The trauma teams of Night City were famously overworked and systematically corrupt in terms of medical equity. Uriel knew that the medical professionals of his old world were dedicated to ensuring as many people as possible could receive treatment if possible, for the most part. Sure they might saddle you with crippling debt afterwards, but you'd be alive at the very least. Afterall, a man in debt was often far more profitable in the long term than a corpse.
Night City trauma teams would scan you first, give the level of treatment described by your medical plan, and nothing more. You want painkillers as they stitch your leg together? Better upgrade to the next tier of treatment, you get antibiotics as a side bonus there! He was struck by how… wasteful it was. A prioritization of short-term wealth at the cost of long term parasitism, profit wise. They would be making so much more money if they just gave the treatments and forced a large sum of debt on the target afterwards. A racketeering team could be used to make sure they actually paid.
Then again, this was Night City, the chances of an individual dying to something random before they could actually pay off their debt was rather high. It's entirely possible that they were forced to prioritize the short term to ensure they got something out of it at all. It was an interesting topic to consider, the maximally effective fiscal draining of the citizenry via medical treatment payment plans.
Adam didn't care, and was starting to get annoyed at Uriel. He spoke to the trauma team that showed up after he called them in. The poor boy was practically shaking, having to talk to the Butcher of Arasaka. The other medics were gossipping about Adam not killing this group, and even calling in treatment for them, when they thought he couldn't hear them. Of course he could hear them, he was better than any of these meatbags.
"Platinum Coverage, for each of them. Send me the bill."
"O-of course sir, w-would you like to pay now or set up a payment plan?"
"Now." Adam grunted as he forwarded the relevant banking information. Most people wouldn't be able to afford this, not even most mid-level corporate employees. However, Arasaka pays for almost everything that Adam needed as part of his long-term contract with them, and he hasn't bought luxury items in decades at this point. All he needs is the violence.
His minimum contract cost is six figures, and he has no outstanding expenses. Something like this wouldn't even be a drop in the ocean. He thought about the cost of housing four more people and mentally shrugged, he could always take more contracts if the cost kept rising.
"The AIS team here will be going with them, to make sure none of you tries fucking around while I'm not looking."
"O-of course sir."
The Arasaka Internal Security team was the task force that patrolled the interior and immediate surroundings of the Arasaka tower. Adam wasn't sure why they needed a separate team for something like that, but it didn't really matter. They were the first responders to come to the area when he broadcasted the 'all clear'.
Technically, he wasn't allowed to order them to do anything, but most folks don't try to argue with Adam Smasher nowadays. He told them the injured were company assets and they were to have at least two guards for each to make sure no one tried anything. They were quick to listen. Good, he liked it when meat actually listened when he bothered talking.
Adam mentally upgraded them from 'meat' to 'people'. Uriel called him edgy again.
A call came in, and Adam leisurely answered it. The name that appeared was 'Kate', and the voice was the same christmas-cake handler with the trashy hair as before. Ah, so that was her name. Adam then realized he just thought the phrase 'christmas-cake handler' and told Uriel to quiet down.
"Adam, why are they still alive?" She was tense, nervous that this might get out and damage her career no doubt. She was still capable of annoying him with the first sentence in a conversation, so he reminded himself that he couldn't kill his handler again if he wanted this to work.
"My contract was to destroy the Cyberskeleton. The Cyberskeleton was destroyed."
"And why didn't you kill them?"
Adam paused for a moment, then let Uriel take the reins on the rest of the conversation. He had to sell this.
"I've been thinking about getting a successor recently, 'case some meatbag gets lucky and scraps me."
"...The boy? Really?"
"Strapped himself into a cutting-edge frame he knew nothing about and proceeded to scrap everything sent his way. You needed to call me in to take care of it."
"That was the Cyberskeleton-"
"No. The Cyberskeleton was garbage. I scrapped it without much effort. Look at the boy's file."
