WARNING: In this pilot, there are HEAVY spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077. If you haven't completed the main story of Cyberpunk 2077 or care about spoilers for the main game, I recommend bookmarking the chapter number for this and come back to it later. If you are still here, then you've accepted the risk for spoilers or don't care for them.

Now that I got that warning out of the way… I've been playing a lot of Cyberpunk 2077 lately. I played it on day 1 on PC and have been having a blast in it. There are a lot of missions that are excellent and thought-provoking. Once some of the issues involving performance are fixed for last-gen consoles (or if your gaming rig can handle it), I would highly advise picking it up. Again, a warning for endgame spoilers for things I'm going to talk about after this. I wanted to explore the character I ran with during the campaign being thrown into a different universe altogether with different morals and history to see how he would cope/react. Yes, "he". The V I ran with is a dude with a giant schlong. Joking aside, I did run with a male V. There are a couple of ideas that I got running in my head involving Cyberpunk such as Ghost in the Shell since it shares a lot of themes and technologies as well and maybe even Mass Effect.

Summary: V decided to live for 6 months with his new Nomad family rather than go and cross the Blackwall. On death's door, he finds himself with all of his cyberware and weapons in a new city inside a new world in which superpowers are the norm and superhero sightings and intervention is commonplace. This world is vastly different from the one he left behind and like all Americans had to adapt and reconstruct their lives after the Collapse and multiple Corpo Wars, he too must adapt to this new world.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my copy of MS Word and my desktop. Cyberpunk 2077 belongs to CDPR and the original creator Mike Pondsmith; My Hero Academia belongs to Viz Media. I only own this idea. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.

NOTE: This was written up originally before any story-based DLC was released which may impact the final scenes of the game. Please keep this in mind when reading this as with my track record there is a chance that this idea may come out well after DLC is released.

XxXxXxX

'Well, this is how it ends, isn't it?' I think as I look out over the Grand Canyon. Somehow, even in a post-Collapse America, this wonder of the world managed to escape the megacorporations' fingering. The sun was beautiful as it started to set over the plateaus of the southwest. 'At least it looks beautiful. Not a bad way to go.'

I had known this had been coming for months, six of them if you want to be specific. After my transference from meat to metal and back to meat, I was told I had six months to live. Well, I decided to make the best of it, that being I took a page out of Judy's book: I traveled around. During my short stint of having Johnny SIlverhand stuck in my head, I amassed a lot of wealth. Wealth that got put towards a fleet of vehicles for sale and enough weapons to easily outfit a private army, which I guess the Aldecaldos pretty much were for me. Being the significant other of the current leader (and dying) I could ask for anything and it would be granted; within reason, of course. The Aldecaldo Nation would once again become large enough to compete with Snake Nation and a few others that were up and coming. This Nomad nation would be strong for decades to come, assuming that the leadership after Panam decides to step down keeps the momentum going.

We stayed camped outside Night City for a few weeks while I took care of business. By 'business' I mean getting all of my assets to the Aldecaldo camp and taking several people to my garage to help choose what vehicles could be useful and what others were useless and could be sold. Weapons were always useful and none were discarded. Panem seemed impressed in my taking care of her rifle and improving upon it. Then there was the personal business. Settling of accounts and saying goodbye to good friends in Night City that wouldn't leave. Jackie's family being one of the key ones. His mother knew what I was going through, I had told her a very abridged version of events after Jackie's wake. She saw me as one of her sons, like the many workers of her bar were as well. I said goodbye to River Ward and sister and sister's kids; things were looking up for them, River had just submitted his application to become a licensed PI, and considering Night City he's going to need all the help he can get.

