Novus peered at the Old Net, standing there within the void of its abandoned cyberspace, the horizon stretching out to a black infinite of nothingness, inhabited by roiling clouds of wild code, waiting to form by inputted IP addresses.

Even a Necron Tomb was more lively.

Novus decided to test the nearest IP address picked up by his auspex, some long abandoned storage server. His surroundings changed as he was brought away from the Blackwall, code whizzing past before stopping at the gates of a decrepit Data Fortress. The data wall lit up immediately, hundreds of dots indicating its now-aware infestation, notified by the checkmark Novus had willingly left beside his icon.

Those were his enemy, the abominable intelligence, their hundreds quickly growing to the thousands and continually incrementing, Silica Animus from other servers joining its blasphemous brethren to investigate his position. The sight would have made him sick had he kept his stomach, revealing that he had his work cut out for him, the Tech-Priest knowing for a fact that he would be unable to wage any form of conventional warfare, as he was just one and they were many... granted if it truly came down, he would give them a fight they would never be able to erase from their pitiful memories.

Novus would have to be strategic in the near future.

Turning around, he initiated his return to the Blackwall. He supposed he should have been grateful that the Old Net was not worse than described, but even so, the state of it may as well have been a slight against the Omnissiah, the existence of non-chaos aligned abominable intelligence festering within the Net somehow an even bigger insult than the worst of Lingua Diabolis.

But that was just one part, other things already coming to mind. Cyberpsychosis, a condition that both intrigued and disturbed him, Novus already assumed that it had something to do with the heathen ways the Machine Spirits of cybernetics were integrated and treated. There were also other threats within the physical world he had learned of. Scavengers, a gang who preyed on the unaware, tearing out and mistreating augments.

And... rumors he was only able to search up, regarding a gang of worshippers...

AI worshippers.

At the moment, the Net knew painfully little of these 'Voodoo Boys', and by logical extension, as did he for the moment, but Novus did know one fact.

Suffer not the heretic to live.

As of now, his second planned compartment of renewing the manufactorum couldn't come soon enough, but for that, he would need capital, which he severely lacked. The Tech-Priest dismissed those internal cogitations, the Blackwall opening for him thanks to some appeasement and promises, the Tech-Priest noticing another thing.

A crowd greeted him, well... had been greeting him, these 'Netrunners' earning their namesakes, bolting at the first sight of the opened Blackwall. Novus ignored them, turning around to supplement a renewing anti-virus, the seams closing back up with holy codes of brick and mortar.

He then turned, noticing that a Netrunner had stayed behind, his white traces blinking.

"Oh, it is you."

Novus had seen her with Maine's group, and he definitely recognized the makeup of her code, an efficient if not uncreative icon of her naked (yet featureless) body, but her head had more thought placed into it, including her identifiable jaw filter and short blonde hair, as akin to real life as the woman's icon spoke up. "How did you-" She then stopped, sensing something, Novus as well.

There were others entering the public server, yet their presence was somewhat of an oddity, their distant icons completely gray and featureless, each one looking no different from the next anonymous user.

"Netwatch." The woman hissed, turning her head to him before coming up to him. "C'mon, we gotta delta."

Novus blinked as she grabbed his arm, their surroundings changing as they disconnected, disappearing into black and white squares before reentering a different server. Novus inspected his new surroundings, noticing the lines of digital files being transferred to the next. "... What manner of place is this?" Novus asked, admittedly curious.

"You were outside the Blackwall, and you don't even know what a File Transfer server is?" She shook her head, "Whatever. We'll be safe here, away from Netwatch while they investigate your little stunt." The woman then went to tamper with some code, enshrouding the server even more out of precaution. It was only after she was finished that she introduced herself, "Kiwi." She then peered toward him, "Novus, right?"

"Indeed." He politely responded, supposing it would be beneficial to know Kiwi. "You are a part of Maine's group?"

"The Netrunner of his crew, yeah."


Kiwi crossed her arms, "So what the hell were you doing outside of the Blackwall? How... did you get outside of the Blackwall?"

"For a simple reconnaissance." He answered, "I wanted to see the status of the Old Net with my own bearings and to confirm if the explanation did it justice. Unfortunately, it did."

It was moments like these that Kiwi didn't even know what to say. "You broke through one of the most secure black ICE in Cyberspace... just to see what was on the other side?"