He sent the relevant file, Uriel had pulled it up while they waited for the trauma team earlier. A pause as they waited for Kate to give it a look over. Adam then continued, monologuing while someone was focused on something else was a good way to make sure your opinion got a chance to slip into their heads. At least, that's what Uriel said.
"Boy was an unmodded civvie a year ago. Now he's handling chrome that'll make grown men lose it and needing firepower like me called in to handle him."
"I could kill the boy now and he'd still be a legend. Or I can train him up and I might get an equal in a decade or two. Hell, he might be a better killer than me eventually."
"So what does Arasaka want more? A cover-up or a second Adam Smasher?"
Kate was quiet for quite a while, clearly either reading over the boy's file or thinking about what he had to say. They both knew what Arasaka would want more, and they both knew that Adam could simply call his contract holder to get his way here. Kate was fairly high up, but she wasn't the CEO.
"...and the others? Why didn't you kill any of them?"
"Boy likes them, so I said I'd give them my protection. Which means from Arasaka too, alright?."
"Including the girl with the deep-di-"
"Yes."
"...Arasaka will require concessions from you for that."
Adam growled out and thought about what he could give here. Uriel had some suggestions that would make Arasaka very happy. Adam certainly wasn't fucking happy about them.
"I will no longer require the possibility of bystander casualties in my contracts." He grumbled to the handler with the stupid hair. She hummed in response, and he knew he had to give a little more.
"...and I will cooperate with the PR team." Adam hasn't had a tongue in decades and the words still tasted bitter.
The bitch had the audacity to give a happy clap. "Excellent, this is all water under the bridge as they say. Why let a few deaths and a single deep-dive unit get in the way of profits?" She asked redundantly. Adam reminded himself that he wasn't allowed to kill this one. At least until he made sure the meatbag wouldn't be able to kill him in the future. She could die after that. "I'll mark their files as 'untouchable assets', although you will be responsible for their protections and payments. Does that sound reasonable?"
No it doesn't you fucking bitch, He had to attend meetings about being nice now. He grunted in agreement, and the bitch ended the call.
Right, time to order replacement parts for the boy and make the other arrangements. Nothing on the same level as before. Peak-human tier limbs, a Sandevistan, and nothing else. He needed to get used to operating at tolerances that human minds were used to before gradually building up.
None of that overcomplicated bullshit like scythe-arms or such. That shit was pointless, just carry a sword around if you wanted to cut things, you fucking junkies. Ah, he should probably order new chrome for the rest of them too, while he was at it. Standard peak-human replacement parts for all of them, they can replace them later if they felt like it.
'We should get a sword.' Uriel chimed in.
'Why?' Adam responded
'Swords are cool.' Adam didn't have a rebuttal.
What? He was a man too, all men like swords. He made a note to look into swords later as Uriel gave a mental cheer.
He idly wondered how they would react when he told them they were moving in with him.
—
The Night City Institute for Medical Sciences was a section in the Mega-Building directly adjacent to the Arasaka Tower. It was technically a branch of the Night City Medical Center, in the same way the president used to be a branch of government. It was the difference between New Money and Old Money. Those that could afford actual treatment went to the Medical Center, those that were born rich enough to afford platinum treatment went to the Institute.
It was also the place in which Adam Smash got his chrome installed, and the place he told the Trauma Team to go. They were technically supposed to go to the Medical Center, as none of these individuals were even rich enough to afford treatment on their own. They were firmly in the category of 'untouchables', people that could never afford to step foot in this place, let alone get attention.
But most folks don't argue with Adam Smasher nowadays.
They were rushed over and treatments began immediately. They were stabilized, put under premium medication, and went unconscious while their bodies were put together exactly as good as they were before. Well, it was technically worse in the boy's case, but high-tier Arasaka brand cybernetics for everything except the still-biotic parts of his head and torso? That was still better than most could dream of. His chrome before was either off-brand or made up of multiple different brands stitched together.
