Varian Freeman was no stranger to death.

He’d seen it with his own eyes more times than he could count. He’d signed off on his own fair share of kill orders, too. That sort of thing was unavoidable if you wanted a future in Militech’s special operations.

Especially in territory as contested as Night City.

This… hellhole was the new frontline of North America. Potentially the front line of the fifth corporate war. This was no place for the faint of heart.

When the Wraith One BD ended, Varian ripped off his wreath and panted in exertion. His heart was beating. His syn-lungs could barely keep up with the oxygen demand. He felt tired. Every single muscle in his body felt tensed. Sore. There was phantom pain in his ankles from—

D activated the Sandevistan, ran up to the hood of the speeding car, jumped, and flew feet-first towards the windshield.

The entire windshield broke off from its frame, and flew into the driver and passenger, crushing them both to death in an instant.

Varian engaged his pain editors to chase away the phantom pains, and activated his biomonitor through his neural net, halting the release of cortisol and adrenaline. The biomonitor forcefully lowered his heartrate as well, strategically starving his body of oxygen, thus numbing it in the process. He breathed in and out slowly, deeply, clawing to regain his composure. He was loathe to use these mods outside of actual combat, but this situation called for it—these XBDs were that intense.

D… was no cyberpsycho. Varian had played his fair share of psycho XBDs, and they felt demonstrably different to this one. For one, the psychosis had the effect of blunting the emotional high, and the reality of the situation. Things became less real, because in the mind of the psycho, things were less real. At least in the way that they perceived reality.

D’s reality was… heavy. Unbelievably so. He felt less like a human, and more like a computer running a thousand calculations a second, exhausting Varian’s mind with every second that he so much as tried to follow along with the terrorist’s thought processes. D was monstrously complex, mentally. Aside from that, his reality was entirely consistent. All of it was. He marked his prey and went after them with the utmost of precision, diving into the thick of the fray without an ounce of fear. One by one, he took every single Wraith out.

And the moment he had started using guns—

—Sorry—

—it felt like, like the world had changed.

Like nothing would ever be the same again.

A monster was born on that day, on the day where thirty Wraiths had met their ends.

D had understood his purpose.

“What’s the matter, Varian?” Jin chuckled. “You look about ready to—“

Varian held his palm up to forestall Jin while he continued diving for insights into the BD.

1. The man was…

…young?

Cocky, for sure. Probably meant he was young, too.

Just figuring stuff out.

Letting Wraiths run off into the distance for target practice.

He lined his shots up like an expert only after a few attempts, like this had been the first time he’d ever shot a gun before in his life.

Or… at people, really.

The first time he’d ever shot another human. That sounded… too absurd to even consider.

He thought back to the apology. The subject of it was censored. But it raised questions. Who was he apologizing to? Varian felt guilt in the apology. Guilt, shame.

A loss of something quintessential, only to be replaced with something else.

Something hot and fiery.

Confidence.

Militech’s theory was that D was a lab rat belonging to a rival corp. Perhaps Arasaka, or maybe one of the others of Night City’s Big Five.

The XBD indicated that the merc had minimal training.

Minimal training and a preternatural ability to learn.

The Sandy uses were… not as dramatic as the data Militech had would suggest, either. He hadn’t blitzed through all the Wraiths within seconds. He’d taken his time.

Almost like… he knew he could fall back on greater power at a moment’s notice.

Almost like all of this was just an elaborate act. A movie in which he was the star.

A training session where he bogged himself down with weights.

He opened up a notepad app on his Kiroshis, and jotted down all his insights furiously, getting up from the BD chair and pacing around the room, ignoring everyone else. After he was done, he took a moment to observe the forms of the others.

He just caught the tail-end of an argument between Jin and Alessandro, the latter yelling at Jin before storming off. Varian scrolled back on the audio recording implant that was always on, just in case he missed conversational details.

