Chipped into the Edge (Double Cyberpunk Gamer SI)

Chapter 6

~o~

River Ward, newly minted detective in the Night City Police Department, was standing in the midst of a massacre. In the apartment with busted walls, scattered bullet shells, and more bodies than he could shake his fist at, it would normally warrant feelings of sadness and disgust. None of those emotions were there now since these were all scavengers, made apparent by the holographic masks that obscured their faces. Paramedics were starting to bag up the bodies, and a police officer with a bulky camera was recording all the evidence. Despite that, it was mostly for the records rather than any follow-up. These were scavengers after all.

A sharp whistle brought his eyes—and a few others—to the detective walking through the yellow holographic police tape that closed off the area. Jamie Sheen, a veteran detective in the force and his newest partner, was here with him to show him the ropes. Normally, a detective of his experience wouldn't be bothered with an open and close case like this, but this was more of a training assignment to ease River into the flow. The man's eyes took in a scene with a mild detachment, both tiredness and amusement whirling in them. He walked over to the fresh detective, making sure to avoid the bloodstains and bullet shells.

"Had fun in here?"

"Nothing much to look at," River replied, turning his gaze back on the scene. "Did you find anything?"

"Nope. All the outside cameras had nothing. Just a van coming in and coming out. Plates came up as unregistered." Jamie smiled. "Tell me what you think."

"It seems like a professional hit. A corporate team?"

"Not the wrong track, but a bit too sloppy for that. Do you remember the angle of the bodies and the bullet wounds?" Jamie raised a finger to point at a bunch of machinery that sat off to the side, ready to be turned out and display holographic images of the bodies. "Or do you need a reminder?"

"No, I remember fine." River looked around to where the bodies were—at least for some of them. Others had already been taken out. "Though I don't see what that got to do with it."

"It has everything to do with it. You got to take a look at everything including the bullet holes in the walls," Jamie said. "There were two of them, not the norm for corporate hit squads."

"How can you tell?"

"The firing angles. You're smart so you'll eventually be able to tell on sight. There's plenty of these kinds of scenes in Night City." Jamie stepped lightly through the room to the opening in the wall that led to the other apartment. "This, however, is more interesting."

"I noticed that there were no blast marks," River said as he followed after his partner. "No signs of any kind of detonation. Doesn't even look like somebody punched it. More like it simply exploded by itself. Or imploded."

"Remember, River. It's not the corpses that will keep a case open. No, it's these kinds of occurrences that will," Jamie spoke with a reverent kind of awe. "Three mysterious holes with no explanation in sight."

"I'll remember," River said grimly.

"The first officers on site were nearby when the call came in, and they rushed in without backup. You have to understand that it's rare."

"I was a beat cop for years. I know."

"Despite that, by the time they got here, everything was already done." Jamie stepped away from the busted wall. "Ten minutes from the call to their arrival. As response times go, that's incredibly short."

"I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at."

"It means that it has enough variables to keep the case open and the investigation going."

"We're going to keep at this one?"

"No." Jamie shook his head.

"So what? We're going to drop it?" River frowned.

"Don't be like that. There's no point in doing that for scavs. Just wanted to show you how to do it for the cases you actually care about."

"Fine." River huffed out a breath. "What now?"

"Now? We finish up, grab some takeout, and then drive back to the precinct to write up the report."

"Takeout?"

"If you think those reports were tough as a beat cop, then you ain't seen nothing yet."

~o~

Okada Wakako folded her hands onto her lap, a mannerism that had been long ingrained into her before the time of her first husband. Stationed in the backroom of a pachinko parlor, her office space had always been small. Even decorated as it was to her taste and with a square window on one side to prevent it from feeling claustrophobic, it was lacking in comparison to the offices of many of her fellow fixers. However, it was more than enough for her as she did not get many visits. From here, she connected her many clients to mercenaries, though the more favorable ones were directed to the teams of edgerunners that had exclusive contracts with her.

Of course, this routine had been disturbed by a…peculiar set of individuals. It wasn't uncommon for her to take in newcomers, bringing them in to ensure a stable supply of mercenaries in her employ, especially since they often didn't tend to last long due to the nature of the business. In fact, most died within a year with the rest in the following years if they did not retire. It was the same for every fixer, and that was why they always had to scout out new talents—or at least, new bodies to throw into the grinder. Her information and spy network were significant, especially after all these long years. That was why this situation with the two men was strange.

