Rastislav
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Chapter 11: Visitations
🕑 Added 2025-08-07 18:03:13 +0000 UTCAn: A bit later today since my sleeping schedule is a bitch and a half.
This work hath once again been blessed by the burning gaze of the dread gremlin. Tremble in awe and give supplication lest you find yourself spontaneously combusted.
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The Noodle Seller
Old Chu was one very happy man these days.
His workplace finally got a measure of safety, no gangoons tried to hustle him on the daily, and most importantly, business was booming.
The whole lower Megabuilding and beyond still sang praises of his deep cultural cuisine!
Even the missus was more satisfied now he could afford to fill the fridge with more than just leftovers.
Happy wife, happy life, as his wise grandfather once said.
The rest of the floor also went through a similar transformation, the other shops were now turning a mostly steady profit, and the peaceful atmosphere was enough for the few parents living there to let their kids out to play without fearing for their safety.
Old Chu was still leery of his granddaughter running about outside the apartment, but she hadn’t looked that happy since her parents disappeared one day and he didn’t have it in his heart to keep her at home.
And all of this was thanks to a random message he got one day while he was getting mugged…
The almost three years since then had felt like a decade to the old man, even if the transformation could only be felt instead of seen.
Fucking greedy Night Corp landlords couldn’t even let them get rid of the trash without asking for 'their fair share' the damn bloodsuckers.
“Bah” He scoffed as he absently checked his stall’s inventory “No use in bitching about it.”
“Slow day?” An unfamiliar synthetic voice came from the front.
The old man looked up and froze at what he saw.
A looming cyborg wearing a synthleather coat was seated at his stall, the chair creaking lightly under his weight as a pair of round golden eyes stared at the old man without blinking.
A very familiar shade of gold, Chu noted.
“Ah, it’s you” Old Chu bit out, trying to hide his pants-shitting fear at being in grabbing distance of someone so blatantly inhuman.
Even his head barely looked like one, completely chromed, and lacking both hair and visible lips. The look of a functional war machine, and not a person.
Still, Chu was not a gonk, and forced himself to calm down “Heard you were finally up and about.”
The borg lazily waved his overlong arm “I’d be surprised if you didn’t. I will have three of your synth noodle specials and a RealWater.”
The old man’s hands were already moving by the time he finished his sentence. He nearly dropped his utensils when he noticed the borg’s mouth open but his hands were steady and he went on, pretending like he wasn’t halfway tempted to run off while screaming.
“You, uh” He spoke up after a moment, licking the suddenly dry insides of his lips “Going to be moving about more?”
“Afraid our deal will end?” The golden eyes brightened a bit “Hasn’t even been a month since you last complained about my ‘extortion’.”
“Ahaha” Chu laughed awkwardly “It was a joke, a joke!”
The borg rolled his eyes “Don’t worry, I can access the floor’s systems from halfway across the city. So long as you good people do not forget the reason for your peace, I will keep my floor clean.”
‘His floor’ Chu nearly scoffed but realized the cyborg was completely right “Happy to hear it, Magos.”
“Yes, yes” He tapped the biker helmet Chu had just noticed “Anything happen on the floor I should know?”
Chu, now refocused on his work, blinked “Don’t you know everything?”
“I wouldn’t be asking if I did.” He deadpanned “I don’t spend all of my time people watching I will have you know.”
“Ha! That’s fair.” The old man barked a chuckle and nodded “Only thing I can think of you’d care about is the Maelstrom and Tygers got into another fight three days back, Tygers got back without half of their chooms again, so they’ve been going quiet and hunkering down.”
“Interesting.” He kept tapping the helmet for a few seconds and said “Keep an ear out for things like that, if they are worth my attention, you can skip a monthly payment or two.”
Old Chu grinned, he didn’t mind paying the netrunner who was apparently also a death machine for peace of mind but 300 eddies was a fat stack of cash, even if it was far less than what a gang would take for a much worse kind of protection.
Honor or not, free money was free money.
“The food done yet?” The vaguely amused synthvoice rang out, and Chu realized he had drifted off into lala land.
The old man grumbled but finished his work seconds later, depositing the big steaming portion of the noodles on the counter, and throwing in a generous topping of solid quality beef substitute he got from his old drinking buddies.
Let it never be said Old Chu didn’t know how to repay his debts!
He regretted his ‘principles’ as soon as he thought them as he watched the borg in morbid fascination as he devoured the entire meal in less than a minute, somehow keeping perfect manners while guzzling down an amount of food that would knock out a normal human.