He skimmed the transcription and saw that it was mostly the greaseball throwing a shitfit about not being able to buy the XBDs for his corp.

Jin was utterly unsympathetic. He was determined to either have him shit bricks or get the fuck out.

The guy just laughed at his back while he left.

The only ones remaining were himself, Kitty Galore, Masaki Tetta, Leon and Ling Ruomei, all of whom were in deep contemplation. Except Leon. He was just buzzing with excitement, happy to have viewed the XBD in the first place. He clearly wasn’t here for the data, just for the kicks.

Fuckin’ brain potato.

Varian looked down at his BD wreath on the ground, and wondered if it wouldn’t benefit his mission to watch this BD just one more time, before moving onto the other two.

He knew what to expect, now.

And yet, it felt almost impossible to will himself to bend over and pick up the wreath.

He ground his teeth, clenched his fists, and punched himself in the face.

The suddenness of his act pulled all eyes on him.

He didn’t care.

He picked up the Wreath, and watched the show again. One more time.

000

I knew what I was, and the crimes I had committed.

I wouldn’t exactly call myself a sadist, even keeping all of that in mind. I didn’t go out of my way to inflict pain on people. That was more of a byproduct of my desire to better my body, and better the world: killing people would inevitably cause them pain, especially if I got creative with it. And stress-testing my strength? Well, it required some live dummies, or else what was it all even for?

And yet, I couldn’t help but have to force myself to tamp down on my growing grin at the sight of these corpo brats as they tried their best to muscle through a day in my life.

Alessandro couldn’t even walk a mile in my shoes before chickening out, the absolute bitch.

“So!” Jin clapped his hands and addressed the seated corpo brats from the front of his media room. I took a seat, watching him while he addressed the room. “What did we learn about our celebrity psycho?”

Varian raised his hand sarcastically. Jin gestured towards him. “Militech!” he called.

Varian rolled his eyes and answered. “Why don’t you go first, Mr. Host? Or are you expecting to mine insights out of us for free?”

“Quid pro quo, my dear patriot,” Jin said. “Prospector law applies here. I own the mountain. You dug into it. Now cough up the fucking share. And if you want to see more of the BDs, you need to play ball, playa-partner.” He made some gang signs and beatboxed for a moment after he said that. I tried my best not to visibly cringe at the act. Dammit, Jin.

“He’s fearless,” Ling Ruomei said, her voice low and smoky. “Dominant. Confident in his skill. And his skill matches that confidence with ease.”

Jin waved his hand in a so-so fashion. “A little less on ‘what about him makes me wet’ and more on ‘any identifiers and actual leads’.” He grinned mockingly.

“Charming,” Ruomei rolled her eyes.

“He learns fast,” Varian said with a growl. I turned to him curiously, impressed with his deduction. “I reckon Wraith One was the first time he ever killed a man with a gun. Probably only used his katana before. It’s why he’s so good with it. Anything to say about that, Arasaka?”

“What, you think we trained him in the art of the sword?” Jin asked, “Just because we’re Japanese?”

“Yes, motherfucker. Can I be more clear?” Varian got up abruptly. “If this turns out to be an elaborate ploy by Arasaka, then mark my fucking words, we’re not gonna let you get away. We’ll catch that fucking lab rat and pull him apart limb by limb to see how he ticks. Then we’ll throw him in a meatgrinder and be done with it.”

I frowned. He was… spooked. I cleared my throat and spoke up. “Then, we are to assume that your recommendation to Militech wouldn’t be control, but termination.”

Varian looked at me like I was a piece of shit on the sidewalk. “I’ll give you my position when I get to see the rest of the goddamn BDs. Until then, why don’t you let the grown-ups talk?”

“Come on, Varian,” Jin tsked. “That’s not fair to David. He worked hard to be here, you know. And I’d wager that his insights might even be more valuable than yours, given that he procured this BD months ago.”

“Alright then,” Ling Ruomei said, fixing me with a look. “Why don’t you share with the class, wonder boy?”

