Some Warpunk in Cybercraft! [Fanfiction]

DenB

Again, I'm going to assume you came here because of the settings, and were searching for this kind of story.

If you are unfamiliar with both of these settings, but still want to read this story. Let me know, and maybe I can guide you to some good resources.

Of course, you probably wouldn't have gotten this far.

Though with the internet that shouldn't be an issue to begin with.

Oh, and Ryan is only slightly more team dog than team cat, but Ruger would have eaten any but the fiercest of felines. If you care about that kind of thing. 

If you think his love of dogs isn't going to affect his decisions down the road...

Sinnamin, as it turned out, liked talking a whole lot more than dancing.

She laid a lot out for me, about the Corps, about the Gangs, and about how life worked on a day to day sense for people.

I still didn't have a lot of deeper context, but I knew some places and people I should avoid.

She did drop a major bomb on me though.

I had mentioned Ruger, and she asked about that. When I told her she got a stunned look on her face.

"So you must be super preem rich?" She started pulling a little back.

"What do you mean?"

"Nobody can afford gene builds that aren't top shelf loaded."

She told me, I thought she was lying, she had to be.

No dogs, no cats, no birds, barely any rats, but plenty of bugs though.

I started sweating from my eyes. I might have let out a couple of unmanly sounds.

She seemed incredibly distressed. I guess she had never seen a man leak stress from his eyes before.

"How do you get through life without dogs?"

She didn't have an answer.

Were these people even worth saving if they let dogs die out? A stone began to form in my heart. I am not sure those folks could or should be helped.

I held on to that feeling for a moment, but let it go, for now. The average person had nothing to do with it. Probably.

We went back to talking, she seemed happy to get to lighter topics like gang violence.

I managed to get the year, if not the month, through context. 2074.

Also, a picture began to form about what I needed to do to get by here. I required work, but had no acceptable ID, the answer to both of those problems was a Fixer.

Fixer were shadow brokers dealing in everything below board, anything shady or outright illegal. They could be your fence, your bookie, and your limited contractual boss. They could get you information, or buy the things you knew.

Yeah, needed one of those.

Sinnamin knew a Faceman, which was kind of a lackey to a bigger Fixer. Someone that could be cut out before you got to the head honcho.

She gave me their contact detes.

Before that, I had to "get chipped". At least enough to interact with the world everyone else saw. Enough to get an identity setup.

Plenty of answers to be found on the Net.

She gave me a few names from here and there, and a list of pro and cons. One name stood out as being the least likely to screw me over.

Viktor Vektor.

Best of all, he wasn't too far away.

When time was up, I thanked Sinnamin, and headed back to the bar. It was even more balls to the walls busy.

"So you get caught up, Ryan" Mateo asked as I sat down. He gave me a nod.

I returned it. Yeah maybe I was too quick to judge. Still wouldn't trust him with my girlfriend though, if I could ever find one.

"At least a little better of an idea how screwed I am. You got anything substantial to eat around here, I'm running on fumes?"

"Sure, we can whip up something, just don't expect The Gourmand experience." (AN: The Gourmand is a restaurant in my expanded world, does it already exist in Cyberpunk lore? Should, if it doesn't)

"Better than Buck A Slice will be great. Please."

He saw the terror on my face and chuckled.

"Yeah we can do better than that scop." His eyes flashed putting in the order.

I decided to live a little and order a rum and cola.

A few minutes later I had a plate of what looked like loaded nachos. It wasn't bad at all, just off. Cheese not quite right, unsurprising. Meat with a weird texture and not quite beef flavor. Jalapeños that really weren't snappy.

But compared to that "pizza" it was heaven.

I payed up and left a good tip.

"Thanks Mateo."

"Anytime Ryan. You're not bad for a Bennie."

I when and collected my iron. A different lady was working the counter, friendly but not overly so.

The scary bouncer lady, who name was Rita, according to Sinnamin was displeased.

"Hey gonk, your car fried a couple of Dorphers. Keep it on a leash. We don't need bodies sticking up the joint."

I unconsciously stood to attention. But this was interesting, apparently they could see the Probes right now.

"Yes ma'am. You want me to drag them away?"

"Nah, we already threw 'em in the dumpster." She sigh exasperated, "Cars zeroing junkies. What next, vampires?" (AN: Oh Rita, you shouldn't feed me a line like that.)

"Thanks Rita, you have a good night."

She snorted at me.

"Get out of here, Bennie." Smirking at me.

Scuff and Fix reported it was clear. I was amused that they seemed to be happy to zap some gonks.

Back in the car I made my way over to where Misty's Esoterica was supposed to be. Across from Gomorrah.

A Dollhouse. The concept of Dolls disturbed me. The levels of abuse some of them would face, I shuddered.

I left Fix to guard the car, and took Scuff with me.

I did find Misty's, and it was still open.

I entered and got another surprise.