What they didn't tell the peasantry, is that the coding of each brand was designed to slightly conflict with each other. The stated reason for this was to make sure that copyrights were not infringed upon. The actual reason for this was to increase the rate at which chrome-junkies underwent cyberpsychosis. A good doc or netrunner could fix these small conflicts if they took the time to, but it was long and tedious work. That, and very few docs or netrunners on the streets were good or patient.
A violent Night City was one the corporations could easily justify higher military presence in.
With a "matching set" of chrome, the boy should have his mental strain reduced by a fair margin, even with as much of himself replaced as it was. This would make Adam's job of keeping him sane enough to train easier.
"Tell them where I am after they recover from treatment." He told one of the passing nurses. She jumped in fright, and he wasn't sure if she even knew who he was talking about. That didn't matter though, because he knew that she would ensure that the correct people heard it. She was just cowardly enough to fear retribution if she didn't. Uriel chided that he shouldn't bully the cute nurses, that one even had a bob-cut.
Adam was more paying attention to her shapely rear, if he was being honest. Uriel gave out a bark of laughter.
Message delivered, Adam walked over to one of the private rooms, opened it, and walked inside to sit on the floor. None of the benches or chairs here could support his weight, only the heavily-reinforced furniture of his own floor or the machining rigs of the installation room meant for him could handle it. The installation room was closed while not in use, with absolutely no one allowed to get in. Inside that room was the company secrets about the cybernetics of their best murderer, after all.
Right, that would be some time yet unless he gets an alert for a job, so it was time to go over his current loadout with Uriel. The bodiless fire inside his code had some interesting ideas for what might help his combat efficacy, and they needed to go over what could and could not work. Then they needed to draft up some design documents and send it to the R team responsible for Adam's cybernetics, to see if any of them could be implemented.
Uriel also wanted to go over the aesthetics, but Adam shot that down for now. It would be useless to talk about that until after the PR meeting they had to attend later. He checked his schedule to see that the bitch had already made the appointment for tomorrow. Adam grumbled to himself.
A couple hours passed like this. Uriel throwing suggestions out, Adam rejecting the ones he didn't want to bother with, and the two of them typing out schematics for everything that passed muster. This was the draft document that would be sent for the actual professionals to try and turn into workable chrome.
He heard footsteps coming up to his room, and stayed exactly as he was on the floor. Legs crossed as best they were able, hands resting on the knees, back perfectly straight against the far wall. A woman with pastel-rainbow hair in a hospital gown stepped around the corner. It was the boy's girl. Makes sense, she didn't have any outstanding damage as far as he was aware, all the docs likely did was replace her chrome with a matching Arasaka-brand set. She would have to take it easy for a couple days, but otherwise is perfectly fine to leave right now.
The AIS guards he told to watch her were outside, and he sent a message dismissing them. They weren't needed to provide security for her anymore. She was within Sandevistan range of Adam Smasher, the bodyguard of Arasaka.
There is no greater security than that.
She stared at him like she was a rat bravely walking up to sniff the dozing tiger, which was an accurate metaphor he supposed. She didn't say anything, merely looking at him sitting on the floor. She then looked at the furniture of the room, and went back to him. A look of subtle realization came across her face.
Man, the kid had good taste, this girl was adorable.
She walked inside the room, keeping the door open, and sat in the far corner of the room away from him, near to the door. She was light enough to be able to use one of the very cozy-looking chairs. She didn't say anything, just sat ready to run away at the slightest threat, and stared at him.
Eh, if she didn't want to talk, Adam was fine with that. It was the boy he was interested in here, she was merely a hanger-on. He turned his gaze back to the wall and went back to talking with Uriel, optics dimming slightly once more.
It was another hour or so according to his internal clock that someone relevant came by. A nurse had come by at some point and left food for the girl, but that was it. This time the individual who wheeled in was their driver, what's-his-face with the nice mustache. He came in and saw Adam on the floor, and the girl on the chair. The girl turned slightly to nod at him, but her attention was still firmly on Adam. The driver showed good corporate survival instincts by nodding at the girl, but addressing him verbally first.