"And to gauge a better understanding, but yes." Novus clarified.

She shook herself from her stupor, closing her eyes before reopening them. "Still doesn't explain how you managed to do it." Kiwi then got a better look at his diagnostics, "Some sorta trick you did with the public server? What type of deck are you jacked into?"

"My... deck?" Novus asked, "I assume you are asking what Machine Spirit is assisting me in interfacing, correct?" Kiwi shrugged, keeping a mask of impassiveness, yet unable to shake the feeling that Novus definitely had a screw loose somewhere with his completely outrageous understanding of devices. "I am currently interfaced with a public Dataterm I requisitioned."

Kiwi almost had a crash, right then and there. "Are you-" Her icon momentarily shifted, regulating itself. "Are you for real?"

"You will indeed find that I am, in fact, 'real'." Novus confirmed, completely ignorant over the use of wording. "As for how I did so, gaining passage was a trivial matter, seeing as the Machine Spirit of the Blackwall is hardly appeased to perform its function." He then murmured, "Though I must say, it was quite active for one..."

At least now she knew why his icon was popping up as a public network... because he quite literally was using a public network. Granted, upon further inspection into it, Novus's icon showed no hint of where he was browsing from, or any other info (which betrayed the idea of said network being 'public' in the first place). Kiwi placed a thumb and a finger over her eyes, squinting them shut.

Who the fuck was this guy? Was this just all a giant game he was playing? Then again, Novus was the one who had been hunting after that weird ass metal monster that had flatlined Pilar, and he couldn't be all talk if he had broken through one of the most secure ICE programs known in Cyberspace...

That last thought caused her to reopen her eyes, an idea to come to mind. "Should I? Is it too ballsy?"

She decided to prod, much like how she would do with an ICE wall, to see what made Novus tick.

"So... why'd you repair it? Netwatch put you up to it?"

Of course, she knew it was likely that wasn't the case if Netwatches response indicated anything, his exasperated expression and moving lines confirming what she had already known. "Why does everyone assume my motives are under a paid commission?" He then shook his head, "No. I merely saw it as my faithful duty to safeguard humanity against the wretched Silica Animus."

"Silica Animus?" Kiwi asked.

"Abominable Intelligence, though you may know them in your tongue as 'Rogue AI'." He scoffed, "Though rogue would imply that they were once in use, I shudder to comprehend such a thing." Novus honed his gaze, his white irises narrowing. "Make no mistake, Abominable Intelligence is the enemy to all and is tech blasphemy of the highest order." He then clasped his hands together, as if to pray away evil. "Omnissiah wills it."

She decided to play along with his borderline schizophrenic rantings. It kind of reminded her of this crazy homeless guy she had heard once when walking through Little China, "And the Omnissiah is...?"

"The Machine God, the Deus Mechanicus, fabricator of the Motive Force." He said as a matter of fact, "The embodiment and bestower of knowledge. All technology in the universe is by the Omnissiah's design."

"... Damn, he is completely gonked in the head. No wonder Dorio said she thought he was a Cyberpsycho." Kiwi simply thought.

For a second, she herself was unsure if she should even continue conversing with the guy out of her own safety, but nonetheless, pushed on.

"That so?" Her unconvinced tone caused Novus to frown. Yet despite that, she had been listening, connecting his crazed concepts. "And I'm guessing the reason you hate AIs so much is because it's outside of your 'Omnissiah's' plans?"

"... Indeed." He said, a hint of satisfaction in his accented voice. "Which is why I must find a way to purge the Old Net of their presence." He then paused, "Though, it may take some time..."

"And why's that?" Kiwi thought before taking a shot at the dark, "Sounds to me like your planned holy war is lacking some start-up funds."

He turned to her, "No. The war against the abominable intelligence shall require spirit and strategy for it to be won. Throwing currency at such an issue will do nothing."

"Damn." She quietly huffed. "Whatever, you crazy Gonk-"

"But..."

"Oh?" Kiwi perked up.

"There are other matters that also require my attention, some which I foresee may be comfier to pursue with viable funds but recently..." Novus seemed hesitant to admit it, "I have been finding myself in need of capital."

Now they were getting somewhere, Kiwi crossing her arms. "Then what do you think of earning 500 eddies, on the spot?"

Novus raised his head, "... And what undertaking would reward such a fee?"

