Good Neighbors, Bad Neighbors (4)

"Hey David, give this to your mother, alright? I made a bit much last time and I can't eat everything before it spoils."

Mark gives to David a large container of food, containing stir fry meat and vegetables.

"You don't need to do this, you know?" David replies to Mark as he picks up the container.

"I' serious when I said I made too much. I always end up overestimating how much food I cook, in the past I could call friends over for lunch, but here in Night City I only know your family." Mark pauses for a moment, suddenly realizing something. "Can I ask you for a favor David? Where can I buy a cheap cyberdeck?"

"Planning on becoming a Netrunner, choom?"

Mark simply smiles. "It's a personal project I'm working on."

…

Thanks to David help, Mark managed to buy a basic cyberdeck and other similar equipment that was quickly put on Mark inventory. The cyberdeck, together with several other pieces of cyberware extracted from the Scavs unlocked a new area of research for him. Together with his newly researched Modular Armor, Mark felt less vulnerable than before.

The Modular Armor has better protection against corrosion and explosive impact compared with the previous Heavy Armor and has a five-by-five grid to add equipment modules. Most of the better modules are hidden behind Chemical Science, however, the cyberware only requires Automation and Logistic science to research. The new equipment module his Factorio System provided is named Digital Interface Port, and it already proved its usefulness by connecting to his Agent and integrating the technology into the Factorio System.

Mark makes a pair of Modular Armor, setting them up for an "Industrial Setup" and a "Combat Setup." For now, the secondary armor sits on his inventory.

"Let's see what the Scavs are hiding while I wait for all the batteries to charge."

It took hours for Mark to sift through the data and the gut-wrenching actions of the Scavenger gang. The Scavs are on the kidnapping business, taking individuals on the request of other gangs and corporations, while selling the extracted cyberware on the black market.

After more work on the data, Mark realizes the true depts of depravity of the Scav gang.

"The little shits make most of their money selling third party data! Can you believe that Solvy? They kidnap, butcher, and dabble in chattel so that they can collect and sell data from the victims' friends and family to the corporations! Why? Why would you do this? What kind of demented creature approved of this business model? What kind of incompetent monster encourages this behavior?"

As a systems engineer, Mark knows how easy it is to collect data from people. In Mark's mind, none of this make sense. He can only assume that the higher ups engage in this behavior because they are Evil, Depraved Monsters.

Solvernia remains silent, allowing Mark to rant and rave until he calms down.

Eventually, Mark reassesses the information he obtained from the Scavs. "If I remember correctly, the gang has ties to the Russian mafia, or perhaps the Russian government? It would make sense for them to deal with information together with their usual 'business.' Who is the primary buyer of data?"

Upon further inspection, two names came up: Arasaka and Militech.

"Arasaka is probably using the data to further enhance their Soul Killer technology, but what about Militech? Are they feeding the data to an AI learning program?"

There were other companies listed, but the volume of data the Scavs destined to them was much smaller. There were also other messages that caught Mark's interest.

"'Remember to send the boys to rough up MH04 for intruding in our turf.' Who the hell is 'MH04?'" After searching the net, the only reference he finds is the "Megabuilding Hospital 04," the local hospital that services the Megabuilding 04.

"Why would a Hospital intrude on the Scavs turf? What's going on here?" Unfortunately for Mark, that throwaway line was the only clue regarding that line of investigation. "Great, a whole lot of nothing. Well, let's cash out today's catch before calling it a night."

…

The traffic towards Viktor's Clinic was too slow, so Mark decided to take an alternate route, landing him near the northern industrial district, meaning he's lost.

"Fuck. Hate when that happens."

While Mark checks his Agent for the city map (GPS subscription sold separately), he spotted someone familiar on a nearby alley.

"Get away from her you cum suckers!"

A homeless man is pointing their arm threateningly towards a group of gangsters. Those gangsters have various, grotesque cybernetics all over their body, with their faces suffering the most. All the gangsters' members have strange optics, ranging from cyclopean to arachnid-like, to even a flatscreen that ran green symbols downwards like a screen saver.

They're the Maelstrom gang, a group of people that venerates technology and cybernetics, not unlike the Mechanicum, except in Mark's opinion, at least the Mechanicum aesthetics had a certain inhuman appeal to it. The Maelstrom in comparison is like teenagers with too many piercings on their faces.

They also shot the homeless man while Mark is watching the events unfold.

"FUCK!"

Mark jumps off the car and rushes towards the gang, weapon in hand. The Maelstrom gangsters point their guns towards Mark, and he responds by placing a stone furnace between himself to block their bullets, then he brings several gun turrets in a line, setting up the FFI to not target the homeless man, until he finally loads the weapons.

*Clack* *Clack* *Clack*

*Tra -tatatatatatata* *Tra -tatatatatatata* *Tra -tatatatatatata*

Checking his minimap, Mark confirms that all gangsters are dead. He pockets all the bodies for later, when he realizes that the homeless man is blinking at him, as if not believing what he just saw. Mark also realizes that he knows this homeless man.

"Miguel? What are you doing here?"

Miguels blinks, as if his mind is rebooting. "Is that you Mark?"

"Yeah, that's me. Wait, stay down, I'm going to help you. Just trust me, alright?"

Mark kneels on the ground while Miguels stares at the armored man. Miguel tries not to flinch at Mark's touch, doing his best to relax. "Alright, do what you have to do."

Behind his faceplate Mark is cringing at the damage. Half of Miguel's lower torso got blown up, the skin in tatters while it shows the subdermal armor beneath. Some of the normal skin is also rotting, but Miguel doesn't look visibly troubled by it, or even show signs of being bothered by pain.

Mark takes out a medical kit and apply it to Miguel. Since he's not directly connected to the Factorio System, Mark needs to open the medical kit and take a tube-like instrument to apply into the threated person. From the tub a liquid substance flows towards Miguel, and the man starts to look visibly better. As the treatment develops, the medical kit appears to eat itself, until it is completely used up.

Miguel looks better, the rotten skin fell off, the gunshot wound has closed off, and even some color has returned to Miguel's face. He's not completely recovered yet, but weeks if not months of natural recovery happened in an instant.

"Wow! That was –"

"Here's the second dose!"

"Wh-"

Mark stabs another tub on Miguel, then a third, and finally a fourth medical kit. As the final specs of treatment finishes, Miguel is a completely new person. All external wounds of the veteran are healed, new synth skin grows and cover the subdermal armor, Miguel can breathe better, and even his fallen teeth appear to have grown back. Overall, Miguel even looks slightly younger than before. Sadly, Miguel hair didn't grown back.

The homeless veteran pats his body all over, taking a minute to look at himself.

"What the hell, are you some kind of corpo executive, or something? This is some good shit."

Mark almost instinctively says no; however, he remembers that technically, he is now an employee of Wube Inc.

"I'm just a peon. We got nice toys, but HR is brutal."