"Mister Smasher, a pleasure to properly meet you." It was absolutely not, Adam knew, but the driver wasn't about to say that. He was taking the path that he thought would keep him alive the best, and that was by brown-nosing the most dangerous person around.
"Driver." Adam said in return, acknowledging him but nothing more. The driver probably realized exactly what kind of man Adam was in that instant and tension exited him subtly. The driver knew how to interact with him from that one exchange, figuring out that Adam was a man of action and not words, that he wouldn't care about proper decorum so long as he didn't try to piss him off.
Uriel called it 'barbaric civility', and Adam took a liking to the term after Uriel recited a quote from the pulp-fiction writer who coined it.
Anyways, the point was that the driver was very good at reading people. A valuable skill in Night City. Uriel commented that he was better at reading people than he was, but that was okay. The driver wasn't a sub-process of Adam fucking Smasher after all.
Adam dismissed his guards too.
The driver and the girl chatted quietly about something or another, probably in code to make sure the other was alright or some nonsense like that. But the conversation quickly died down and the pair were left sitting on the other side of the room on those damn chairs.
Another nurse brought food in, which the driver actually ate while it was still hot. Man was smart enough to eat while he could and practical enough to know that if Adam wanted him dead he would already be a smear. The girl just kept staring, clearly not having an appetite right now.
About half an hour later, the gremlin with dyed skin came in. Wheeling her way through on a wheelchair and then directly up to where he was sitting, much to the immediate panic of her friends. He stared at her blankly as he ever was, she looked angry in her hospital gown before pausing.
"Why are you on the floor, gonkhead?"
…Adam gave the girl credit, she was certainly brave. Uriel started laughing.
"I'm too heavy for this furniture."
She looked at the aforementioned furniture and then back to him, a quiet 'huh' escaping her lips before she shook her head and remembered that she was angry.
"You had the fuckers replace my chrome! Who the fuck does that?!" Indeed, her chrome was replaced. Standard 'peak human' arms replaced the bulky garbage she had before, and optics replaced with high-standard 'baby-blue pupil' eyes. Discounting her skin color, she looked like a regular woman now.
Well, that and the seams. So not really like a regular woman at all thinking about it.
"Chrome from differing brands are subtly coded to conflict, increasing the mental strain and thus the rate of cyberpsychosis." Adam replied simply.
All of them recoiled at this. The dye-skinned woman slumped, looked down, and gave a quiet 'oh'. The mustached driver leaned back and looked at the ceiling, frown set on face. The boy's girl retreated into herself, burying her face in raised knees.
Ah, they were thinking about how much chrome the boy had, weren't they? Adam idly wondered how many separate brands they bought from, must have been a lot for this kind of reaction. He should probably reassure them somehow. Uriel, do you have any suggestions?
"These are all standard issues, I'll fund your next set to your specifications." He offered.
The dye-skinned woman looked at him for a long moment, a sad expression on her face that got slightly worse looking at him.
"...Thanks, I guess."
Well, Uriel wasn't perfect at this 'socialization' thing when it came to comforting people it seemed. Uriel apologized and Adam dismissed it, it was better than what he could have done. After that exchange it seemed like the dye-girl wasn't interested in talking anymore. She wheeled her way over to the boy's girl and put a hand on her shoulder, letting it rest there.
She did eat the food the nurse brought in, so that was good he supposed.
It was several hours later that the final individual finally arrived, in his own heavily reinforced wheelchair. Rolling in and staring directly at the man who tore his stolen chrome limb from limb. The boy was here.
The boy's friends all got up to greet him (well, the boy's girl did, the dye-girl and the driver rolled over to say hello and whatnot). The boy's girl hugging him from behind and burying her face into his neck. The boy checked on all of their well beings, making sure that none of them were messed with while he was out, and asking them the situation through direct messages. The boy's girl never answered verbally, at best nodding into his shoulder.
Finally after their meet and greet was well and done, the boy was staring directly at Adam, and Adam took that as his cue.
The boy had literally all of his chrome replaced, and it was weaker than before by quite a large margin. Only equivalent to peak unmodded humans rather than so far beyond them.