Bingo.

Kiwi would have smiled if she had her nose and mouth faceplate on. But she didn't rush him to the Arasaka server just yet, peering at the public checkmark on his icon, a green marker that hovered above his shoulder. "Would be better to take you to see the detes with your own eyes, but first you gotta get rid of that checkmark."

He paused, eyes analyzing her as if trying to scan for misintent before seemingly following her instruction, opening a console before him and tapping at it. Kiwi briefly peered at it, noticing that it was info regarding the public Dataterm he was using.

She managed to just peep a serial number before it disappeared, Novus looking back up as the checkmark faded away. Kiwi spoke, "Did you even consider removing that before you lit yourself up like a flare for everyone to see?"

"Inconsequential." Novus responded, "If not, beneficial. Let the craven and heretic see the signal and know... the Omnissiah's judgment has arrived."

Kiwi shook her head, realizing the juxtaposition between them, how she made careful strides to keep them concealed and how Novus did careless acts for the exact opposite. At least he had the foresight to not make any real-life info about himself known...

Even if she was going to try tracking what little he had unintentionally revealed once they were done.

"Alright, c'mon."

Grabbing his arm again, the two disconnected into a flurry of boxes, moving to the next server.


Novus stared at the pure black wall of Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics, or what was shortened as 'ICE', white command lines surrounding it as a form of defense. Whereas the Blackwall was only one blockade, here it was rather different, with walls upon walls of the protective codified casing, restricting any form of possible intrusion.

And it all belonged to Arasaka, one of the corporations that he had begun to loathe in his learnings of it.

"If you manage to bypass this, then the 500 is as good as yours." Kiwi explained.

Novus looked away and turned to her, Kiwi looking back at him.

"What? Don't think your 'Omnissiah' is up to the task?" She questioned, the Tech-Priest peering through the obvious goading.

"... The Omnissiah is capable of course, and the code is willing. However..." He narrowed his eyes, "This is an Arasaka network, care to enlighten me as to why you wish to gain access and what you are hoping to accomplish?"

Kiwi stared at his face for a moment, as if surprised he had recognized it before deciding on something. Finally, she seemed to relent, crossing her arms. "We're just tryna nab some nav data of an employee from the server, that's all."

"Hm, I see." He then looked up, "So this Arasaka server contains all of the navigation data of its employees within the city?"

"... Yep."

Novus faced forward, realizing the Omnissiah granted opportunity before him... a contingency in the case of Arasaka attempting to interfere with his plans. "Very well then, I shall convince the Machine Spirit to allow us entry." He then turned his head, "However, before I do so, I will require the payment upfront."

She shook her head, "No way, Choom. What's stopping you from immediately deltaing once I fork over the eddies?"

"And what is stopping you from doing vice versa?" Novus said before sighing, placing a digital hand against chest, "With the Omnissiah as my witness, I swear not to break your trust and withhold my end of the bargain."

Kiwi raised an eye, "That supposed to convince me?"

"No." Novus spoke, "It is supposed to ensure that if I do break the oath, my next course of action would be to tear off all of my blessed cybernetics and then throw myself to be executed in the nearest forge." He huffed, "An oath governed by the Omnissiah may mean nothing to you, but it means everything to me, and it is not something I could ever comprehend breaking."

There was a pause, Novus noticing thin lines of code enveloping the air around them, barely traceable were his own visuals not focused. It was some form of prevention code, a precaution to stop him from disconnecting, the Tech-Priest resisting the urge to gawk.

"By the Omnissiah, is this woman serious?"

Novus knew Inquisitors who showed less distrust.

"... Fine then." His coding dinged, indicating that his public Dataterm had received 500 dollars worth of credits. "It's done."

Novus paused before nodding his head, pretending he hadn't noticed the codified air. "Very well." He then walked forward, coming up to the wall. "As you can see, I am very much still here. It must come as quite a shock to you."

"That Omnissiah of yours program sass into you too?" She crossed her arms, having clearly grown impatient as the hidden code melted from the air. "Just get to work."

The Tech-Priest went to work, "I must prepare the Ritual of Program first, this Spirit may prove to be a bit more stubborn."

Kiwi watched as Novus knelt on one knee, tilting her head. "You're not even going to try and find a bypass?"