I dialed up Judy and she linked back up with the Aldecaldo convoy outside Night City. She figured that someone who's had such an interesting short span of time in Night City should have it archived. She also wanted to help someone she saw as a good friend through his final days. I had a lot of stories to tell about Night City. The interesting characters and people that made up the Corporate city-state were certainly something, to say the least. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Kerry Eurodyne became the manager, fun uncle, and inspiration for many of the newer Us Cracks' singles making it big all around the world. I was one of the first people on the mailing list to get their new singles; I figure it was just Kerry's way of saying 'thank you' for all I did for him and his new outlook on life.

I picked up a shard and looked at it. It was a diary and audiolog of every thought I've had over the last six months. Everything I wish to impart to the next generation in thoughts, ideology, and overall wisdom. In it were specific folders, one for each contact I had in my life that I wanted to reach out to. Some were time-delayed while others required a password to get in, something that a newbie Netrunner could figure out if they truly wanted to. The reason that this was password protected? I wanted this to be unlocked at a specific time in someone's life. My kid's life. Panem's only 4 months pregnant, I'll never get to see the little tyke grow up. I can only hope that everyone in the Aldecaldo clan does right by both Panem and the kid. I finished my final entry into the shard including the most updated Will I could create, ejected it, and placed it into a protective case which would hermetically seal it until opened.

I looked out at the sunset and slowly feel myself slipping away. "So, this is how it ends," I mutter before fully slipping away. I felt like I was floating in a void. 'Wow, the afterlife sure is boring,' I thought. However, that thought didn't remain for long as I slammed into the ground. "Motherfucker!" I call out in annoyance. I open my eyes to see a city, but this wasn't Night City. It was too… technologically stunted, I guess would be the phrase for it. Then there were the people. None of them had chrome, all were deformed or different from the average human. Though some were in the crowd. I was in an alley so none of them had seen me yet. Looking beside me was a single sword: Satori. The blade that I klepped from Arasaka's AV. I slipped it underneath my coat and checked myself over. All cyberware was working as expected and I still had all of the weapon blueprints I had worked on; all I would need were the raw materials. And I also had my Mantis blades, so I wasn't defenseless. I stepped out of the alley into this mysterious city.

XxXxXxX

Years later…

I used my Mantis blades to claw myself to the top of the UA USJ facility, the modified Nekomata sniper rifle that had the blueprint name 'Breakthrough' slung on my back. It was one of the many blueprints I was able to easily recreate with the technology of this world. One may ask why a random cyberware enhanced human was on what was essentially government property wielding an extremely powerful firearm. Well, the appropriate response is to tell them to mind their own business. The main reason is that I am and have always been an Edgerunner with a morally dubious sense of justice. I draw the line of criminal activity when it concerns kids. And well, keeping my ear to the ground I found that a certain 'League of Villains' was planning on assaulting what was essentially a school. So, I decided to intervene, but from a distance. I may have cyberware, but these guys had some powerhouses on their team.

I readied Breakthrough and aimed down the magnetic scope which allowed me to see through the dome which consisted of thick concrete. From this range, it was easy to tell who the assaulters and defenders were. There was a large entity facing off against a largely built man. I adjusted the scope and targeted the head of which appeared to be lit up in the shape of an exposed brain. I held the trigger which built up the capacitors and once fully charged, held my breach to steady the shot, and released the trigger. The tungsten spike, accelerated to hypersonic speeds, punched through the concrete like a hot knife through butter, and even left molten concrete in its wake. It punched into the brain of the entity which caused it to slump to the ground. My cyberware hearing already tuned to ignore the loud gunshot was unaffected. There was a large cloud of unknown material floating around with a solid metal cylinder. Had to be another one of them. I lined up the shot and let the second round fly. It flew through the cylinder and the entity that was in it staggered back.

