Chapter 2: Work Work Work

  Later that evening, Cal found himself walking through the bustling streets of Japantowched as people dipped in and out of the secret clubs, os, and brothels and took imosphere set by the various public establishments that lihe streets and alleyways. Despite, or rather because of, the nature of a majority of these busihis neighborhood was known for a high amount of traffid a distinct ck of surveilnce.

  No one liked having their dirty undry aired, and people from all walks of life often found themselves here to indulge in any of the litany of vices avaible. As long as you had the eddies to burn, you could do just about anything in Japantown.

  Cal had found out most of this info from the small talk he made while perusing wares from the various vendors in the Kabuki Roundabout. People were happy to talk as long as he ending eddies, and he had spent a good deal of his.

  The Tyger Cws would naturally have some kind of record of your activities in Japantown, but they liked to maintain the illusion that what happens here stays here, just like a mini version of Las Vegas. As such, cameras and security measures were only utilized where absolutely necessary. Most of the old cameras in the area were smashed or shot out, likely by the TCs, to create blind spots and unrecorded paths to hide the more illicit activities that took p the subdistrict.

  After a long walk with a few detours, Cal found himself in a slightly dipidated parking garage. He tried his best to avoid any cameras on his way there by taking a circuitous route, and he avoided the grourance of the garage to slip by the structure’s security measures, but he still wasn’t certain he mao get there pletely unnoticed.

  He made his entry by using a nearby dumpster and some of its tents to jump up to the railing of the 2nd level, hoisting himself into the garage. There were still cameras around the entrao the building the garage was attached to on one side, so Cal took a moment after his entry to tie a bck t-shirt around his fa a makeshift mask, just in case.

  Stig to the shadows and slinkiween cars, Cal had made his the ramp to a Chevillon Thrax parked half to the level. He had scoped the car out immediately after infiltrating the garage, marking it as his target due to its appearance.

  He didn’t have any of the skills that the previous Cal had from a life of stealing cars, but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve to get the job done.

  Slowly making his way over to the driver side door, trying to be as stealthy as possible, he pced his hand on the door handle. Pausing when he made tact, Cal reached out with his teopathy.

  He had spent the afternoon practig this very a on the variety of cars parked in his megabuilding’s parking structure to surprisingly great effect. Since most cars rarely had redundant or isoted systems, that being a feature generally found in high end or modified cars, he could easily reach their puter system and gain full trol within moments of tact. The only thing he found difficult was the inexplicable nature of his ability. It seemed like it either worked perfectly, or not at all. The intuitive nature left him at a loss for how to push it and grow his powers, leaving him fused and frustrated.

  Not five mier, Cal was rolling out of the garage ihrax after resetting the puter to factory settings and disabling the built in transponder.

  As he poihe car towards the bridge, Cal finally exhaled a deep breath he didn’t realize he was holding. His hands had been steady and his as fairly smooth, but this was still his first time doing anything like this. Add in the propensity for a lethal rea everyone in this city had for the smallest sleight and the gravity of his situation finally hit him.

  ‘I’m gonna have to get used to doing stuff like this… Not just this though. I’m gonnna have to start taking bigger risks and put my ne the li some point. I didn’t nd in fairy tale nd. This pce will chew me up and spit me out if I don't nut up a my shit straight.’

  Cal shook himself out of his introspe and gave El Capitán a call on his holo.

  “What’s up ?”

  “Got a preem Chevillon Thrax for you. System is reset to factory settings and the transponder is disabled. Where do you want it delivered?”

  “Dam kid, stepping up yame now, are you?” El Capitán responded with a hint of disbelief.

  “It was bound to happeually. Don’t act so surprised and just shoot me the coords.”

  “HAHAHA! I khere was something I liked about you. Sending the deets now.”

  His drop off point was in Vista Del Rey which gave him a good opportunity to wind down and take in some of the sights while he drove. The real Night City was much bigger than his memories. It was a true Megacity, sprawling out in every dire from the bay like mold, making the sprawl of cities like LA and Chicago from his previous life pale in parison.

  There were areas with higher density, and some with lower, but it was all bathed in the neon glow of holographiners advertising this or that with the occasional AV jetting through the cold night sky. As he crossed the bridge, he was surprised to see an ad zeppelin dotted with lights and holographic dispys meandering its way down the river between districts bleating out ads for Nid Zetatech. The thing seemed like a relipared to the sleek Arodihat flew around it.

  A little more than a half an hour ter Cal pulled into an alley at the coordinates he received, greeted by two Valentinos who barely spared him a sed gnce. After Cal exited the car, they went to work, one popping the hood and prodding pos with a tool unknown to Cal, while the other jumped into the driver seat, eg his personal link and sing through the car’s systems. A few mier they both buttoned up the car and gave him a curt nod before driving off as Cal received a call on his holo from El Capitán.

  “Good work kid. My guys told me everything checked out just as you said. If I expect this quality of work from you iure, you won’t be short on eddies any time soon.”