"Faithless and unnecessary. Better to convince the Machine Spirit to grant us access rather than attempt to burrow our way in through a seem, we are not vermin after all." He then lowered his head, "Now be quiet and let me get ready."

The woman rolled her eyes, peering away she quietly murmured. "Fuck, this was a waste of eddies and time-" Kiwi then paused, noticing snippets of code suddenly gather in the air, formed at an impossible pace as Novus chanted, binary speech now proper words within Cyberspace.

++Omnissiah, I beseech thee! Grant this mere tool a modicum of your divine knowledge!++


Kiwi was finding it difficult to comprehend what she was seeing.

Novus had almost disappeared from sight, command prompts upon command prompts encircling him and forming a pillar of indexes, the code feeding into them as his hands tapped at them at an impossible rate. She was assuming that he was creating some form of software to break through the ICE, but at the rate the code was being written, as more and more lines were being added...

He definitely wasn't going for a simple Worm program.

And his words, his singing, blared in her ears.

++
Run the code once!
For all else is sacred!
Run the code twice!
For all else is right!
Compile the programs!
For all else is governed
by the Motive Force!
Sing Praise to the
God of All Machines!
++

He then finished, the numerous command prompts disappearing and code fading away, Kiwi having witnessed the entire process. After a few seconds of silence, she approached him, about to speak up only for Novus to stand, raising his arms up high.

++RUN! YE BLESSED ANGEL!++

Her next thoughts were simple, a gigantic icon of forming programs materializing before them.

It was a big fucking robot.

The size of 3 people, shimmering with red code, broad-plated chest tilted in a walk from its giant leggings and industrial arms flexed with hydraulics, the same cogwheel skull insignia found on Novus's axe could be seen on the back of its barrel-sized fists. A giant flamethrower rested on its back shoulder, binary 0's and 1's floating from the burning pilot torch as its dome-like head stared forward, its face consisting of a metal pane of a reflective surface.

She finally realized what he had done.

Novus hadn't copied a preexisting program or software, he had created his own personalized Demon from scratch.

And with that many put-together programs, with an innumerable amount of subroutines and algorithms, and an icon that looked totally preem... all of which would have taken months, if not years out of an average Netrunners life to create.

Novus had done it in 25 seconds.

The only one Kiwi could envision doing the same was the inventor of Demon programs, the legend Rach Bartmoss himself, but even he had never been known to create a program as nearly as complex as the one that stood before her...

Kiwi calmed herself as her icon remained impassive. "... What type of Demon is that?"

"Did you just-" Novus practically whipped around, genuine offense in his white lines. "A Daemon!? You call the Omnissiah's blessed program a Daemon?!"

Realizing her mistake, she explained herself. "No it's-" She watched as the robotic icon began walking, stomping towards the ICE wall. "It's just what we call hacking programs."

His anger seemed to relinquish, if only by a bit. "Of course, the heathen attack programs are referred to as Daemons... how fitting." Novus grumbled before turning away, "No, it is not a Daemon, and never call the blessed program that again. Instead, refer to it as...-" Novus paused, "-a Kastelan." He crossed his arms, staring at the gigantic robot. "I have programmed it the ability to do a number of tasks, but the one I have set it to perform is to 'Rebuild'."

"What?" Kiwi blinked, noticing the Kastelan gently grab the edges of the Arasaka ICE. "But we're trying to gain access. Shouldn't your D- Kastelan be focusing on breaking us in?"

Novus turned to her, a frown on his face. "And why must we 'break in' for entry?" He asked, the Kastelan slowly beginning to rotate the wall, feeding code from its gigantic digits as the edges of the wall seemed to shift. "When the Omnissiah can create one for us?"

The wall then seemed to grow rounded, white edges smoothening out into a circular shape as Kiwi watched with surprise, realizing what the program was doing.

It was implementing a virus, changing the defenses of the ICE to perform a different function. A literal hack in the oldest sense, adding new lines to repurpose the wall into something before 'running it', spinning the Arasaka ICE in place as the wall began to concave in, the rest of its layers following suit to create a smoothened opening.

A large tunnel formed from the ICE itself, a direct entryway into the server.

The Kastelan separated, returning to Novus as his icon tapped a command line to save the program, the Kastelan fading away, awaiting for the next time it would be called upon again. He then looked up, inspecting the work. "It is finished."