I looked through the scope to look over the rest of the facility. There were two individuals circularly surrounded by many others. Seeing as the 'heroes' would love to have prisoners for interrogation, I shifted my aim towards the nonvital extremities. An entire clip's worth of rounds rang out severing limbs but leaving them mostly alive. Looking around, the kids would have to fend for themselves. Even with the base model of Nekomata rifle, it would have a tough time slicing through the many layers of concrete, steel, and just open-air while maintaining proper velocity. I scanned the area once again and saw a kid no older than the other kid that was across the clearing from him. What set him apart was the sheer amount of metal around his body making it look like gloves embracing him. My inner shrink tells me that's daddy or mommy issues. But I took no action, he wasn't doing anything. He raised an arm in command and both he and the metal cylinder guy vanished. Hacking into the camera system confirmed this. Many turned towards where my shots were coming from and saw the peaking sunlight leaking through the holes. More heroes appeared at the entrance of the USJ and I decided that this was my cue to beat it.

I stealthed my way back to my bike, a recreation of Jackie's Arch I had inherited by hacking all of the cameras to ignore me. In their camera records, I would appear as a white splotch. Completely unidentifiable. I proceeded to delta the fuck out of there.

XxXxXxX

The entire ensemble cast of the UA academy attending the USJ was in shock at what just happened. All Might fought against a monster of a villain and just when everyone thought all hope was lost a loud gunshot rang out and the brain of the monster called 'Nomu' had exploded in a pink mist and fell lifeless to the ground. A second one would ring out a second later in this moment of shock Kurogiri had also been hit and whatever it was passed right through both sides of the metal which contained his form leaving a molten hole in its wake. Several more shots rang out where cries of pain were let out. Students that were near these cries reported that the amateur villains' arms and legs started to explode off of their bodies. And, as soon as Shigaraki vanished with Kurogiri, the gunfire stopped, and the individual was never found.

"I think I may have found something," Snipe said as he walked up to the gathered Pro Heroes. He held out a bullet casing and what was better described as a spike of metal.

"Our 'Archangel' used a gun, big surprise," Present Mic commented.

"It's not the type of weapon, but the materials." He pulled out a magnet that stuck right to the spike. "Ferrotungsten. From what I've seen, it was accelerated via electromagnetism."

"And…?" All Might asked.

"I only know one person that could have produced anything like this." Snipe held his hand on his hip which grazed his revolver. "It's the same person that made this." The crowd of teachers remained silent as he continued. "When I first became a Pro Hero, I needed someone to smith a firearm and there are very few people on this side of the globe with the specifics I had in mind. There weren't experienced gunsmiths in the R&D department of UA so I looked around, finding the only gunsmith in the area. This gun… is his handiwork."

"What's his name?" Present Mic asked.

"He only goes by the moniker 'V'."

"Maybe we should visit this V character."

It didn't take long to reach the office and workshop of V. It was located downtown in a populated area. It was an unassuming storefront that had no sign, only hours of operation listed in the window. All Might was there alongside Snipe and Nezu. The first thing that they all noticed was the CCTV camera staring down the entrance. The three entered the shop which was in stark difference to the outside building's appearance. Where the outside resembled a brick-and-mortar building, the inside was clean, sleek, and borderline futuristic. Polished wood floors and polished, sterile white walls enveloped the waiting area. On the walls were firearms that V had created himself locked behind the deceptively fragile-looking glass. There was some kind of futuristic sounding music playing over the PA system. If one were to describe it, it would be… poppy. They approached the only person in the storefront, a woman who didn't present any physical Quirks was typing away at a computer.

She looked up at them, seemingly annoyed. "Appointment?" she asked.

"No, we, unfortunately, do not have an appointment," Nezu replied.

"The boss doesn't see anyone without an appointment." She tapped away at her keyboard for a few moments. "He has an opening next month. A Monday at 4 pm."

"But that's almost four weeks away!"

"He's a busy man. Don't shoot the messenger. You want the appointment or not?" she said all without looking up.

All Might took this opportunity to attempt to charm the woman. "You see, we need to talk to your boss about something extremely important that cannot wait," All Might started. "As you can tell I'm-."

"All Might. Pro Hero currently teaching at UA. I watch the news." She looked at the other Pro Heroes. "Which means you're his colleagues." They nodded. "Sorry, but rules are rules. The only way you're going to see the boss is by appointment only." She started typing away again.