He gulped down his RealWater and sighed “That was delicious.”
“Of course it was” Chu nodded his certifiable Proud Chinese Cook™ nod.
The borg snorted and slowly got up from the creaking seat, covering his head in the biker helm he turned to leave, but not before wiring the cook his money, much to the old man’s surprise.
“Be seeing you, Old Chu.” The borg waved behind him and stalked off.
Only a minute passed before what looked to be half the whole damn floor had gathered around his stall, bombarding him with questions about their ‘mysterious net demon.’
Naturally, he made all of them order something before saying a thing.
Business really was good.
Michael Sobronov ‘Magos’
I rolled my eyes as I watched the greedy old shit extort his fellow residents, and chuckled “Well, can’t exactly blame him.”
Hefting a heavy backpack over my shoulder, and doing a quick check on my Liberty, I stepped out of the Megabuilding and began walking.
I had barely managed to get one hour of sleep, and only did so after I finished working on mom’s new legs. I was unsure if it was an overcompensation of adrenaline that kept me up, or just my worry but I did not stop until they were both perfect.
My right arm also needed some work done, and while my Vulcanus Nanoforge MK1 did good work at patching it up, the imperfect materials used to substitute the heavy damage it sustained meant many parts needed manual replacing.
Thankfully my Servoarms were still perfectly functional and their manual dexterity far surpassed my Manibus implants, so the repairs only took me half an hour and I was back to peak efficiency.
Even if I did devour a few of the more solid quality implants we looted to keep a reserve for near future repairs.
And as much as I wanted to rush to Vik’s as quickly as possible, I still did promise both Misty and him I would have some rest.
...So naturally I spent the past three hours counting down exactly how early would be considered ‘morning at the earliest’ and timing my breakfast perfectly so I could reach Vik’s the exact second I was ‘allowed’ to.
The bustling walkways of Little China seemed to disagree with my plans, and so I was forced to wade through massive crowds of people going to work, while also having to shoo off a few overly curious kids who hadn’t seen a proper cyborg in their lives.
I needed to get that driving chip and fix the van up as soon as possible.
Before I could grow too frustrated with the delay, I reached Bradbury & Buran street, ignored the man preaching about the Corpo’s being inside of our walls (they were, no point in yelling about it.) and found my way to Misty’s Esoterica.
Within which I found a thoroughly dead-on-her-feet Misty whose eyebags were even darker than usual, a cup of steaming coffee concentrated enough to knock a person out and wake them up at the same time wafting under her nose.
“Long night?” I said as I entered the shop.
Misty startled before blinking at me “Oh, hey Mike.” She looked back down into her cup.
“Ah.” I stopped in my tracks “It didn’t go too well then?”
Her head moved up so quickly I was afraid she’d snap her neck “Oh no, it went great.” She said, the slightest tinge of mania to her voice “Jackie was just too much of a gentleman and wanted to properly take me out while he wasn’t drunk.”
Palm, meet face “He always a gonk?”
She giggled more than chuckled at that “It’s what makes him special.”
“True, I suppose” I shrugged “I will hope for your success.”
“Thanks” She smiled “Vik’s is open by the way, you can go in.”
“Right” I nodded and was already moving “Thanks, Misty.”
“Don’t be a stranger, Michael” She called back as the door shut behind me.
Walking down the staircase of Vik’s clinic felt like entering the abyss, but I didn’t slow down for a moment, going in the moment the automatic doors opened.
“Morning” I heard Vik’s voice as he turned his chair around “How can I-“ He paused.
“Hey, Doctor.” I waved.
“Told you it’s Vik to you, kid.” He smiled and got up, waving for me to follow “Honestly, I was surprised I didn’t find you camped out in front of Misty’s when I came to work.”
“How naive, Vik” I said, the informal address still feeling a bit odd “If I wanted to go back on my word, I would have already been inside, waiting for you.”
“Hah!” He laughed “True enough, kid.”
“How is she?” I cut through the chatter.
“Doing better than I expected.” He said and stopped walking, turning to me with a now serious look on his face “With what we both know she probably went through, I expected to have to do repeated invasive operations just to make sure nothing was left infected or contaminated, but when you brought her, her body was already expelling most of it.”
An exhale left me at that “Good” I nodded “That is good.” I clapped my hands to center myself “And her mind?”
“She is still sleeping, and should continue for a few days at least, but she seems stable” He said “Returning her cyberware definitely helped but the shock of losing her legs will take some adaptation.”