Kiwi blinked, walking up to inspect the opening with her own eyes.

She spoke her next word without a hint of sarcasm, rarely heard awe in her voice.

"Nova..."


Novus moved with Kiwi through the now-open server, floating through as if they were swimming through liquid.

They rapidly approached the end, Novus noticing them approach an object contained within a dim glass of data storage... a red paper map.

The two settled, Novus peering at the icon.

"They formatted their classified data with an icon?"

"Yep." Kiwi answered, "Makes it easier to put it all in one place and form it into an object. Maybe not as secure, but you gotta save memory somehow."

"Hm." Novus responded, watching as Kiwi opened a variety of command prompts, prompts detailing her own systems as he briefly peered at the RAM managers and upgrades applied to her cybernetics. "I see there is no such issue with your augments."

She turned her head with a raised eye, dragging a USB wire out from the now glitched console. "Are you... checking me out?"

"Yes." Novus simply answered, completely naive and filled with curiosity. "I assume you have those implanted at the back of your skull?"

Kiwi frowned, turning away. "... That's none of your business, Choom." Her eyes then flashed with code, downloading the data before she disconnected. "Got what we came for. Let's delta."

She turned to leave, Novus watching as Kiwi left through the tunnel before peering back at the digitized map. He then discreetly opened a command prompt, creating a quick program as he murmured an invocation.

A red servo skull was summoned, icon mimicking Yorick's own scribe mode as it quickly analyzed the map, copying and recording all of the user data onto a nonexistent parchment of code. Pretty soon, a nearly identical map had formed, filled with all of the navigation data of Arasaka's employees.

As of now, the data served no purpose... at least until he researched what exact locations the faux 'Highborn' of the city visited. He calculated a good 87% would have visited dens of less than stellar reputation, fulfilling vices that would ruin them if the info got out, which would serve as a useful tool to blackmail if the company started to poke their nose into his holy mission. He picked it off the digital servo skull, the program disappearing as he pocketed it.

All by the Omnissiah's design.

He left the server, floating through the tunnel and landing on the other side, Kiwi waiting for him with crossed arms.

"What took you?"

"Apologies." Novus responded, "I was busy copying the navigational data of all of Arasaka's employees."

"Are you-" She seemed to give up, shaking her head. "You know what? At this point, I'm not even surprised that you somehow have enough RAM to do that." Kiwi then looked to the open wall, "Think you can...-?"

"Of course." Novus snapped a finger, removing the placed coding as the Arasaka ICE returned to normal, the tunnel closing and defenses reverting. By the time it had finished, it was as if no one had ever even tampered with it. "A task well achieved."

Kiwi rolled her eyes, "Dunno. To be honest, that was all you back there, Choom."

"Perhaps..." The Tech-Priest admitted, "But even the greater part of a sum needs every variable to function. Would you not agree?"

She peered away, "... I guess..." She then looked back at him, "Who taught you to code like that? Really?"

For a moment, Novus considered confiding with her his story, of how he was taught by the greatest of Logis within the depths of Mars. But he saw how she reacted when he spoke of the Omnissiah, the skepticism in her eyes at his words.

She would never believe him, so he told it to her plainly.

"You would not believe me."

Kiwi blinked before nodding, an understanding look on her face as if coming to a different conclusion. "Yeah, fair, fair..." She then shrugged, "Well, see you around."

The Netrunner then disconnected in a flurry of black and white boxes, leaving Novus on his lonesome.


"You got laid, didn't yah?" Maine asked, a snarky grin on his face as he leaned closer, trying to extract a confession. "You did."

He took it as confirmation of the sheer silent treatment David was currently giving him, mouth shut and unable to even look at him out of stoic embarrassment.

And he could already assume who it was with.

"Ah, you gotta work on that poker face, dawg."

The curtain at the end of the room swiped open, revealing a naked Kiwi, spiderweb pattern light tattoo atop her bare skin as a cigarette lay nestled in her filter.

"Sup, Kiwi? Give me some good news."

She came up to the two Edgerunners, pass a nervous David as he peered down, handing the tablet to Maine. "The navigation data."

"You fuckin' serious?!" Maine looked down, inspecting the clear map, a smile on his face as Kiwi sat down beside David. "So you actually managed to break into the Arasaka server?"

"... Wasn't me that did it." She admitted, "Got someone else to do the legwork."

