after that gig took a day to relax. I was fine and everything for the most part but I guess it was a lot to process being in my first gun fight. there was what happened to me before I met V and she did of course teach me a little bit of the basics of how to handle a gun. even got a little bit of range time with her. apparently I'm a natural with a gun at the time though I just thought it was being lucky. still couldn't shake this feeling that it wasn't the first time I held a gun. every time I pick one up it felt so natural. I took the whole day to dwell on it but I couldn't really come up with anything. I could do things I don't remember ever doing. I'm craving crap I've never tried before! also food that I have practically been raised on taste fucking disgusting now?! when did I get so goddamn picky?! everyday it's getting worse. there's no images or concrete memories but it's like a different me is coming through more every day.
I still don't know what to make of The Nightmare I had last night. sitting in this trailer I didn't recognize with crap I didn't recognize. i... it wasn't okay. my mind was racing so much pain. I felt so pathetic and useless. then I look over and see a gun. I don't recognize the model but it's definitely a gun. I start to reach for it and I wake up with a cold sweat. V looks pretty shaken up when she saw me said I kept mumbling things in my sleep. " why can't I be normal! or " I want it to stop!" before she could do anything I woke up. I told her about the dream and she didn't say much about it mostly because I don't think she could make any more sense of it than I could. she was worried it had something to do with what I've been through but it didn't feel connected at least not to me. anyway I guess there's no point in dwelling on that any further.
" come on choom let's go!" he said slapping the side of my leg with the back of her hand. I had been quiet all morning laying back on the couch staring up in the ceiling. if I had to guess she was tired of me moping around. " and where the fuck are we supposed to go at 10:00 in the morning? you get a message from Sebastian or something? did he have a change of heart and decide to give us a bonus after all?" we made it clear to Sebastian we weren't entirely happy with poor Intel we got on the gig. he simply told us that we faced one of God's unexpected challenges and persevered.
" no and honestly I'm not surprised. only time you get something like that is if you're a little higher up on the food chain or if you find something juicy to bring back to the fixer. anyway no I'm taking you somewhere. come on get the fuck up get your shoes on. chop! chop!" she was being pushy and it was making me all the more suspicious. either way I still got my shoes on and followed her out the door and to the car outside. " you're not taking me to a prostitute are you? I'm turning 15 not 18. taking a teenager to a gunfight is one thing but a prostitute *tsk tsk" surely not." I was fucking with her of course trying to make it seem like nothing was bothering me. my comment of course earned me a smack on my chest with the back of her hand. " oh fuck off you weirdo! I'm not taking you to get laid! although... good score your ass some killer BD's. "
I almost told her hell yeah but my feelings towards V we're complicated. on one hand I have been crushing on her hard. on the other hand in a lot of ways she was like having a big sister.
so you tell me would you ask your crush for porn or your big sister? well if you're perverted ass would then good for you! " Naw I think I'm good. besides it's not like I can interface with those things anyway." I told her trying to look out the window to hide my blush. " suit yourself." I could almost hear her suppressing the urge to chuckle at my expense. " huh? what are we going to sogo's clinic for?" it was the only reason I could think we would be in this area what I couldn't think of is why we didn't just walk. " shhhh less questions more following." she said as she parked the car and he got out making me feel like I had no choice but to follow.
V only had the bare minimum of what she needed to interface with the computers like I said before. personally slots for shards or other links stuff like that. obviously with her white and black cat like eyes she didn't have her original eyeballs. but as far as I know that they were nothing special just basic cyberware to interface with the rest of her Tech letting her make phone calls send messages read shards stuff like that. so I thought maybe she was getting an upgrade and wanted to take me along for some reason to see how it was done if that was the case I was curious but also jealous. I used to only have a mild interest in cyberware but secretly lately I have found myself craving it which honestly has scared me. the last thing I wanted to do was to become addicted to cyberware and succumb to cyber psychosis.
going inside the docks Clinic I look over at the chair with a little bit of envy. V walked past me up to dunk and handed him a shard. " well kid are you ready?" Sogo ask me directly putting his hands on his hips. " am I ready for what?" I asked Sogo all the sudden feeling very nervous. " for my favorite Chooms birthday present!" V said loudly before the doc could speak. " V here made arrangements for my clinic for the day. personal link slots Optics and everything you need to get you started. while you're in the chair she'll be getting a head start on putting in some information to help set up your account so you can stop carrying Eddie's in your pocket everywhere. looking at about an 8-hour surgery kid. luckily for you I got what I need to put you under so you'll be done in a Flash. " he said as he scratched the back of his neck.
before I could say anything I felt like everything froze. at first I thought I was having some sort of episode until I heard a whisper in my ear. " this is sooner than I expected... however enough of your wish has been granted that you are more than ready for this surgery. you have nothing to fear my lost soul." as soon as the voice was done speaking everything went back to normal and I quickly jerked my head to look behind me. if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't have any cyberware I would think I was having some sort of cyber breakdown hallucinating. what really set me off a little bit was that the voice sounded familiar. I couldn't help but feel reassured by The Voice. even though I had no reason to be reassured by a hallucination. " hey easy Choom it's all good if you don't want it. I didn't hire goons to hold you down or anything." V said holding up her hand sounding worried when I turn my head back around and looked at the ground. " no..." I said before a smile creeped on my lips and I looked back up at the pair of them. " what are we waiting for let's get to cutting!" I said with a smile on my face as a walked over and plucked myself on the chair.