“Quid pro quo!” Jin reminded everyone. “Why would I wanna let him share his opinions when I want some from you all? Besides, if you want data from David, you should go through the proper channels. Like the task force.”

“Bullshit,” Varian growled. “He has data from the task force?”

“He’s in the task force.”

Varian looked at me differently now, and just nodded. I had anticipated his aggression once everyone knew that I officially belonged to Jin, but to see him change his opinion this soon was a load off my shoulders. For some reason, I had assumed that he would plan an elaborate revenge to ‘put me in my place’ for whatever reason.

Whatever it was that motivated Katsuo to harass me for all those years.

I received a call suddenly.

From Judy.

Shit.

“Jin,” I called. “I gotta take this one.”

“Aight,” Jin said, nodding towards the exit.

I stood up and walked out of the BD media room, and into the hallway, where I took the call.

D: What?

Judy: Yeah, there’s no fucking way in hell I’m staying on. They’re gonna fucking catch me.

Shit.

Okay. Made sense. I had wanted to talk to her about this for a while now, actually.

D: I understand. Staying on would demand quite a few sacrifices on your part. Like living under constant protection.

Judy: I’m skipping town. I’ve never seen this many badges on the street. Everybody wants a piece of you. And once they follow up on this XBD trail, I’m fucked. Already left my stock behind, along with a bunch of copies. I just want Reyes to pay me—

D: Don’t waste time. Just leave. If you need money, I’ll give you the money. Enough to start over anywhere.

Judy: How… how much?

D: A hundred grand. Sound good to you?

I didn’t wait for her response, instead sending her the code for an encrypted wallet containing that amount.

Judy: Holy shit.

D: Leave. Don’t come back. And the BDs—how many are you done with?

Judy: Got through all of Scavpocalypse. Didn’t do Shobo—you said you had secrets in them, so I was gonna wait for you to come over, but… fuck that. Seriously.

D: I’m sorry, Judy. I really am.

Judy: You fucking should be. You really fucking should be.

D: Where are the BDs? And the virtus?

Judy: Left them in a safety locker in Kabuki. Ten copies for each shard, and the unedited Shobo virtu. Reyes got the rest.

She texted me the details.

Judy: And before you threaten to kill me if this is a trap or whatever—I could easily just leak your name, you know. They’d find you, you know. Doing this would be roundabout and stupid, and honestly, you should just leave me alone—

D: Judy. Relax. I’m not going after you.

Judy: You think I’d let you? I’m already on the plane.

That was a relief.

D: Good job, Judy. Have a good life, alright? Hopefully, you never meet someone like me again.

Judy: Or you.

She hung up.

That stung, but… it was totally understandable.

Shit, though.

I called Jin.

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David: Gotta run an errand.

Jin: The fuck?

David: It’s important. It’ll only take a second.

Jin: Fine. I’m giving you an hour.

Why the hell was he obsessed with having me around, anyway?

David: And we do need to talk about my housing situation at some point. You promised.

Jin: Get off my dick.

David: Get off mine, first.

He hung up.

He’d end up changing his tune real quick by the time I was back. As I walked through his mansion, towards the exit, Nanny manifested next to me. [Good thinking muscling your way into the task force. I never would have come up with that, myself.]

I looked at her.

D: Are you being sarcastic?

[Not at all. I’m just… celebrating the unique things that you bring to the table. Namely your wit and cunning.]

Wit and cunning.

I’d hardly consider myself… that.

But I knew that that was what I needed to be right now.

[What’s the plan, however? If you derail the investigation, you’ll lose standing. And risk your life.]

She was right about that. I couldn’t just openly sabotage them.

I had to take charge, instead.

Everyone else was following every thread there was, unsure of where it would take them. But I knew what the end of this puzzle looked like. I could work backwards.

Pull ahead of the pack, and when it very much counted, I could screw things up. Make it look unavoidable, even.