Well, that wasn't exactly correct. The 'peak human' series of Arasaka cyberware was slightly better than unmodded human records, all of them rounding up to more even numbers. A marketing decision under the idea that 'friendly numbers increase sales!'. They were right, of course, the marketing experts were good at their jobs. A lift capacity of 1500 pounds, a run speed of 30 miles per hour, things like that.
Regardless, it was not at the level he had before. The boy was slimmer and shorter now, looking more like how he did when he first got the Sandevistan in his spine. Not quite that slim and small, but closer to it than how he looked before strapping into the Cyberskeleton.
The boy had a strong gaze still, his mind was clearer than it had been for months, and he was looking at him like a dog about to fight a bear to protect his herd of sheep.
…Uriel was having fun with these metaphors, huh?
Adam stood and locked eyes with the boy. Normally this would be the part where they have another standoff to determine who was top dog, but Adam wasn't feeling like it. He had already proven that when he tore the kid apart.
"You're awake. How's your chrome?"
"I'm not having problems. What's with the downgrade?"
"I need you sane to train you."
The boy was about to be mad about that, but his girl tightened her arms around him and his eyes softened. He reached both arms back and held her as best he could for a moment. He turned back to Adam.
"About that, this 'apprenticeship' thing, give me the deets on it."
Deets? What the hell did… ah, details.
"I tell you what to do, you follow me as I work, you get a share of the pay."
"...Kinda sparse on info there, Smasher."
"What do you want? A contract or something? I'll draft one up and send it to you later then. Sign it or don't, I'm not your dad."
"Yeah, and what's stopping you from stuffin me like a joytoy here?" The boy replied fiercely. A pause in the room. Uriel started laughing again. The dye-skinned girl put her head in her hands and gave a 'don't say that you, gonk.'. The boy's face reddened, but he refused to change expression or look away. He realized the mistake of his wording and was too proud to show weakness in going back on his words.
"I'm going to assume that means 'What assurances do I have that you will not try to betray me'."
The boy nodded, a bit too quickly.
"I don't have a particular reason to, if I wanted you dead, you'd all be dead."
The group tensed at that again, and Adam sighed. Talking was hard, he much preferred murder.
"I haven't needed to read a contract in years, kid. My handlers take care of that for me, and they know that if they screw me over I rip them in half. The bossman doesn't care, they're all replaceable and I'm not. I'm old fashioned, I'll draft one up if you still want it, but really your word is all I need."
The boy nodded in confirmation, and Uriel got to work typing it up. Adam kept talking.
"Hell, try it for a year. If you want out by that point, I'll buy tickets for all of you to go wherever you want. I'm not going to have an unwilling squire, you're talented, but not talented enough to make forcing you to stick around worth it."
Adam offered this because he had nothing to lose with it. He only needed the boy around for a year, to take care of the meatfucker to come, after that it didn't matter if he stayed or not. So sweetening the pot this way cost him nothing.
The boy was laser focused on that offer, though, just like Uriel knew he would be.
"Anywhere? You mean that, Smasher?"
"I do. You want out after a year's time then I'll pay for your trip. You won't be under my protection anymore though, so Arasaka might send some agents after you, but I won't do anything to stop you."
"Not even if they tell you to?"
"A man is his word."
The kid breathed in and out at that, closing his eyes and thinking for a moment. He opened them and locked eyes with Adam's own.
"Alright, I'm in. You better not be a liar."
Adam nodded and moved to exit the room, waving for them to follow.
"Alright then, we're moving out, send me your home addresses."
The dye-skinned girl chimed up at that. "Why, you taking us home, big guy?"
"Picking up your belongings, you're all moving in with me."
They all paused at that, footsteps stopping behind him. He didn't bother stopping, they would follow in a moment he knew. Sure enough, they did, footsteps resuming. A bit faster than before, to catch up with him.
He let Uriel hack the nearby hallway camera to look at their expressions. Adam chortled in his head, they were a funny bunch of meatbags.