Some Warpunk in Cybercraft! [Fanfiction]

It's nice to help folks, though I was noticing a worrying tendency to shift into different mindsets around different groups of people. Usually, I hadn't even realized I had changed. Maybe, I had always been that way adapting to suit the needs of the moment. I had never needed to change much back home so I couldn't see who I really was.

That begged the question, was there a "real" me? Nope, set that aside for now. I started breathing in the manner John had shown me while running a list of things in the room. This technique helped to ground you to where and when you were. This help wrangle your thoughts towards your goals not get lost in your own bullshit. Ironically, the method was developed to help distracted children with schoolwork, ages ago, but Assassins seemed to love it. Fun facts from John Wick.

Refocused, I watched the display of affection taking place right in front of me. Way too close. I backed off and left them to their fun.

Susie's was kind of a bitch, but at least now there was an obvious reason for her behavior. I'd have been pissy too.

While George and her continued, uh, testing his new equipment, the rest of the Mox crowed me again. This time asking for their own turns under my hands. The thought crossed my mind that I really should start charging folks for this. Then I thought about whether we really had time for all of this, or was I letting myself get distracted as a means to stop thinking about my latest fuck ups? Then my brain countered with a, "Nah, don't be a dick about it", I could work on my issues later.

So, I had John and Jim line them up and started helping them one at a time.

So many small issues with cyberware. Even having access to a good Ripper was no guaranty that your body could handle the chrome. Also over time even the better install jobs started to wear the flesh down not to mention the stress on the cyberware itself. Thankfully, I could easily take care of the damaged flesh and even strengthen the connection to their chrome.

Healing the Mox fell into a routine. Just to break the monotony, I tried examining them while bringing out some of the instincts and knowledge from my Warp-Smith class. I could identify wear and damage on their chrome while still running Regrowth on autopilot. However, no matter how I tried, I couldn't affect the cyberware with Psi or Mana. No surprise there, just mild disappointment.

There where a few stand out cases. The Mox had a lot of enemies and rivals and often ran afoul of their competition. This had lead to an unreasonable amount of old bullet wounds, poorly healed cuts and misaligned broken bones. Medical care was very much a matter of how much you could afford spend on it. I wouldn't say you got what you paid for, but it did make a difference if you could drop an extra thousand eddies here or there. So, I was seeing many different levels of treatment.

With Phillis, who like to go by Ly, had nothing but issues. Malnutrition, Addiction to a few different drugs, improper Nanite function. I couldn't affect the Nanites directly but I could get the body to flush out the messed up batches. There wasn't an organic part of her that hadn't faced extreme damage at some point in her life. Her cyberware was some of the cheapest and poorly chipped junk that I had seen to date.

She looked and felt like she was in her eighties and on her last legs. But I continued working on her and lo and behold she really did seem like a whole different person on the other side of my treatment. No one could have imagined she'd look like a lady in her twenties again. There was no way in hell I was going to ask her actual age.

Then there was Kaz. She had been the captive of a deranged group of AI worshipers. She was so twitchy she hit me a few times by accident, while she was going over the treatment she had received at the cults hands. I'll spare you the details. Once again, Rita had been front and center in the group that smashed the cult down. I healed the last scraps of flesh left in her and did my best to smooth the ridiculously raw connections.

More and more tales of tragedy.

At some point, my awareness caught golden energy flowing from some of the folks I healed. Sure that made sense I guess. They had faith in me from my acts of healing. Isn't that one of the paths that got us Saints in the past?

As long as they didn't start chanting about me in, what was it? Oh yes, "High Gothic", I didn't see the harm. Might even protect them a bit if another Daemon is running around somewhere.

When I was finally done it was well into the afternoon. And I felt like a wrung out rag. I didn't think I could channel more mana if my life depended on it.

So the fellas and I sat with Rita, Revy, Susie and George, while we shared our rations. No offense to the Mox's cooks but I felt like real food would help me recover better.

Rita, Susie and Revy sent me all of their data on Saphie. I sent all of it on to Alina and asked her to give me the Highlights, while I munched away on a sandwich from a ration pack.

BBQ Brisket. Nice. I noticed it was apparently okay for all the ladies to steal food off my plate. I barely got any of the crispy beer battered fries that came with the sandwich. I didn't see a one of them going for Jim or John's food. What the fuck was that? I had even offered them their own packs, which they declined. Did I have sucker tattooed on my forehead? Sigh, whatever, I had more ration packs.

The next one had a Chicken Rice Casserole that was so delightful, I almost decided to stab Rita when she snagged a bite. I grumbled a bit instead. Once again, I was saddened that my side dishes disappeared before I could get to them. Seriously!?

Alina returned with a profile on Saphie, laying out in simplest terms who she was and what she wanted.

She was a genius. I didn't have a better term for it. She absorbed knowledge like a sponge and spat out amazing ideas. My poor simple brain couldn't follow half of what she had published on her own. A thousands ways to improve life especially where cyberware was concerned. All before she even took her first steps into Academia proper.

As little of her work as I could understand, I already had a good idea what had happened to her, if not who had done it. It was pretty obvious she had been snatched up by some Corp. either to eliminate her before she could become a problem, or to force her to work for them. I didn't need Alina for that much of the puzzle.

Hmm. It sure would be nice to find her alive, but I was not going to bet on it.