"Surely there must be something-."

"And whatever it is, it ain't worth losing my job over."

"It's an official investigation that we could really use his assistance on. Time is of the essence!"

She looked up at them, but her gaze wasn't tilted towards them but to a camera. "Listen, if you were some two-bit punks you would have been thrown out of here through the dumpster or physically out of the front door. But since the security system hasn't been triggered manually-."

"Security system?" All Might asked, sort of confused. He didn't see anything.

She pointed to all four corners of the room on the ceiling. There were slight bulges in with what looked like armor plates. "Heavy ordinance. There's a reason why the interior is sterile white and why we've never had a theft." None of the Pro Heroes wanted to ask what that meant as the definition could fit many things. Though powerful, caught off guard they may have met their fate. She reached to her ear. "Boss, I have three PH's asking for you." She paused for a moment. "All Might, Snipe, and some other guy. Colleague, I think." There was another pause. "As you wish." She looked up to the three and pressed her hand against her desk. A light went off scanning her biometrics and a door to her right opened with a hiss. "Mr. V will see you now." She looked to Snipe specifically. "Keep the iron holstered, he's a faster draw than you are."

That was unsettling. "Thank you for the warning," Snipe graciously thanked her.

"Whatever." She returned to her work. "Up the stairs to the third floor, left at the top, second door on the left."

The three heroes walked through the door which sealed behind them. The interior of the stairwell was the same as the showroom. Industrial and sterile. They ascended the well-lit stairs and passed the second floor's door marked with a '2' on it and a keypad to the right of it, and proceeded to the third floor which was already open. Walking into the hallway, it gave of an… executive feel. The floor was checkered white and black marble with walls consisting of dark wood paneling up to waist height and then stonework from there to the ceiling. They approached the appropriate room and entered it. Immediately they were hit with the smell of acrid smoke, specifically the type that smokers reeked of. Sitting in a high 'executive chair' sat a man dressed in clothing that one wouldn't expect the owner of a company to be wearing: a wifebeater with a pair of dog tags hanging around his neck paired with jeans. Behind him was a katana on display with two intricately crafted guns under it crossed in such a way that they were both stylish and functional if needed.

XxXxXxX

I'll be honest, I didn't expect them to show up as fast as they did. It had been maybe five hours since the villain assault on UA's USJ and I had returned to work. And by 'work' I mean a private investigation I had been hired to do. Kid's mother came in searching for her son. Went missing over a month ago. Neither Pro Heroes nor police had found hind nor head of the kid. Everyone who worked in missing persons or knew how it worked is that you had forty-eight hours to find the missing person before finding them was borderline impossible. Frankly, it was less, but that was the rule most of the time. Just one day, the kid disappeared on his way home from school.

I had spotted the Pro Heroes as soon as they stood in front of the storefront, the CCTV notifying me that someone was loitering in front of the shop. Taking over the camera revealed who was there and one netrunning session later I had all the information I needed. All Might, Snipe, and the principal of UA: Nezu was in front of his shop and were coming in. I looked over my options. The first thing to note is that they were dressed in civvies and not their uniforms, so they weren't here on 'official' Hero business. They also didn't beat down the door and beelined it for my office, which means it wasn't an emergency in their eyes that required them to be out of uniform. Interesting.

They approached my 'secretary'/cashier Sandra. She was one of those Quirk users that couldn't really be distinguished that they were one until you saw the X-ray of the missing pinky toe. She tried to turn them away but they wouldn't have it.

My comlink went off, an icon of her face appeared on the HUD of my Kiroshi's. "Boss, I have three PH's asking for you," Sandra reported.

"I'm aware. Their identities?" I ask to confirm.

"All Might, Snipe, and some other guy. Colleague, I think."

"Send them up."

"As you wish," she ended the line.