They came to her, not the other way around. She had not heard a hint of that before they were already at her front steps. That shouldn't have been possible. Long before that, she should have heard about them asking around, making a little noise. Even a drop in an ocean—no matter where in Night City—would have eventually reached her ears. But it didn't, and that was the issue.

"Do you know why I called you here?"

"Because of the BD?"

"Yes," Wakako confirmed. "Because of the braindance."

Across her desk, a woman in fake fur and tight leather stood nervously, smelling distinctly of cheap perfume and a body odor not of her own. Her black hair was cut short, and the makeup on her face—while tastefully done—had an amateur's touch that blemished the entire portrait. In spite of that, there was potential, albeit buried under the cheapness of her exterior. Her eyes burned bright, even as her hands shook while placing the sealed braindance wrapper onto the desk.

"I-I brought the raw virtu."

"Evelyn Parker," Wakako intoned, a vague sense of annoyance lacing her voice. "Is this original any different from the edited braindance that you sent me?"

"No…"

"Then why would I want to see it? To verify that it was properly scrolled?" She scoffed. "I had seen your friend's work before. This grade of manipulation is beyond her skills."

"I…"

Evelyn forcefully bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from saying any more. She glanced downward, unable to meet the fixer's piercing stare. However, as the silence stretched, she slowly turned her head up. There was a look of determination on her face as if she had gathered her resolve.

"I-I described it to you over the holo, didn't I?"

"You did," Wakako said with a nod.

"The fact that they don't appear in the BD isn't my fault!"

"I never said it was."

While Evelyn was reeling from the statement, Wakako's eyes turned down to the sealed wrapper on her desk. If the unedited braindance had contained anything significant, the girl would have already announced that instead of being as nervous as she was. However, the fact that she didn't confirm that it would be the same as the braindance that she had received. In it, the two who had committed the extermination of the scavengers were invisible.

Not in the sense that they were using military camouflage systems; those had telltale signs that were visible even in recordings such as the distortion of air. No, these two were completely invisible, such that there was no sign of them except when the muzzle flashes occurred on screen. It was eerily like watching ghosts in a horror braindance. The only time they interacted with the world that she could see through the gaps in the shoddily boarded-up windows was when one of them had picked up the katana, and that katana had vanished in thin air within a second of that, being somehow speedily incorporated into their invisibility.

The only cybernetic that she could think of was the Kiroshi Optics Mk.1 which was only sold to governments and militaries. Designed with fighter pilots in mind, it scrambled the face of its owner in any recordings, preventing them from being identified during a mission and later being assassinated. However, that was just scrambling and only for one part of the body. This? This was far beyond just that. In fact, putting aside anything else she had seen from them, this cyberware alone would be worth much to the right corporation.

"Then why…why did you want me to come here?!"

"Calm down, child," Wakako said dismissively as if the girl's panic was ridiculous and unwarranted. "Tell me, why did you join Clouds?"

"I…" Evelyn began slowly. "I was just trying to get by."

"And the real reason?"

"…I wanted to be an actress," Evelyn finally said, though she didn't look happy. "I needed the eddies, and I thought I'd get noticed."

"And did you?"

"No. I do have regulars who I talk to after the sessions, but they don't have those kinds of connections. I'd need to be on the second floor with the VIP clients for that."

"I know," Wakako stated in a tone that suggested that she had been long aware of this even before their talk. "And I want to help you."

"Help me?"

"Through payment. Much eddies to satisfy your debts," Wakako said. "And a role in a major studio production. How you fare after that will be up to you."

"…and what do you want for all of this?"

"To get close to those two men and find out their secrets," Wakako answered. "The more you find, the more you receive. Perhaps even a part in the main cast."

"Information?" Evelyn still gave off that nervous vibe, though the look in her eyes was different. It was a little more bright…and predatory. "But everyone says that you know everything that happens in Night City."

"Yes. That, I do. For the most part."

"But not all of it?"

"Not all of it," Wakako confirmed with a short nod before pulling open a desk drawer and taking out a thin folder. She placed it on the table and pushed it over to the other side.

"What is this?" Evelyn asked, though that didn't stop her from picking up the folder and opening it.

"The information I could find on them."

Evelyn frowned in confusion. The file was awfully short for two profiles, being only a little more than a dozen pages. However, as she read through and turned the pages, her confusion soon became disbelief.