[Ah! How about… Judy?]

I frowned.

D: You want me to hunt Judy down?

[Yeah! She’s on a plane out of here anyway. We can follow up on the XBD trail until we hit Lizzy’s Bar, then we go to Orbital Air to get data on where Judy’s gone. By the time we find her wherever she is, she’ll have left that place, too.]

D: Judy’s not gonna like this.

[Why do we care, exactly?]

D: Because she doesn’t deserve any of this shit.

[Maybe we won’t even need to tip her out. She’d be stupid not to change her entire identity wherever she lands, especially since she’s aware that the corps

are hunting after any lead towards her.]

I nodded.

As distasteful as that idea was, it was also… necessary. I needed to take control of this hunt. That was the only way I could stay ahead of it.

D: I wouldn’t have come up with that myself. Good job.

[Now it’s my turn to ask if you’re being sarcastic.]

D: It’s the same answer you gave me. And what you bring to the table is cold calculus. Something we’ll need in the coming days.

And once the Judy trail went cold, I’d have to look for other trails as well.

All in good time. After all, I had a unique advantage in this hunt.

000

As I drove over to Kabuki, I received a call from Reyes.

El Capitan: Heard the news yet?

D: Judy left. Told me.

El Capitan: She told you? All she did was leave a note in some… coin locker in Rancho.

A coin locker in Rancho and one in Kabuki. Judy hadn’t taken any chances.

D: I like to think that we warmed up to each other near the end.

El Capitan: Heh. Can’t blame her for fucking off, though. I tossed her a bit of cash as an apology, and for the prompt work.

D: Same. I’m sure she’ll make it.

El Capitan: Now, we must talk new BD editor.

D: Surprised you haven’t gotten cold feet yet, Capitan.

El Capitan: I don’t scare easy. And this XBD business might actually rake in more cash than my Autofixer shop.

D: Preem. Talk to you later about that. Busy right now.

El Capitan: Busy is bad, kid. Go home and stay home.

D: Sure. Thanks.

I hung up.

Forty-three seconds on the call. It would take a lot more time than that for an experienced Netrunner on his payroll to triangulate my position, especially given how well I had fortified the ICE on my agent. But I wouldn’t take any chances.

Not any more.

I parked my Aerondight near a high-end bar a few blocks away from my destination, and threw a big, burly Animal valet a thousand eddies to watch the car. I barely looked at his face as I continued onward, toward the coin locker shop.

Once I was a street away from it, I went to a café opposite to it.

There, I ordered a flat white, and remotely jacked into the coin locker establishment.

And the coffee shop as well.

I spread my awareness through the Net little by little, sequentially (and quietly) breaching through the Localnets until I had just about every surveillance footage cover of the place.

And there I saw her. Judy, wearing a big black sweater, approaching the coin locker with a black plastic bag. She shoved it gently into a locker, and pulled the hoodie over her face as she proceeded away on foot.

I saved the footage.

After that, I finished the flat white, got up, and walked to the coin locker place to get my BDs.

That was enough sleuthing for today. I could pretend like I had lost her trail. I would, of course, stash the Shobo virtu away somewhere in my car for the time being.

But with this footage, I had officially earned myself an in to the task force.

As I got back to the car and entered it, Nanny manifested besides me. [Let’s not overplay this hand.]

I snorted.

D: No way in hell.

I could easily rationalize this stroke of luck. After all, I had been involved with D’s XBD empire long before he had become a problem. And now that I had Jin’s support, the other corps likely wouldn’t sniff around on me too closely. Perhaps they wouldn’t even think to do so?

I already had a history of supplying BDs discreetly. If push came to shove, that cover could definitely pull some attention away from me.

[How do we get over the fact that XBD-dealing is, strictly speaking, quite illegal? You’ll be covering up one crime with another. Albeit a much smaller one but—]

I laughed.