  “Yeah, I got some new soft from a runner who wanted me to test it out in the field before they used it for something. Didn’t ask any too questions since I got to keep the daemon as bonus payment for the gig. Just don’t expeything too fancy.”

  “Works for me . I’ll send your payment and an updated list of cars. Keep up the good work.” El Capitán said before ending the call

  *Payment Received: €20,000*

  -----------------------------------

  The day Cal woke up with a renewed fervor. He was a bit shocked by his own as, having jumped straight to grand theft auto after just arriving in this world, but he definitely felt less anxious than he did yesterday and credited that partly to his newfound fiden his ability to survive here. His immediate money s were now resolved and earning more would not be an issue if st night was any indication of his future prospects. The only problem was he didn’t think it really was. Last night had been a split between a det pn, careful execution, and a healthy dose of pure luck. It would be o think that every job would go just as smoothly, and Cal khat he’d need a lot more than €20k for the e he had already started to pn out.

  He wasn’t just going to chip any cyberware he could get his hands on. Even if the mysterious ROB had indicated he didn’t o worry about hag or cyberpsychosis, he didirely believe it. With his teopathy, he could likely make modifications to existing cyberware for better security, performance, and patibility, so that was exactly what he po do. The only problem was first he’d need eddies for that. A LOT of eddies.

  He had sidered trying to steal what he wanted, but with his current level of ability, that was a ughable idea. He would be blown six ways to Sunday before he could pull off any kind of real heist, leaving him dead or disabled. The prospect of being forced to use a full body version was not something he found eveely appealing, despite the power it would give him. First of all, with his current level of teopathy, he wasn’t sure his ability would work through a prosthetic essentially nerfing his one major be in this world. Sed, the idea of cutting his body away and being little more than a brain in a jar was not a thrilling cept. Full body repts required way more maintenand regur checkups than your average cyberid prosthesis, f him to trust and rely on a tei just to keep him alive and mobile. No, Cal po keep most of his meat bag body, reinf it with cyberid bioware as necessary.

  The first phase of his “upgrades” would be a cyberded some neuralware to enhance his abilities as a runner more to avoid suspi about his abilities during ih ss than a real need for the e. He was going to get a high end deck, an ex-disk, and some self-ICE that would hopefully help expin his abilities in a more realistic way. That alone would likely run him close to €80k and that was just the start. His initial pns also called for some better optics, a biomonitor, and naneons adding another €90k on top of that. e wasn’t cheap and he wasn’t trying to cut ers with his future body parts, especially the ohat would go into his head.

  He still ools to work with cyberics as well as the experiend knowledge to modify them and quickly realized all that tech wasn’t going to fit into his small apartment. He didn’t even have a way to power most of it without ripping high voltage power lines out of the walls and splig into them. After thinking over a few options, there was only one realistic idea that came to him with any hope of actually w.

  ------------------------

  “What I do for you kid?” Victor Vector said from his “red er” looking over the brim of his gsses at the newer to his domain.

  *Sigh* “Why does everyone insist on calling me kid?” Cal responded a bit dejected.

  “Ha! Put some meat on those bones and lose the baby face, maybe you’ll have a shot passing as a real adult. Now out with it. I’ll have to disappoint you if you’re here to e up.”

  “No, nothing like that sir.”

  *Scoff* “Just call me Vic, kid. Now spill.”

  “I want to make a deal. Let me use your workbend tools when you aren’t busy and I’ll refurbish any cyberware that es through for free. I just he hands-on experience, so I figured the most reputable ripper in the area was the best pce to start.”

  Vic just scoffed again and shook his head.

  “Fttery will get you nowhere, kid, and I'm not running a school or daycare. Try somewhere else.”

  “e on, Vic. I’ve heard yood people and I don’t have anywhere else to go for this kind of thing. I just need access to some broken ted the time and tools to figure a few things out. I’ll stay out of your way whenever you have a er, and judging by your posture when I came, plus the out of the way location, I suspect you have a good deal of down time.”

  “True, but my ers e to me not just for the quality of my work. They t on my discretion. Doesn’t do me any good having a new faking around in the back when someos carted in half dead with multiple GSWs. So tell me: Why should I help you?”

  “As you’ve already observed, I doly have an intimidating presence. I doubt I’d be able scare off any of your ts even if I tried. Then there’s the free bor I’m and ara set of hands. I live over in H10, so if you really need help in an emergency I'm no more than 20 min away, unless I’m on a job. Holy, from yood guy” rep I kinda assumed this was the kind of deal you’d jump at.”

  “Hmm…. So what’s your deal then? Trying to join my line of work?”

  “ly. More ied in learning more about cyberware and bioware. I don’t like the idea of corps putting back doors into my e and I figure there’s only one real way to fix that: Make it or modify them yourself.”

  “That’s a dangerous prospect kid. You sound like a cyberpsycho in the making.”

  “Listen, I’m not in this to fully e up. I like my fleshy bits. I just don’t want the e I do pn on chipping to fuck me over when I most or send my data to some corpo pig with nefarious iions. The only person I fully trust is myself, and even that’s not an absolute.”