"This is…" Gonk. Evelyn barely help herself back from muttering the word, but her reaction was justified. The files were incredibly sparse, but what was detailed in them was ridiculous, giving top grades and accolades at the degree that should have allowed Jin-Yeong entry into any of the major corps. What was even more gonk was the fact that the grade was the same all across the board, leading to a frankly unrealistic grade point average. When she got to Robert's profile, she found that it was literally a copy and paste of Jin-Yeong's except with the names of relatives and schools changed.

"All of it is fake." Wakako gave a small smile at Evelyn's confused glance. "My employees followed up on each of the points. The paper records for them do exist in the schools, but none of their teachers could remember such children and none of the AIs teaching systems had any logs of them attending any session. No need to ask about their relatives; those were all fake as well. The individuals exist, but they do not have relations with one another. Their fathers and mothers had never once met each other."

"How…?"

"Like all things. Through power and eddies. Though, to spend so much to hack into very, very secure data fortresses just to input shoddily made records is a mockery, a challenge, and a warning."

"Warning?"

"Nothing for you to worry about." Wakako waved her hand in the air as if to dismiss her concerns. "If you accept my offer, you will be moved into the apartment next to theirs on the 33rd floor."

"That'll be an upgrade for me."

Evelyn had lived in the same Megabuilding that housed her workplace, but she lived on the lower floors which were more poverty-stricken and served as hangouts for small gangs. The apartments on the higher floors were plagued by less surrounding squalor and more accommodations that made it akin to rising up a social hierarchy.

"What if I don't find out anything?"

"There is a minimum reward, and the apartment is already paid for. A year," Wakako replied. "The role in the production would be one in the background then, but maybe you will still be scouted. Harder, but not impossible."

"Why the interest in these two?"

"They, and their backers, may have a part in the city's future."

"One last question. Why me?"

"Why not?" Wakako let out a small smirk. "You're already here, you have a reason to be in the Megabuilding, and you do not have much verifiable connection to me. If you do not take the gig, there will always be another, but it will take longer. I am not a patient woman."

Evelyn nodded, satisfied.

"I'll do it."

~o~

I, the still somewhat freshly transmigrated Jin-Yeong, woke up to the bright lights of the morning sun. My mind was slow to start up, and my back was sore from sleeping awkwardly on the couch. Honestly, at this point, I probably should have already gotten a futon to sleep on, but after what happened yesterday, I just wanted to laze in. Just for the morning at least. Turning over on the spot so that I could lie down on my side, I blankly stared across from me. Another couch, identical really to the one I had in the other apartment. Seemed almost like it was mass-produced for this kind of place.

It took a few more minutes until my body was willing to get up, and I did it slowly. Stretching my back and looking around, I found that Robert was gone, his bed left a mess. Other more organized people would have straightened it out, but I didn't care one bit. Rolling my head on my neck, I went to the bathroom to take care of my morning business. After that, I simply went back to the couch and turned on the television. What came on was a commercial about something called a Mr. Studd cyberware, but I was barely paying attention.

Instead, I agonized about the heated conversation I had last night to convince Robert to drop both universal perk points into Medical Efficiency. In the end, we did it, but it felt like I had practically badgered him into doing it. I was so gungho on the idea that it would be like how it was in cooperative shooter games where downed players could be revived by other players. It had some basis in this universe since the tabletop sourcebooks had some rules about reviving people who were only in lighter degrees of death. However, it wasn't something we could actually test out since neither of us wanted to try dying.

In fact, we couldn't test out if the perk would regenerate lost limbs because what would happen if it couldn't? Being permanently maimed wasn't appealing. Well, not permanently since there were cybernetics and possibly replacement flesh limbs. After all, people could downgrade from all those cybernetics so there had to be a way to replace the flesh somehow or there would be a lot more crippled and mutilated citizens on the streets.

Still, I shouldn't have pushed it as much as I did, and I was feeling regretful about that. I pretty much started cutting him off in the later arguments, feeling that I was in the right. I knew that he wouldn't take it to heart, but that didn't stop me from feeling like an asshole for getting too into the heat of the moment.

The door opening woke me from my self-deprecating thoughts, making me glance back.

"Yo. Got some breakfast." Robert held up a plastic bag with cartons of food, even as the door behind him slid shut.