D: We’re rich now. Laws don’t apply to us the same way. XBDealing versus being D? Take a wild guess what the badges are gonna give more of a shit about. Trust me, I’m not seeing a day in prison if they ever catch me.

I pulled away from the street in Kabuki, on my way back to North Oak.

Nanny was right, as always, about not getting too big a head. But right now, I couldn’t help but just grin widely. The situation was dire, but for some weird reason, that was exactly where I wanted to be.

And if I managed to make it into the task force…

Checkmate, Night City.

000

Despite herself, Fei remembered past Memorial Weeks fondly for what they were: a major holiday nestled in the middle of the semester, that always seemed to pop up out of nowhere if you weren’t paying attention. It was a pleasant break at the end of a long marathon existence forcing yourself to fit a mold.

She remembered the days when she had been an avid member of Ling Ruomei’s court of cronies. The first time they had met, both fourteen, and freshmen to Kang Tao High, Ruomei had challenged her. Fei had rolled over with all the dainty grace of a career debutante, instantly forfeiting the match and allowing the Kang Tao princess an easy succession to queendom over the high school. Back then, she had sensed within Ruomei a hesitance in those games. It was as though she had only performed what was expected of her. Very little real emotion went into the act, Fei had observed.

Fei, in turn, never had any intention of taking such a lofty position. There were about half a dozen other girls, all Kang Tao, that would have had a better claim than she did. But even if there was never any competition—not even with Ling Ruomei—she would have turned the position down.

‘Don’t get messy’.

It was the most prominent lesson that her mother had ever taught her, a constant companion throughout her life. Cleanliness in all things. Physically, emotionally, spiritually.

But most importantly, reputationally.

And the best way to stay clean was to stay away from messes. Messes like power struggles, for one. The implicit message had been clear to her all her life.

Her role was to be invisible.

A shadow following—and supporting—her brother, who was allowed to get messy. He was allowed to falter. Fall into bouts of depression and drug addiction, only to come out the other end a new person. A better person.

He had been allowed to grow.

She had been forced to hide her faltering.

To falter away from prying eyes. To make mistakes under the cover of obscurity.

Only one person had truly been a witness to her faltering.

She’d indulged in her fair share of messes when she knew she could get away with them, but only one mess had kept her coming back for more.

A chem more addictive than glitter. That was who he was.

The Delamain cab dropped her off by the street of one of Jin’s houses. The party house, and the one that belonged to him and him alone. Fei doubted that Masaru Ryuzaki had ever darkened this mansion’s threshold in his life. Why would he? This arena was far too small for a man like him. How could one expect a whale to swim inside a fishbowl?

She spotted a Militech truck—the six-wheeler kind—parked clumsily on the front lawn. Probably on purpose.

She looked around the pool area, and found no one of interest there. So she proceeded into the house instead, and blinked in surprise at the sight of Ruomei, standing there alone.

Not truly alone in the literal sense. She had her court hanging about her. Kang Tao’s elite, chattering amongst each other vapidly, all of them monopolizing the kitchen island. Ruomei was the only one to sit on a chair, a booth chair at the island, drinking a dark-red wine silently, affecting a stoic exterior.

That was the burden of leadership. You had to set yourself apart from the crowd. Style yourself as the shepherd among the sheep. Fei saw nothing wrong with being a sheep. There was comfort in being unassuming.

Invisible.

After the Dragon Spine debacle, QianT had lost standing among the corp ecosystem of Night City. Kang Tao—or more accurately, Ling Ruomei—had acted appropriately: by dropping her like a hot potato and rendering her a pariah for the last four or so months.

All the while as she had to play consort for Katsuo, and got all too acquainted with the sociopath that was Jin. It was safe to say that the last few months had not been good to her.

A few of Ruomei’s hangers-on noticed her before the queen herself did. And when she did, she pretended that she hadn’t, simply sipping her wine and enjoying the music and chatter in the air from all the other guests that had arrived to another legendary Arasaka shindig.

