Friday Night Firefight: A Cyberpunk Isekai

I woke the next morning to several surprises. The first came as I left my apartment and headed down to the lobby. Marcus spotted me and waved me over to his store. I had to wait while he finished with a customer who was glancing through Marcus’ stock of TVs, but once she left and we were alone, Marcus flashed me a grin and beckoned me into his tiny store.

“I knew I was right about you, kid. When you were holed up in your room for a month, I was a bit worried but…damn was I right.”

I glanced around his shop, hoping not to see any of the items I’d stolen yesterday gracing a display window. “You didn’t sell any of the stuff here, right?”

He scowled at me before answering. “Of course not. I passed it to some friends out in Heywood. Also torched that van, so nothing can be traced back to you. I know my business.”

I simply nodded as he pulled out a credit shard and handed it over with a smile.

“Everything sold quickly over there,” he said. “They loved all the electronics you got ahold of. Normally, my friends would have had to come over here to the Roundabout to get everything. They were very happy with all that you…acquired.”

I slotted the cred shard and my eyes widened at the amount. 22,800 eddies. That was insane. Marcus barked out a laugh as he saw my eyes bulge at the numbers. None of the jobs I pulled in the game paid nearly as well as this. Hell, most gigs you made more money selling all the loot you could collect from dead bodies.

“Kid, serious talk now. You ever get anything else you need to fence, you got my number.”

He shooed me out of his shop, and as I left the lobby, I finally noticed the yellow notifications in the lower left-hand corner of my vision. Oo, several unread messages. Yay. When I got back to my apartment late last night I had fallen into bed, too exhausted to reply to anyone. Glancing through the texts, I found most were from Fred and Mor, bombarding me with questions.

‘How did you klep an RCS van? How are we going to fence something this big? Are you sure this isn’t going to bring too much heat on us? Jeezus, we just looked in the back and that’s a lot of stuff you klepped.’

There was an hour gap where the messages tapered off. That was probably around the time Regina contacted them to help sell the goods. After that, Fred and Mor bombarded me with messages again.

As happy as I was to see both of them blowing up my phone with ecstatic messages bragging about all the money they made, it was the messages from Deng that surprised me the most. He had only sent two. The first was a simple “!” when the RCS van pulled up to the GPS coordinates I sent him. Then, a few hours later, he sent another message that read, ‘You did good, kid.’ Reading that made me beam with excitement. I was nearly skipping as I left the lobby.

Going by all the text messages from last night, I knew that Fred and Mor would undoubtedly have tons of questions about my heist the next time I visited them. Strangely enough, I found myself excited about the idea of popping into the alcove to chat with them. Sure, the last time I had been there it almost felt like I was intruding. But I was in a celebratory mood and knew I should check in with them.

It was still a bit early for Lizzie’s, so I decided to spend a couple hours shopping. The eddies I earned were burning a hole in my pocket, and I had a shopping list a mile long. I wandered around Watson, occasionally peeking into random stores. I debated buying a SegAtari VR headset and a couple video games. It had been three months since I got to Night City, and I had never really had a chance to check out any kind of entertainment source. I was interested in what types of games had been developed over the years, but after seeing the price tag, I recoiled in shock and walked away. Maybe after a few more successful jobs.

I eventually ended up in Kabuki where I bought a bunch of clothes now that I no longer worried about making my next rent payment. I got some shirts, pants, and a pair of boots that hadn’t been peeled off a dead guy. With my purchases in hand, I headed back towards my apartment, keeping an eye out for a liquor store. Thankfully, I found one a few blocks away, bought a couple bottles the clerk recommended, and stuffed them in my bag. Then it was back to my apartment to change before heading to the alcove by Lizzie’s.

By the time I got there, the part was already in full swing. I nodded hello to a few people I recognized from my time on the streets, then glided through the crowd, searching for Fred and Mor. I found them perched in their standard spots on the couch pushed up against one of the alcove walls, surrounded by randoms. When they saw me, they both stood with wide grins on their faces.

“And the man of the hour; the man responsible for this amazing party!” shouted Fred, clapping me on the back.

“To think, it feels like just yesterday that Fred dragged you here, penniless and beat to hell. Now look at you,” said Mor, hugging me. “All hail the conquering hero!”

Everyone in the alcove clapped and cheered alongside Fred. A few followed his lead and slapped me on the back, not knowing exactly what I had done besides being responsible for the alcohol and food Fred and Mor had bought.

I was somewhat bashful about the attention. It felt good that my work allowed the alcove to enjoy a party, but mostly I only cared that Fred and Mor were happy. Everything else felt a bit much as I brought out the bottles I purchased. A much bigger cheer rose, and I was quickly ushered to the couch to sit next to Fred.

Even though I was safely ensconced in the alcove and surrounded by Fred, Mor, and their friends, I couldn’t shake the nervousness that had plagued me. I kept glancing across the street, watching for any sign of Dennis. I didn’t know when he’d hear that I was back in the alcove. I was pretty sure he’d be on the lookout for revenge over the killing of one of his guys.

Fred noticed my gaze focused on the alley that led to the basketball court and he put a hand on my shoulder, pulling me closer. He said I didn’t need to worry about Dennis because he had decamped to Westbrook. When I asked why he would go to the heart of Tyger Claw territory after his entire crew had been wiped out by them, Mor just grinned.