"You opened the shutters on the window too?"

"Figured that was better than shaking you awake." Robert walked over, letting the smell of greasy fried food drift out. "So I got chow mein and chow fun. Which one do you want?"

"Chow fun." Now that he mentioned it, I had a sudden craving for those flat rice noodles. "But if you want it, I can take the chow mein."

"I wouldn't have asked if I was going to just take it myself."

Robert took out a carton and plastic utensils which I gratefully received. When I opened it up, I found myself facing the still piping hot and greasy affair of former white flat noodles that were now brown and layered with chunks of synthetic meat. It honestly looked delicious, especially since my stomach was growling.

"Thanks, Rob." I picked up the plastic fork and shoved it in, bringing up a messy glop of it. "Where did you buy it?"

"A food stand a few blocks away."

"You mean outside the Megabuilding?"

"Yeah."

"Aren't you afraid that something could have happened?"

"Afraid of what?" Robert lightly scoffed. "We got some crazy ass perks. Doubt we got to be afraid of anything anymore."

"I guess they are pretty crazy." I took a forkful of the food into my mouth and started chewing. The oil felt like it was sticking to the roof of my mouth, but at least it tasted good. "They really did make us a lot more powerful."

"I know, right? It's like, what were we doing all this time?"

"The skills did let us get better at it, and it unlocked tiers of perks that we could invest in," I argued, though I quickly relented. "But yeah, it wouldn't be useful without perk points."

"We should do more quests then. Sure, we could grind out at a practice range, but wouldn't it be faster to do that while leveling up? We seemed to get more experience points for skills from shooting actual people."

"Man, do you know what you sound like right now?"

"Yeah, so?" Robert shrugged his shoulders, though a bit of anger seeped through. "That's just how our new life is. You either take off running or you die in a ditch."

"I didn't mean it that way. Geez, man." I shoved in another mouthful of flat noodles, mostly to give myself a little more time to think. When I swallowed it down, I said, "But I guess you're right. The best way to get stronger fast would be to kill."

And the easiest way of finding valid targets was to do a mission. It wasn't like we could go around shooting people on the streets, not that we would want to. Not to mention, it wouldn't be likely that we would stumble upon a crime in progress, though I wasn't sure if we should intervene then. Robert would probably want to, but I was ambivalent about sticking my nose into something where it might not be black and white—or where they could be packing more armaments than we could handle.

Quests, missions, gigs, or whatever required a fixer, and the fixer that I had my eyes on was Wakako. However, our last conversation felt ambivalent. I wasn't sure if she would call us up again, but we needed missions to keep going. For many of the fixers from the game who would consider us, I didn't know where to find them. Even for upstart fixers that weren't in any of the media I knew, I didn't know where to start looking.

"Don't think of it as just killing," Robert said. "You're gonna get all angsty if you keep thinking of them as humans. They're not. Hell, some of them don't even look human anymore for the most part!"

"Yeah…" My voice was subdued. Noticing that, I quickly hyped myself up. "I mean, yeah, they deserve it."

"Right?"

I stuffed myself with another mouthful just to keep myself from responding. While I could accept the reasoning even with the dehumanizing aspect, it was harder for me to embrace it. Humanity to me was more than just flesh. Despite all of that, my discomfort would probably go away if I did it more often. Though, I was at least proud that I didn't freeze up in combat. That was something, right? Probably. I swallowed down my food so that I could start speaking again.

"Alright, what's the game plan for today?"

"Grind?"

"That's it? After saying all that?"

"What else do you want us to do?" Robert looked exasperated. "Patrol?"

"No, um, just… Okay, yeah, let's go grind out our skills." I backtracked a second later. "No, wait! We got to do something before that."

"Do what?"

"Find our primary care physician."

"Oh, right. You did mention something about that."

Besides what the Medical Efficiency perk could do with a MaxDoc or hypo, we could simply heal up by sleeping for a few hours. In a sense, we didn't actually need to go to a doctor to get healed up. However, that didn't mean that I could wholeheartedly trust the system without verifying the results. Like, did it really heal the bullet wound in my shoulder or just covered it up superficially? Sure, there was no pain, but I couldn't be one hundred percent sure. Not to mention that we gained far more muscle mass than should be possible by using the system, and that could have unexpected side effects.

"Don't forget that fast," I replied. "Besides, we need someone who can attach cyberware to us."

