Chapter 5 - Delivery Boy, Motivations, Gun Testing & Damn Itch II

Cypher pondered a bit. Having no option, and not even knowing that you could make that much fucking money selling porn, he accepted the porn expert's words… for now, at least. He'd need to do some personal research later.

For now, he needed motivation, and money did that job well enough. He wanted to get some decent food, or at least try all of them and pick whatever tasted decent, no matter the ingredients.

"By the way." He raised his right hand and waved it, all fingers spread. "What the hell happened to my middle finger? Why is it mechanical?"

"Pfft!" Judy burst into laughter for a good half a minute. "You don't remember?"

"..."

He had actually tried his hardest to remember it. But there was nothing, and that was confusing. How does one not know how they lost their middle finger?

"No idea, actually."

"No shit, you were buzzed to the moon on glitter and whatever else you packed into your system when it all went down. Wild day, choomba. Anyway, get those deliveries squared away; story's too big to dump right now. I'll run it by you when you swing back. See ya."

As Judy left, Cypher just stood there, looking at his mechanical finger that he could use like a regular finger.

Even the damn finger's got a backstory.

Chuckling, he left Lizzie's Bar, waving at Rita before heading to the nearest delivery location on his motorbike. It was Megabuilding 10, and it really was one mega structure, meant to house an entire town inside it. Technically, one could live their entire life inside it as every facility was in there. From food to entertainment, guns, and possibly hookers, too.

Ugh, why am I thinking of hookers?

He parked his bike as safely as he could and strolled into the building. While there was always a danger of some random gonk shooting him, he knew the best way to avoid that was to act strong, confident, and threatening.

Good for him, he looked so fucked up and mentally unstable that people walked out of his way on their own, probably scared he'd shoot them randomly.

Wait a sec, isn't this building the one where…

Instead of going to the fifth floor where the delivery was supposed to go, he went to the eighth floor just to check things out. He remembered that part like the back of his hand and reached the door in question. It was where V should be living.

Available for rent?

Clearly, no V was living there yet.

Am I too early? He tried to remember V's life. He knew that V wasn't in Night City for a while, but the timing wasn't clear.

In the end, he returned to the elevator and reached the fifth floor to make the delivery. He eventually reached a door and rang the bell.

"What?"

"Sweet dreams." He responded to the intercom, giving the password Judy had added in the delivery details.

The metallic door slid open an inch, just enough for the BD packet to slide in. As he did that, two greasy fingers caught it, and the door closed instantly.

That was it, nothing eventful, nothing scary. Cypher turned to head to the next location. He honestly preferred such degenerate weirdos over gun-slinging chrome junkies.

The next place he went to was in Japantown. Not a megabuilding, but not far from it either. He felt a bit worried being there, knowing that it was Tyger Claws's territory. And if they knew he was doing delivery for Lizzie's, they'd do worse things to him than the Scavengers.

In and out, he was quick there.

Before long, he arrived at Corporate Plaza to finish his last and by far the weirdest delivery. He arrived in the lobby of an upscale residential building. The receptionist there told him to wait.

Moments later, a gorgeous woman with big breasts arrived, dressed in a very revealing Victorian maid outfit.

"My master says you have something for him?"

"..."

Just from that, Cypher knew which BD this 'master' had purchased. The dead Cypher had seen them all, after all, and by that logic, he'd seen it too. It was a BD with a master and servant fetish. It had nothing extreme, however, just maid cosplay and submissive play.

"There you go." He handed her the BD and left the building.

Back on his motorbike, he reached Lizzie's again. By then, it was already past six in the evening, and the bar was in business. A loud, muffled noise of music was coming from inside, and people were entering and leaving.

He pinged Judy on the holo and told her he was back. But instead of calling him in, she asked him to wait outside. So, he leaned against his bike, watching the club's entrance, and looked at the people going in. People were dressed really fashionably there, or whatever the standard for fashion was in the city.

Personally, he'd just worn a simple brown fake leather jacket, cargo pants, and some boots. That was what he found in the cupboard. At least they were clean.

I should buy those gun parts. The itch is killing me.

Waiting, looking at Rita and her friend checking the clubgoers, he started yawning. It was hard sleeping last night as he spent hours fighting his mind, screaming at him to inject the good stuff into his veins.

Bam!

Hm?

A sudden loud sound caught his attention. A car stopped close to the bar's entrance, and five men exited, each sporting a weird punk hairstyle, dressed in colorful attire. He noticed a few guns on their hips, but they were all holding bats, hockeys, and clubs.

Japanese?

He heard them talk and recognised the language. From that, he knew they were probably Tyger Claws. It was widely known about the conflict between Moxes and the Japanese gang.

He watched Rita Wheeler quickly call for backup as she took a fighting stance. Her bat slung over her shoulder, she raised her other hand. "Not one more step."

"What are you gonna do? Cry?" A Tyger Claw taunted.

"Nope. But I ain't promising you walk out with all your chrome and bones in one piece."

The five Tyger Claws laughed at that and inched closer. With mocking grunts and whatnot in Japanese, they taunted and laughed, waving their bats. It was unknown what their goal even was.

Bam!

Holy! She's feisty!

It was Rita who slammed her bat first straight into one guy's face, knocking him out instantly. The sound was so loud, a clank of the metal. Nobody there was a true human; everyone had some sort of body modification. Hell, they could be having titanium bones under their skin.

Cypher just watched from a distance, not wanting to do anything with it. He wasn't afraid; hell, he wasn't even scared of dying at that point. He just didn't want more headaches than he already had.

Still, watching Rita smash the absolute living shit out of those Tyger Claws was fun. The way her bat would make sparks was blood-pumping. She was roaring louder than those supposed Tygers.

Ah, shit.

But right as she was busy smashing one of the Tyger Claws, another one she'd downed behind got up with the intent to hit Rita on the head.

"Fuck it."

Cypher reckoned this was just a common part of living in the Night City. He grabbed his gun from his hip, aimed at the Tyger Claw's hands holding the bat, and…

BANG!

The gunshot was loud. It hit the man right in the hands, chipping away a few fingers and knocking the bat away. All heads turned towards him, some analyzing, some giving thankful nods.

"Aiming from the back? What else do you expect from Tyger Claw gangoons?" Rita barked and wrecked the hell out of the shot guy.

In no time, all five of the men were on the ground, some knocked out and others groaning. By then, more of the Moxes had come out with weapons. But the fight was already over.

Cypher was more in awe of his own aim, however.

He was never a sharpshooter in his old life. But now, in that body, he felt it clearly. The dead Cypher was many things: a degenerate, lowlife, low-intelligence. But one thing the guy was good at was shooting and riding fast.

"'Preciate you having my six."

He focused on Rita as the purple-haired woman approached him. "No biggie."

"You know what? You just scored yourself an invite to my hush-hush hideout party. Sending the detes your way. I'm usually there after shift, and the drink's on me."

Cypher heard the ping and looked at the message. It was from Rita, with a location marked and timing. And… there was also a picture of her with it, winking.

"See you around."

He eyed the woman walk away, again giving him a smirk and a wink. That confused him a little. Was she hitting on him, or was she just naturally like that? Because at the moment, he couldn't see anything good to look at in himself. Maybe, given a few weeks, he would, but certainly not now.

Batty's Hotel? Hmm… Not that far from home.

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