“After everything that happened, we all spread word that you were the one who put in the work at the basketball court. Dennis freaked, thinking he mugged some world-class merc who was gunning for him now. We lost touch on where he ended up, other than somewhere in Westbrook. But we’re not too worried. He’ll eventually piss off the wrong person and be forced to leave Westbrook too.”

For the next hour or so, I chatted with Fred and Mor while people meandered over to thank me for the party. Once the attention began drifting towards the food Fred had ordered and away from the three of us, Mor leaned closer and asked for details on the heist.

I regaled them with the whole story: how I camped out on the warehouse roof, hacked into the local city NET, sent cat facts to one of the workers, and stole a few vans, slipping away in the chaos my virtual assistant caused. They were a great audience, laughing about the cat facts and marveling at how I had become such an effective netrunner in a short time. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that it was more social engineering than genuine hacking.

“When you sent us the coordinates, my first thought was you were in trouble,” said Fred. “Then an RCS van pulls up, and we look in the back, and…holy hell.”

“You should have seen it. I thought Fred was going to start dancing right then and there.”

“And then we were worried about how we were going to sell all of it when we got a call from…that friend of yours,” said Fred. “She startled rattling off everything that was in the van and she said she could help us move all of it.”

Mor nodded as he poured some alcohol into a cup and pressed it into my hands. “That fixer of yours, she sure knows her stuff. We drove the van out to her people, and by the time we got there she already had buyers all lined up to take everything off our hands.”

“When she sent us the final cut, I couldn’t speak. I think I just stared at the transfer amount for thirty minutes.”

Mor chuckled. “He said, ‘I think she gave us an extra zero.’” He quickly looked around to ensure nobody was listening before leaning closer and lowering his voice. “Twenty thou. Deng told us he got about the same. We’re celebrating now, but we’re also dreaming about what we would wanna do with our cut.”

“You know Noah,” said Fred. “You always created so many problems for us. But not knowing how to spend this money is the best problem I’ve ever had.”

“Oh man, you remember the gun?” asked Mor. “When this gonk ran into the middle of a shootout to grab it? Who would have thought it would lead to this?”

I cut in, knowing they’d bring up all my embarrassing stories if I let them keep reminiscing. “So, what have you guys decided to do with the money?”

“We’ve been tossing out some ideas, but we don’t want to get too deep into it until we find out what you want our cut to be.”

I looked at them quizzically. “I thought you guys said you got twenty thousand out of it. That’s your cut. Deng got his own van and his cut is that.”

“Wait,” said Mor, sitting up and looking at me. “This was your gig. We didn’t do anything. We can’t take all that money. How are you going to get paid?”

I laughed and leaned back on the couch. “I had my own van. Got paid this morning for it.”

They both stared at me, jaws dropping. “You klepped three vans?” I couldn’t think of a response, so I just kept quiet.

If I was honest with myself, I was concerned about the amount of money involved. Suddenly coming into over twenty thousand eddies could complicate things for Fred and Mor. It’s not that I thought it would change how they acted, but it could paint targets on their backs. It could lead to jealousy or resentment in the alcove, or there could be people trying to rob them. That’s why I was wondering what they were going to do with all their newfound money.

“So, tell me what plans you’ve been kicking around,” I said, hoping to stop them from talking about giving me a cut from their van.

They looked at each other, trying to decide whether to argue with me about the money. Finally, Fred spoke up.

“I’ve been thinking about building up a safe area for our people in North Watson. I don’t know what you’ve heard lately but…it’s been getting bad.”

“A bunch of camps have been attacked,” said Mor. “Fred and I know a few people up north and they’ve all told us that things are getting worse. It’s always been bad up there but…this is something different.”

“What, like Maelstrom is becoming more violent?” I asked. Fred and Mor had always been adamant that I shouldn’t wander around North Watson. They were constantly warning me about Maelstrom’s penchant for kidnapping homeless people for their sick games.

Mor shook his head. “We don’t know who’s doing it. Sure, the NCPD have been stepping up their hassling campaigns lately. They’ve never liked us, and a lot of them see beating on the homeless as a perk of the job.” I thought back to how Officer Kirk had attacked Fred. The badges were always against the homeless in Watson.

“Deng was up there a few days ago,” explained Fred. “Found a camp completely demolished. We haven’t found anyone who lived there. Completely breaking a homeless camp isn’t something the NCPD normally does. They just rough us up if they catch us on the street.”

“We’re pretty sure everyone in the camp got flatlined.”

I was shocked. North Watson had always been dangerous, but if things were worsening, I didn’t want Fred and Mor hanging out up there. “So what does that mean? You’re going to try and build a camp down here for everyone to move to?”

“Nah. A bunch of people up North don’t want to move, no matter what the NCPD or whoever else is trying to push them out.” Fred glanced at Mor who, if I had to describe his look, looked at Fred with resigned disapproval. “I’ve been thinking about moving up there and seeing if I can help out. We got Lizzie’s down here – a place where we can all be protected and relax. They don’t have anything like that up there.”

Something about this whole thing didn’t sit right with me. I had finally gotten some money for Fred and Mor, enough to begin changing their lives, and Fred wanted to set off on some moral crusade to help a part of the city he had specifically warned me about. It was going to get him killed, and I wanted to shout that at him. I could tell Mor wasn’t happy about it either. But before I could say anything, my Agent rang. I stared at the unknown number and, without giving it much thought, accepted the call.

“Mr. Batty. It’s good to finally speak with you.”

Oh…I knew that voice.

“Ms. Jone. What a pleasant surprise.”