"Cybernetics…yay..."

"Why are you acting like that? Just how do you think you're paying for everything wirelessly? You already got some of it inside your head and hands so what's wrong with a few more?"

"I know, I know! It just takes some getting used to," Robert said with disgust in his voice. "At least it's not that visible. Still, I don't want to mutilate myself unless I got to, but if you turn me into Adam Smasher, I swear to god…"

Robert jokingly raised the back of his hand, though I simply shook my head and gave a little sigh.

"Fine, fine. That's your choice, man. I'll respect it," I said. "But for me, I wouldn't mind going all the way."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I mean, why not?" Of course, I realized a moment later that he would have plenty to say about why not so I quickly cut off his response before he could get started. "Okay, look, I don't mind getting cybernetics. If it means that I can live longer, I actually wouldn't mind being a brain in a jar. As long as I still have internet access, that is."

"Huh…" Robert looked put upon, trying to find words to say. "Well, you do you."

"Let's get back on topic. We're going to need to find a doctor," I said. "I got someone in mind, but let's check up on all our options just in case."

~o~

A quick search on the internet brought me to the Night City Medical Center's website. I had passed by the place once before when I made the journey to Robert's apartment, but of course, I hadn't gone in. On that day, it was mostly because I didn't want to waste time. Looking at these monthly prices for their insurance, I was pretty sure that it excluded half the people in Night City.

There was no subsidization from low income which meant that if you wanted to be insured, you had to have a pretty stable and at least a moderate income. Any dependents would probably tank that effort, though there were some pretty low priced plans that included just about nothing in them. Like being examined by an intern nurse. I wasn't kidding; it literally said that. At that point, wouldn't it be better just to be checked out by a ripperdoc?

Sure, we could afford a pretty decent plan with our savings, but I actually already had a doctor in mind. Of course, it would be the very same one from the game, but finding that place was going to be a bit difficult since I didn't know exactly where it was. Not only that, but the Night City was a lot bigger in reality than it was in the game.

"So how are we gonna find this guy?" Robert asked while resting his arms on the back of my computer chair.

"There are only two things that can help us find him: his name is Victor V-something, he is a former boxer, and his shop is in a basement behind a store owned by a goth girl named Misty."

"That's three things."

"The boxer part probably won't help us." If he was truly famous for his boxing, he wouldn't be living in Watson, the poorest district to be in with the exception of Pacifica. "Oh, right. He has one of those hoops in his earlobe. You know, those circle things that stretch your earlobe and make it floppy when you take them out."

"Ear gauges?"

"Yeah, those. Actually, now that I think about it, that piece of info probably won't be useful either." I put my hand on my chin as I thought about it. "We could just ask around about Misty. Though, that'll still be hard. If I remember correctly, she doesn't have any employees—or customers."

"The heck…" He tilted his head slightly in his confusion. "How does she stay in business?"

"She's a landowner with at least one renter. That renter being the ripperdoc."

"Ah…" Robert muttered. "Can't you just search for her on the internet?"

"I can check, but I doubt they'll have anything on there. It's mostly the bigger stores and corporations that have websites."

A few minutes later, it turned out that I was wrong.

"You gotta be kidding me."

I couldn't help but blankly gape at the computer screen.

Misty's Esoterica.

It had come up when I searched using keywords like Misty and Watson, but the website was reminiscent of sites made in the 90s, and by that, I meant that it looked like a piece of shit. A black wallpaper with candles lit in the middle was the background image, and what was on top of that wasn't any better. From the glaringly high-contrast text colors to the animated gifs that played around at the edges of the screen, I could safely say that I did not want to click any of the buttons on the site, especially since they lit up with this cheesy sparkle effect when I hovered my cursor over them. Thankfully, I didn't have to since the address was at the bottom of the main page.

Urmland street in Little China, Watson.

Lesson learned. Never assume.

"Come on. We got a train to catch."

~o~

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading! I actually wanted to do more viewpoints to make it an entire chapter of that kind of thing, but honestly, there weren't too many characters I could use at this point, and it felt like it would repeat the same points over. I instead tried a new style where I mixed it with the regular chapter instead of making it be an interlude on its own. Feels like I would be able to use multiple viewpoints more often, though it does feel a bit rough.

Also, thanks to Vahn (Vahnhammer on SB) for proofreading and giving opinions.