Without a word, I unslung my backpack and let it thump against the floor.
Vik looked down at it before ever so slowly looking back up “You didn’t get a wink of sleep, did you?”
“Would you have?” I retorted, no point in finding excuses.
“No, guess not” He sighed and led me to the rear of the clinic, now lugging the backpack himself.
And I was greeted by a sight that somehow managed to make my metal heart twist in pain.
Her face looked peaceful, even if still covered in scars and slowly regrowing hair. Her teeth had been replaced overnight, and her cyberware seemed to have been cleaned up, but even while she was still unconscious, my Optics allowed me to notice minuscule twitches alongside her entire body, telling me in no uncertain terms she was not well.
“How long do you think she will stay like that?” I asked after a long silence.
“Five days, give or take” Vik answered from his seat next to a diagnostic screen “Could cut it down to three with what I suspect you brought inside the bag but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“No” I waved my hand in a negative “Let her have all the rest she needs.”
“Alright.” He nodded “If the legs are as good as the rest of your work it should stop her brain from trying to find false connections.” He gave me a sideways glance “With the right medicine, she should be able to recover fully without physical therapy.”
Wordlessly, I reached into my pocket and procured a fresh trio of nanite doses.
Before he could say anything I spoke up “Doctor.”
He frowned but said nothing.
“You know how filthy this city-” I paused and corrected “This world is.”
He nodded grimly.
“I am showing you this because you have already helped me, and are one of the few people living worth placing my trust into.” My hand clutched the vials “Please, do not betray that.”
His look was more serious than I have ever seen it “I swear, kid.”
“Good.” I nodded, exhaling “These are medical nanites, programmed to repair the human body and cyberware equally. They fix all but the most minor of damage on the cellular level, beneficial both for repairs and proactive use.”
The Doctor needed no elaborations on that, as he shifted atop his seat “Something like that must be incredibly expensive-”
“SCOP and scrap metal” I cut him off, and ignoring his wide eyes and gaping expression I went on “For your help I will give you access to these nanites, but only if you agree not to ever use them in the open.”
That he could use them while his patients were knocked out or simply unaware went unsaid.
He closed his mouth and audibly gulped “Damn, of course I accept.”
“And your more mundane payment” I added and wired him ten thousand eurodollars.
He gave me a proud but tired look “Kid”
“Good work must be rewarded” I said simply “Save your generosity for those truly in need.”
He stared at me for short while and sighed “Alright, fine.”
I felt just the tiniest bit smug as he backed down, but immediately shook it away “My Servo-Arms are back home and I have no practice with my Cyberarms. Can you attach the legs while I observe?”
He must have been surprised at my restraint because it took him a few seconds to respond as he blinked and quickly nodded “Of course!”
“Then let us get to work.”
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An hour later, Vik and I stepped away from the freshly cleaned and sanitized Ripperdoc table, my Cyberdeck buzzing in the back of my head as I went through the manual installation process and checked on every single nerve-to-chrome connection Vik performed.
A few mistakes were inevitably made, but the triple dose of nanites was already working on repairing those under my watchful eye, making the cyberware act like a natural part of the body as no immune rejection occurred during the entire observation period.
“Damn” Vik cursed quietly “It is like a miracle drug.”
“It isn’t even close” I couldn’t help but distractedly complain “The deeper and more precise modifications require my direct oversight, so don’t expect to suddenly not need any immunosuppressants on hand. An independent dose will lower rejection, but never remove it entirely.”
“Still incredible, kid.” He smirked at me “You should be proud.”
“Oh I am quite aware.” I said as the last connection clicked into place “I just feel like voicing it too often is… small.”
“Probably for the best.” Vik nodded “Everything good on your end?”
“Perfect” I nodded “Now all that is left is to wait and see.”
But despite my words, I felt my hope rising, because the small shakes and twitches I had been observing the entire time I was here slowly started to lower in intensity, before almost completely disappearing.
I chatted some more with Vik, going over the details of my nanites before moving on to general cyberware practices. My knowledge and talent and the Doctor’s experience coming together as we detailed many possible mistakes one might make while performing Ripper work.
Another hour later, Vik got the alert that another customer had arrived, and not wanting to answer any curious questions, or stare at my mother’s unconscious body, I stepped out through the back, and headed to the Kabuki Roundabout.
I had an irritating fox to visit.
Comments
Bonobo
Thanks for the chapter, loved it !
Scarletmenace
Thanks for the chapter!