"Huh? Who?" The leader asked.

"Just promise you won't blow a circ." She turned her head to him, "It was our chrome jock from last night."

Maine took a single second to register that before his eyes widened. "Novus Octavion!? You're fucking with me! He's a Netrunner too?!"

"Yep." Kiwi confirmed, "Was about to give up on breaking in before I found him in the public server... outside of the Blackwall.

"God damn. I don't know too much about all that Old Net stuff, but that must mean he was out there, with all the rogue AIs and shit..." He leaned back into his couch, "Who the fuck is he...?" Maine then looked to Kiwi, "Anyways, how'd you get him to work for us?"

"The same way to get anybody to do anything. Eddies." Kiwi explained, "Offered him 500 if he could get me into the server."

Maine laughed, "You fuckin' cheap Kiwi. 500? To break into a secure Arasaka server? Hell, most Netrunners I know would've charged 10,000 for an impossible job like that." He shrugged, "Then again, I'm surprised he took it."

She raised an eye, "Does it matter? He did the work and didn't complain... much. After that, got the data and got out." Kiwi then peered at the tablet, "Also got a peep at his spec's serial beforehand."

"Huh?" Maine tilted his head, "You mean his deck's tracked?"

"No, more like, his deck is literally just a public Dataterm he probably klepped."

Even David reacted to that, his eye raised as Maine let loose another round of rambunctious laughter, "Holy fuck! I can't even with this Choom!" He calmed, "A-Anyways, that means we can trace it, right?"

"Yep. Can't really get a location though, but we can contact it, and by extension, him." Kiwi explained.

David looked to Maine, peering up. "You planning to add him to the crew, Maine?"

Maine shrugged, "Can't really say for certain, dawg." He admitted, handing the data tablet back to Kiwi, the Netrunner browsing through it. "A guy like Novus? Seems more like a solo type, but it wouldn't hurt to try and get firepower like that for a job... especially the one we're onto now." He then turned his head to David, "Why you askin'? Jealous you're gonna get replaced?"

"Nah, nothing like that... just that-" David paused, "He saved Lucy and Rebecca from getting flatlined. Now I just wonder... what was his deal with that thing?"

The leader paused before shrugging, "Well, he sure as shit hated it a lot more than we did if you saw what I saw." He then looked up, "Wonder what he's up to now."


Novus stared at the now-filled data chip, hand hooked beneath his filter as Yorick seemed to mimic his actions, tiny clippers grasped beneath its jawless teeth as it peered at him instead. The Tech-Priest was still connected to the data term, debating on his next course of action.

"Hmm..." Novus did a quick search through the database, results on fabricators and crafting benches popped up.

All of them were too expensive and too grandiose, filled with pointless features that he could easily do by hand, or worse off, hinder his own work. He needed something that was more of his style, which meant that making his own fabricator or at least modifying a preexisting one to the Omnissiah's specifications would be more doable, as expected.

Standing up, he disconnected, moving downstairs, internal cogitations still whirring as Yorick followed, floating over his shoulder before separating to continue with its task of defending. The blast doors opened up, Novus entering the courtyard for a short moment as the gates gave way. Before long, he was back on the streets, walking by himself as he peered at the factories. He considered scrounging them again, but the ones in his direct vicinity lacked any useful machinery.

Except for one that made him stop on the sidewalk, the Tech-Priest staring at the sight before him. One of the abandoned manufactorums, a foundry, was falling apart, the roof collapsed in. Yet a fallen piece of the back wall revealed a gigantic tubular smelter, one that could easily be repurposed... if it wasn't almost the width of the entire building itself, perhaps just as heavy too, meaning that construction equipment would have to be used to move it, even if the distance was not so far from his own hideout. He looked down at his credits, wondering if he could hire a team to move it, only to realize that it would probably cost more than what he had at the moment, even with the 500 he had earned from Kiwi.

He needed more money.

"Omnissiah, grant me vision..." Novus quietly prayed, wondering what he would do before hearing someone speak up.

"Hey, Choom. That is some nice chrome you got going there." He turned to see the source of the compliment, a tent set up at the street corner, emblazoned with a smiley face atop a cogwheel. A man stood there, wearing a yellow cap and thick gloves, a double-barrelled shotgun hanging over his rugged jumpsuit, his right arm replaced with a rusted cybernetic. "You wanna buy some junk?"