" all right part of this is going to be done the old fashioned way. going to hook you up to this machine over here that's going to monitor your vitals and gradually give you anesthesia as you need it. best thing I need is you waking up well I'm removing an eyeball." I believe that was the doc's attempt at humor but it would have helped if he had at least smiled when he made the joke if it was a joke. " it's all good doc I trust you. " he said is he hooked up a couple of sensors to my body and then found a vein in my arm inserting a needle that was attached to the machine. " see you in a bit. " she said giving my shin a few Pats As the dock flipped on the machine. " thanks for the pres-" and just like that I was out.
the doc was right it did feel like it was done in a Flash. well aside from the few moments I'm pretty sure the machine fucked up and I started to wake up. pretty sure no one noticed. the first time I woke up I was flipped on to my stomach feeling something touch my back. " that's the nanites right?" that voice could only have been from V which means the one that replied had to have been Doc sogo. " yes. the neural processor will send them out everywhere through the spine so that the mind can communicate with anything else he gets installed in the future. importantly what else I'm about to install next." everything went blank again until I started to hear the voices a little while later. " huh... weird seeing his arm open like that... you'll be done soon after you give him some ocular implants right? this whole thing's only taking like two and a half hours why does it take so long?" V V was only being curious but she sounded skeptical. " it's because we need to give the nanites plenty of time to spread out and do their thing. easier for them to get everything connected while he's asleep. now get back on the computer! it's profile needs to be ready to be registered after he wakes up or do you want to be here all night too!" sogo said after getting annoyed with being questioned about his work before noticing that I was a bit lucid and smacking machine quickly knocking me back out.
" all right he should be coming to you in a second. get the bucket ready sometimes they throw up when they first get new ocular implants." my body twitched a little bit as I started to wake up this time on purpose instead of a malfunctioning machine. " don't move too quickly Xander. it can be a little bit disorienting. you might experience headaches nausea dizziness and fatigue for a little while. your mind is going to be a little bit of time to adapt to the cyberware in particular the Neuralware." I lifted up my left arm squeezing my hand a few times moving my finger before giving him a nod tell him that I understood what he was saying. " congratulations Choom you've officially been modded. so how do you feel?" V sounded excited for me or maybe proud of herself for getting me this gift. no idea what it cost but that chard with all those Eddie's better of covered it or else I'll feel guilty if she cut into the apartment funds for my sake.
" I feel... strange. like I got some new limbs?" I wish I knew the expression that was on sogos face because apparently it was priceless for some reason. did hear his chair moving though before V spoke up. " hey should you be connecting to him like that already?" I heard her say making me move my head and then suddenly feel his hands on my head moving it over before he plugged into the side of my neck. " it's not going to hurt him just need to check something. " Sogo said before going silent. " very interesting... your body is taking to the implants and the nanites very well...they... well they seem to be very at home in you. Mr Zander why don't you open your eyes up for me very slow please." I did as I was told slowly opening my eyes. everything was blurry at first before they quickly came into Focus. the first thing my eyes focused on clearly was V's face. I must have had really poor vision before the operation because she had never looked more beautiful.
" you're not going to start drooling are you? hey does that mean he's good to go?" she said making me feel a little bit embarrassed. " yes just while he's connected let me taking his information along with his biomarkers into the system. the upload isn't completely legitimate of course but no one should be able to tell the difference. the Netrunner that sent this up for me that's very good work you have nothing to worry about. you should see all your information in front of you? it's okay if it takes you a moment you just need to skim over it and make sure it's correct if it is just submit it and I'll upload it. " I did what I was told and skimmed over the information. everything look correct my year birth and birthday my name height all that usual crap. all this information so that I can make and receive phone calls along with having a personal bank account. well also can't forget being able to interface with the world like everyone else. I really can't wait to surf the net with this thing!
" tell me Mr Xander does everything feel all right in the nausea or numbness? maybe pain or perhaps even blurriness?" he asked me sounding a little more Curious than I would expect. " no not really everything is coming in pretty clearly. maybe a little bit dizzy trying to focus on the text." I told him as I finished skimming through it and submitting it. " you'll be able to purchase all kinds of things for your display in your daily life but not much of the mainstream stuff will be much used to you being a Merc. the stuff that will be useful to you will cost you plenty of eddies. just don't get addicted to surgeries like this take things slow pay attention to how your body reacts to new cyberware. " I was feeling good better by the second as he explained all of this and couldn't help but sit up despite him starting to move to put me back down on the table. " yeah I got it but really I'm starting to feel pretty damn good. like... like I didn't know I was missing a puzzle piece before until now. " both of them had a similar but yet different expression on their face. Sogo looked more concerned while V looked concerned and impressed.
" just remember what I said all right? don't make me have to lecture you! also two pups now the next and a few hours! your body is already adapting well but that doesn't mean it won't try and reject it later. so don't forget!" the hard ass had a heart that was clear so I didn't argue and took a couple of Puffs right on the spot giving him an expression that told them I understood and that I would do it. " come on you ready to get out of here?" V asked as I hopped out of the chair looking around a little more. it's definitely obvious to me now that I didn't have perfect 20/20 vision before now. everything was so Crystal Clear it was awesome. " yea let's go. thanks for the implants Doc!" I told him as I waved to him only being replied to with a grunt.
" where are we going now? work? home?" I asked her once we got closer to the car. " no I had something else in mind." normally I would first be very very skeptical but on the other hand it was my birthday and she just paid for my first implants. soooo fuck it if this other thing happened to be somewhere to get into another gunfight I'm in. now that I think about it I wonder if I'll be a better shot now with this Clear Vision of mine? " well? spit it out what did you have in mind?" I said as I open the car door and hopped in. " thinking we should go party!" she said enthusiastically starting the car with a smile. I swear you would think it was her birthday and not mine. " V... told you already I'm turning 15 not 18 they're not going to want me in the coyote. " telling her this only made the smile on her face widen as she took another turn. " yeah we're going someplace else actually."