold case?" I ask and I get an affirmative from V.
"Alright so if you guys want, I have someone who's offering 300,000 eddies for the iguana. After the fixer fee of course." drawing looks of surprise from both Jackie and V.
"Already?! How the hell did you find someone so fast?!" Jackie exclaimed.
"I didn't, I contacted someone who could. Apparently, that particular Iguana has an owner offering Rouge to find and return him for a hefty sum." I explained.
"What the heck did you get up to while I was gone Tavish?! You're on first name basis with the "Queen of Fixers" herself. I've only been gone a few weeks Tavish, you've been working too hard again haven't you." Jackie said looking at me accusingly.
"What? Noooo, I've been taking breaks to relax." I try to explain.
Mama Welles voice interjects from the kitchen; "Going scav hunting doesn't constitute a break or relaxing Tavish. I'm glad your back Jackie, I need someone to help ride herd on the big lump and teach him to take a break. He thinks I don't notice when he gets distracted or tries to start a new project, but I recognize his work when a scav haunt turns up empty or some new legend of the "Ghost of the Storm" crops up." She walked in giving me her patented "Mom" look before giving Jackie a hug.
"And you must be V. Thank You for watching over Jackie." She continues and gives V a hug.
"Aw c'mon Mama! What about when you have me watch Maya, or the other kids?" I ask.
"That's not a break either Tavish. That's entertaining a child. The point is, between being a doctor, a merc and an ever-growing list of things, you have no free time. I'm afraid you'll end up burning yourself out." She said reproachfully.
I know that Mama Welles was trying to guilt trip me for something, unfortunately it was working.
"Don't worry Mama, I don't have any contracts this week and I'm not doing anything stressful." I try to assure her.
"No scav hunting!" She states crossing her arms.
"Alright, I'll hold off the scav hunting Mama." I assure her, giving her a hug.
"Good. Pepe's son is turning six on Tuesday, you will be attending right?" She told me.
"Of course, Mama." I affirm
"Good, wear something nice. All I see you in these days is doctor's scrubs or your merc clothes." She finishes before bustling off to the kitchen.
I look over to see V covering her mouth and giggling, while Jackie was full blown laughing at my expense.
"Mama's got your number Tavish." he said wiping a tear from his eye.
"You better be attending as well Jaquito!" Mama Welles called back causing V to burst out into laughter at the look of surprise on Jackie's face.
Overall, the night became one of playful ribbing and storytelling as we go deeper into the evening.
[Interlude: Scav's In Space! Part 2]
[Scav POV]
75% oxygen remaining.
Boredom was my all-encompassing emotion as I continued to float in space. I could see the crystal palace drawing nearer by the day, with its supply rockets constantly arriving and leaving the station.
That was going to be my ticket back to earth. I've tried signaling them for help but received no response from the station. It's the only shot I have of making it safely back home.
As I floated I contemplated aspects of life and I had an Idea. Would trauma team cover space? If they did, I could buy a plan once I got back in signal range!
I waited in excitement as I waited to get back in range.
Just ten more hours!