A mere pre-party, according to the invite that she, herself, had received. From Jin himself, no less.

Fei had intended on simply not coming. She didn’t have to anymore. Arasaka had cut her loose after the Tanaka mess, a mess that had stained her filthy, covering her in a stink that was quite unlikely to wash away for the foreseeable future.

Nothing was expected of her anymore.

And yet she had come here. Seeking out challenge.

No. What use was there in lying to herself? She had come here for just one reason.

David.

At the very least, she had arrived an hour before the start of Memorial Omatsuri, at eleven. Thus, she ended up missing out on upwards to three hours of pre-drinking. Because the Omatsuri was just about to begin, the festivities were sure to die down around this time.

“Happy Memorial Week,” Fei said to Ling Ruomei, who finally turned her gaze towards Fei and looked surprised.

“Ah. Happy Memorial Week. Didn’t expect to see you again so soon. I’m surprised you were even invited.” She furrowed her eyebrows. “You were invited, yes?”

Fei tittered. “I didn’t know you were so close to Jin, to act the role of his bouncer.”

Ruomei sneered at her. “It’s about maintaining a clear boundary, Fei. A boundary between those who earned the right to be here, and those who lost that right. How long do you have left, really, before your family flies you into space to escape this corpo race after they crashed and burned their vehicle against Arasaka?”

Fei couldn’t quite figure out why the two of them had to be enemies in the first place, given how little inherent competition there even was between them. No matter how much Fei’s family succeeded, it could never threaten Kang Tao’s economic niche. And vice versa.

In fact, her family’s success would be Ruomei’s mother’s success as well.

Was it just some sort of innate desire to put down those she viewed as far too beneath her?

Perhaps the girl just… needed this? An outlet to vent whatever feelings she kept bottled up, just to feel in control again?

Not that Fei would lend her any of her own understanding. Fuck that. Fei could understand all she wanted, but that wouldn’t erase the fact that this bitch needed to be put in her place.

A more impulsive part of her whispered a fun, but ultimately unworkable idea: just fucking shoot her.

If she did, then Ruomei would die. Just like that.

She took comfort in the fact that the solution was right there. That if she boiled down all of life’s conflicts to life and death, she could solve things as easily as pointing her hand at the uppity heiress. She would never act on that impulse, but… it helped to think about it.

It put all this… nonsensical verbal sparring into perspective.

Sticks and stones.

“I’ll be sure to let Jin know that you’ve acted your role to an admirable extent,” Fei said. “He’ll be happy to learn just how vigilant a guard you were to his mansion.” Fei’s grin sharpened. “It might even help you get closer to him. It might end up earning you his trust. Isn’t that what you’re after? Honeypot?”

Ruomei’s expression flickered for a fraction of a second, and during that moment, it had been ugly to behold. “Jealous, are you? I can understand why. You were saddled with a far inferior scion after all. A scion that lost his mind after an extended stint around you of all people. Perhaps you’re just bad luck, Fei-Fei? To your family and to everyone that you surround yourself with?”

I could kill her in an instant.

“Just tell me where Jin is,” Fei sighed, already tired of this conversation.

“Would you even be able to pay the cost of entry?” Ruomei laughed.

Fei didn’t understand, but she played along, tittering mockingly at Ruomei. “Don’t tell me you paid eddies to enjoy his company. Simp much?”

Ruomei’s sharp grin didn’t drop. “XBDs, my naïve ingénue. Jin’s in… one of his moods. He set up a whole watch-party. The subject matter might surprise you. Or cow you. I suggest you don’t go in, throw up, and make a fool of yourself. Your marriage prospects are already in the gutter.”

Fuck you, you underfucked whore.

Fei ignored the other girls tittering besides her. Fuck them, too.

“Alternatively,” Ruomei smirked, “You could do me a favor and try your best to cater to Jin’s demands.”

“What exactly are you talking about?”

“The newest NC sensation? D? Did you hear of him yet or have you been living under a rock for the past two days? Knowing you, I might not even put it past you.”