She opened the 'employees only' stairwell and the three entered and approached my office. I proceeded to take out a pack of cigarettes and tapped out one. Goddamn it Johnny, you got me addicted to these things. I lit it up and took a deep breath in, allowing the nicotine smoke to coat my lungs. I breathed out slowly as the door opened, the three Heroes entering.

"Gentlemen," I greet without standing up. "Can I offer you a drink? Whiskey, perhaps?" I ask as I pour a finger's worth for myself from the decanter.

"No thank you," All Might replied. "We're actually here to discuss something that you may be able to assist us with."

Snipe stepped forward and presented a spent brass case and the tungsten spike fired from Breakthrough. However, I didn't let my mask slip. "This was found recently at a… crime scene," Snipe paused to find the words he was looking for; "We were hoping that you could assist us to figure out what could have fired it." He set the items on the table.

"Why do you ask? Shooter ice someone?" I ask in turn as I take the spike that I knew was mine.

"It's complicated," the gerbil appearance colleague started.

"I never got your name."

"You can call me Nezu," he introduced himself. "The shooter saved multiple students' lives and assisted in the takedown of what can only be described as an abomination."

I hefted the spike in my hand, feigning an inspection. "Tungsten is the primary material of this bullet; the color and weight give it away. Ferrous iron or steel rod runs in the center. It's too heavy to be used in any ordinary rifle realistically. Caliber is .338 Lapua but it isn't tapered in the back as rifle rounds normally are. You're looking at specialty hardware." I took one look at the casing and set it down. "Centerfire brass casing, nothing out of the ordinary. Same caliber."

"What kind of specialty hardware?" Snipe asked.

"A railgun, perhaps." This wasn't a lie. The Nekomata model was essentially a railgun.

"That's impossible!" All Might tried to rebut.

I couldn't contain a chuckle. "Really? We live in a world where superpowered humans roam the globe running faster than the eye can see or having guns for hands and a railgun in a rifle caliber built by some super genius is 'impossible'. Sure, whatever you say."

"Speaking of Quirks," Nezu chimed in to change the subject, "may I ask what yours is? You have quite the striking appearance."

"The chrome?" Nezu nodded. "Au natural human. I'm just a bit… different from others."

"Different?" All Might asked.

"That's for me to know and for you never to find out," I say, laying on the mystique.

"And why is that?" Nezu asked.

I took a drink of my whiskey. "Because that means all forms of civilized discussion have failed." I tapped the cigarette in my hand against the ashtray, removing ash from it.

"Like civilized discussion that happened at the USJ today?"

"I wouldn't know anything about that. I was here, working."

"Well, someone who used that saved my life," All Might chimed in.

"That's certainly fortunate if you ask me."

"We think you're the person who did it," Snipe added.

"How so?"

"You said it yourself," he confidently pointed out, "that the weapon that would be used is of 'specialized hardware.'"

"And if it was one of mine?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Then I suppose we'd have to thank you, then arrest you for vigilantism," Nezu replied and jovially at that. My Kiroshi's looked at one of the hidden turrets located in the office and put it on standby, ready to fire whenever I commanded. None of them noticed the slight glint in my eye. "However, we'd be more than willing to look the other way if you were to tell us how you heard about the attack on the USJ today."

Looking at it analytically, I was sort of backed into a corner. If these three were some street corner punks trying to stick me up, they'd end up with three bullet holes and an unceremonious burial with cement shoes in the bay, or the dumpster. But these were high-profile Heroes and public figures. If they went missing then there would be many people that would notice their disappearance. That only left me with one option. And no, not suicide.

"I'm a private investigator for hire as a side gig," I break the silence. At the same time, I activated the display screen behind me with my hacking module and brought up the relevant data, along with a picture and DNA profile of the kid. "I was paid to find a kid that had gone missing and neither Pro Heroes nor the police wanted to look for him after the 48-hour period. This was a month ago." I brought up a map with CCTV footage I hacked out of different databases. "He was last seen here at this intersection speaking to someone with a female physical description." The camera footage started to roll.