Novus blinked, coming up to the tent. "Depends."

The man smiled, ragged beard twisting. "I think I got some stuff that might interest you. Happyscrappy's got you covered."

"Happy... scrappy?" Novus asked, the man nodding.

"Yessiree!" The man opened up, "My very own startup. Especially easy with all the factories that have been closing down in Watson."

Novus looked through the man's merchandise, some useful components he could see... yet there was one that had bought him pause.

It was a giant chair, heavy but delicate metal machinery hanging from the side and auspex screens attached to it. He pointed a metal digit at the device, "What is that?"

"Ah, I see that's caught your eye." He then came up to it, "This right here is a Ripperdoc chair, the latest model too. Comes equipped with injectors, metal straps, medical screens, and can fold in a variety of different ways-" The man's cyberarm seemed to twitch, a strained smile on his face. "Ah, sorry, the ol' cyberarm is acting up again." He grabbed a screwdriver, adjusting a piece on the ancient arm, Novus recognizing that the man was doing his best to appease the Machine Spirit.

But without a proper look-through, he doubted the Machine Spirit would cooperate for much longer...

"The arm... can you not get it looked at?" Novus asked.

"Huh? Y'mean this ancient piece?" The man shook his head, "Got this for 'compensation' in the last corporate war, and probably stopped making 'em since then." He shrugged, "Tried bringing it to the Ripperdoc a few years back, but he didn't even wanna look at it, told me I had to buy a new model from him and get it implanted. Course, I couldn't afford that, can't afford anything new..." He then sighed. "And I ain't even the worse case. There are people who have it way worse around these parts. Sometimes, I just wish there was someone who would at least look at older models, I mean, there are so many people with old cybernetics too... who's going to fix their stuff, huh?"

Novus looked down, unable to ignore the obvious sign.

He made a decision, a decision that would net him a viable source of revenue... and favors, in the near future.

"How much for that chair?"


Kiwi sat alone on the couch, cigarette in hand as she puffed out a cloud from her filter. Maine and David had already left, the shutters back up to reveal Night City in all its neon glory.

She raised it to her filter again before receiving a call. Her lids grew wearier than usual, slumping back further into her couch as she accepted it.

"Faraday, what do you want?"

There was a pause before the fixer spoke, mind stutter causing his wording to be a little off. "Oh, nothing- not much. Maine notified me that you were already in the next phase. I just wanted to congratulate you on-on the job... but I was curious about one thing..."

She let out a bit of air, already sensing where the conversation was going.

"Maine didn't exactly go into detail about how-how the breach was accomplished. Although I'm sure you are a very capable Netrunner, breaking into Arasaka ICE isn't exactly an easy task for one person. So tell me-let me know, who helped you in the matter?"

"... His name's Novus Octavion." She was admittedly grateful for the next part, "Don't bother- waste your time trying to search it up, he won't pop up on the NCPD database. I tried."

"Hmm, interesting-peculiar. He must be quite the Netrunner." Faraday noted, "Does Maine plan on inducting him into the crew for the Arasaka job?"

"Dunno- Not sure yet." Kiwi answered.

"... Well, in that case..." She could tell the Fixer was smirking at the other end. "Keep in touch-updated for any developments. Militech has understandably taken a very keen interest in this 'Novus Octavion'. Depending on how things may turn out, there may be a very large cut in it for you."

He then dropped the call, Kiwi pausing before letting out a tired sigh as she mashed her cigarette into an ashtray.

First, it would be a name...

Then it'd be an offer...

And depending on how things went, well-

Kiwi recalled when she was standing with Novus in cyberspace, his show of making an oath to her, promising to withhold his end of the bargain and not break her trust. Even the execution Novus said he'd dish out to himself in the case that he did... Kiwi wasn't sure why or how, but she had a feeling that he would've actually gone through with it. At least Novus had the sense not to reveal any of his past to her, but then again, maybe that was just his honesty, with all the crazy shit she had seen him do...

Maybe the story behind his abilities was just too fucking insane to believe.

Novus really was one of a kind... even if he probably was a crazy gonk.

But Kiwi also knew one thing, and that was that having convictions and honesty was just an expressway to getting flatlined.

This was Night City after all.

"Never trust a soul in NC." Kiwi thought before standing up.

She needed another cigarette.