  “Not a bad policy. A little crazy, but that’s par for the course in this city… Fine. e ba a few days and I’ll have some cyberware to put you through your paces; see if you’re worth the deal. Now shoot me your deets and buzz off.”

  “Thanks Vic.” Cal said as he sent Vic his tafo before turning to exit the ripper’s ir.

  The meeti both better and worse than he had expected. He had his foot in the door and was hopeful this would lead to the experience he o realize his future goals, but Vic was certainly more wary and prickly than he had expected. It wasn’t actually that surprising, irospect. Trust didn’t e easy in Night city, and anyone who trusted easily usually ended up face down in the sewer. Still, he had a shot and that’s all he needed for now.

  -------------------

  A little after 1pm, Cal found himself oform waiting for the NCART at his building. He probably could have just walked to his destination in City ter, but he kinda liked the NCART. Sure pretty much every car smelled like piss or wet trash t degrees, but the view from the suspended monorail was sed to none ihe city. Seeing the streets like this really sent home the fact that this was his new reality. It was only his sed day here and he had already started adapting. If he was being ho with himself, the idea of living the rest of his life in Night City was starting to fill him with a swell of excitement.

  He knew he could die in the middle of some crossfire between gangs at any moment et swept up in any of the many cases of corporate espionage or warfare, but that thought had started to make his heart beat faster in anticipation instead of dread. The atmosphere of the city was iious, both literally and figuratively, and he was being more and more aced to it with each passing moment.

  He didn’t have anything he really missed from his old life. His day-to-day had bee a monotonous grind before his transmigration while this new life was chalk full of excitement, danger, and opportunity. ROB had gotten that bit right at least. Part of him thought that there could be some mind fuckery going on to make his ideals align with the omnipotent power that put him here, but he’d never know for sure and even if it was true, it robably for the best. He had already lived a life of quiet ina. If any potential brainwashing he received helped him to cut a new path, he was all for it at this point.

  It was still the middle of the day and he wasn’t about to just sit around or run off to some club to burn thru his eddies, so Cal was on his way to grab some packages from Dex for a few deliveries around the city. He still had a little trepidation about w for Dexter Deshawn, but Cal reasoned he was more likely to get shot by some gonk oreet than for Dex to screw him over. The man was a fixer at the end of the day. Ftlining delivery boys wasly ideal for maintaining one’s rep.

  Cal didn’t eveo see the man. He just grabbed the packages from his “associate” and took off to make his deliveries. He spent most of his trips on the NCART and got to see a few new ers of the city, further grounding him in this new reality. Night City still felt MUCH bigger than what he had in his head. It wasn’t that surprising sidering the limitations of game design, but it was a refreshing experience. Until he got shot, that is.

  On his way to make his st delivery at the southern edge of Japantown, Cal was crossing the street when a group of Tyger Cws got into a shootout with the NCPD. her party cared to check their fire, a few pedestrians falling from stray shots in the opening volley. Cal was caught in the open. He was in the middle of the street behind the TCs with no cover as bullets whizzed by. After the first few sh out, he quickly turned and dashed for cover behind a cars parked on the side of the street before he felt a sharp pain in his back. He stumbled but maain his band get to cover as the cracks of guhe crashes of shattering gss, and gs of metal impag metal deafened him.

  Sitting up against the front tire on the opposite side of the car, Cal reached behind himself to probe the spot on his back that was screaming in pain. There was already a rge lump and the pain was nothing to shake your dick at, but his hand came back free from blood much to his surprise and relief. A cracked rib was better than a hollow point to the back, that’s for sure.

  The jacket he bought yesterday was already paying for itself as he imagined any medical aid he’d need after getting shot would ore than €5k and would likely also cost him some of his inal parts.

  The rest of the gunfight didn’t even st five minutes. A sed group of NCPD had e dowreet to reinforce their brothers, trapping the small group of T a pincer and quickly redug the group to a pile of corpses. Cal didn’t know what caused the gunfight to break out, but he didn’t really want to stick around to find out. With all the otion, he would put money on the officers shooting him if he so much as looked at them wrht now.

  After slowly making his way home, Cal threw his y bag in the er of the room a over his aplishments for the day. He hadn’t gone back to Vic’s or ventured elsewhere to seek treatment after getting shot. Worst case, he had a deep tissue bruise and a cracked rib, but there wasn’t really anything a ripper would do about that kinda thing. They’d probably just overcharge him for some the exam and toss him some painkillers before sending him on his way. It’s not like he and Vic had a great rapport as of yet and he wasn’t about to go pester the man for free treatment.

  He had made another €4k from his deliveries for Dex that afternoon and decided after this little run in with the w, he’d had enough a for the day. Cal turned oV for some background noise and decided to settle in for the night to do some light researd get a better feel for the current state of the city. Reading always helped him fall asleep aill had a few questions he wanted ao about his new reality.