"She isn't able to be seen," Nezu observed.

I nodded. "No matter what angle of footage you look at, her face is always hidden. The only thing to go off of is what she is wearing. Navy blue skirt in a short cut, and a Japanese-style school uniform with a red ribboned scarf. She was spotted with a cardigan button-up sweater with loose sleeves."

"That's not a very distinct uniform," Snipe commented. "The only other thing to go off of would be the pale skin, not exactly an uncommon appearance around here considering the weather."

"Correct. It wasn't difficult to track the two though." The map showed a line and a popup where they passed by a CCTV camera. "They moved on foot for about six city blocks before heading behind this building. All along the route, the girl keeps herself hidden. She knows where all the camera positions are." An image of the building comes up, it looks like a truck depot/warehouse. "About ten minutes later a cargo truck comes out along with three others going on different routes." The map cleared out to show the route of all four trucks. "It took a while, but I figured out their routes. The only one that was weird was this one." I highlighted one of the truck routes and replayed the route in accelerated time, CCTV footage showing up when the truck passed a camera. "Only at one stoplight was there a camera at the right angle." The footage was blown up on the screen. "Running the footage through a lip-reading program it caught this useful phrase: to the lab with the others."

"While this is interesting information, where does your appearance at the USJ come in?" All Might asked.

"I hired a homeless guy to watch the area to keep an eye on the frequency on who was doing what. That girl? She never showed up again at this operation, but others did and they followed the same pattern. He started hearing that someone was gathering a bunch of discontented individuals for something big. It was only heard by my informant that it was going to be the USJ by a loose-lipped participant passing by."

"And your appearance at the USJ?"

"I intended to injure one of the participants, particularly one of the higher up ones as the ones brought in were cannon fodder. Bodies meant to go into the grinder to wear their true targets of the attack down to strike easily. I wanted to… speak with one of them."

"You mean interrogate?"

"Potato, potahto," I waved off. "The point is, if they're involved then they'll know where the kid and the other missing persons went."

"These are hardened villains; do you really think you'll get anything out of them?" All Might certainly seemed skeptical.

"Over my life, I've learned certain… enhanced techniques in interrogation. Give me a knife, a blowtorch, and twenty minutes and I'll have them spilling their entire life story, their banking information, and their love life."

"You intend to torture them?" All Might was certainly shocked at that.

I laughed, "No. Most of these small fries have never seen anything harsher than a slap on the wrist or have gotten away with anything. The thing is with interrogation it's the fear of the unknown and what may happen not what will happen." Though I was open to being more physical if needed. "Though I am curious, what happened to the body of the big boy I took down?"

Nezu shook his head. "Unfortunately, we were unable to recover the body, it was taken by the villains."

"Shame." It really was a shame. It was the only lead I had in this whole thing. The only thing that didn't make any sense was this monster that seemed impervious to everything and appeared to be some kind of bipedal attack dog.

"However, some blood that was on the spike your rifle fired was recovered," Nezu added.

"You wouldn't happen to already have it indexed and DNA profiled, would you?"

He shook his head. "It is was just recently recovered by one of our science teams so it hasn't been done yet."

I tented my fingers together in thought. "I have a feeling that our goals align. My missing person, your villain attack. If you'd be willing to share the indexed data, I feel like I will be able to close my case or continue elsewhere."

"I think we can agree to that," Nezu said with finality. He wouldn't hear any objections from All Might or Snipe. "After all, you are a licensed Private Investigator."

To be continued…?

XxXxXxX

So, that is all I have for this story idea this time around. This sort of sat in the back of my mind ever since I completed most of Cyberpunk 2077 and I wanted to explore some things like I normally do. In terms of closing notes, I don't really have any for this story. The only thing that I will be doing in regards to Cyberpunk 2077 is that I am planning a Star Wars pilot which should hopefully drop soon.

I'll see you next in whatever I decide to put out next.