Fei’s eyes dawned in recognition. The yacht party. David had brought in XBDs. And the star was some psycho known as ‘D’.

“What exactly is your crush demanding?” Fei asked.

Ruomei laughed sarcastically. “Jin wants people to view his XBDs. All twelve of them. After each one, he holds a book-club, expecting everyone to chip in regarding the man’s psyche.”

Fei blinked. That was… uncharacteristically productive. She’d never expect a pack of corpo-brats to be doing real work in their spare time, especially this early in the morning.

And XBD-viewing wasn’t exactly the sort of thing that most sane people found fun… Wait, no, David had mentioned this: Jin Ryuzaki wasn’t most corpo brats. He was a certified freak for XBDs. He had likely only needed half an excuse to turn his personal fetish hobby into a productive way to climb the corpo ladder, now that this street psycho of his had blown up into some arch-terrorist.

“What’s your read on this terrorist, anyway?” Fei asked, mildly curious.

Ruomei grinned dreamily, looking at the floor as she did. Huh? “My personal recommendation to Kang Tao… would be to capture him alive. Yes,” she smiled thinly, her cheeks flushed. “Alive would be best.”

Huh!

As Fei walked away from that strange conversation, she wondered. A single terrorist, managing to rile so much of the rat’s nest that was Night City’s corpo elite?

Perhaps she should look into this criminal for herself.

000

Augustus Gonzalez’s entire body had been regrown.

All of it.

It hadn’t just been flash-cloned, either. He’d despise to have that sort of cancerous meat-SCOP attached to his body. Everyone knew that flash cloning was the sort of thing that would plunge your life-expectancy by at least ten years on average, with every twenty kilograms of flesh cloned.

His body was not flash-cloned, however.

It had been artisanally cloned, by Biotechnica’s best biosculptors working day and night to repair him, give him a flesh and blood vessel for him to start over.

The room he was in only outwardly looked like any other hospital room, but really, it was deep in the bowels of Biotechnica Research Institute. In a subbasement level several dozens of floors deep into the ground. The physicians around him were all clad in white personal protective equipment like plastic tarp, and wore blue face-masks to boot. They were, in essence, entirely faceless.

As he sat on his hospital bed, he saw a TV screen light up, right above the door out of his room. Giovanni de Prima gazed at him with a satisfied expression. “Are you ready, Augustus, to become a champion?”

Champion.

Though he was still coasting under the high of having functioning body-parts that barely weighed on his nervous system, he wouldn’t just forget himself, or where he currently was.

Trapped between obligation and personal ambition.

This was the easy part: having his body back.

The hard part… it was just about to start.

“How is my man doing?” Augustus asked. Chupacabra.

Giovanni’s features twisted into an excited grin. “Why don’t you see for yourself?”

The screen split, and revealed Chupacabra, wearing a night-gown, grinning like a loon as he kicked his feet. He looked… totally ganic. All of his ‘ware had been stripped of him. His cyberware, his fashionware, even his fucking EMP threading had been stripped from his face. He was reduced to a sixty-kilogram man, skinny as skinny could be in this line of work.

Smooth-faced, with long shoulder-length jet black hair, and wide, manic eyes and the same manic grin that he always wore whenever he sensed that a game was on.

“Chupie!” Augustus roared. “How the fuck are you?!”

“Perfect, boss! I am doing absolutely perfect. I never knew that ‘ganic could feel this good.”

“Boss,” Augustus said. “Is he stable?”

Chupie just laughed, while Giovanni chuckled somewhat. “He’s… yes, as stable as a man like him can be. I sense that we have finally cracked the code.”

Augustus pushed his body back onto the bed and lied down. “Let’s not waste time then, boss. Fix me up. I’m ready.”

Giovanni laughed. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, my friend. But remember: simply surviving the nanomachine implantation is one thing. Having those nanomachines play well with cyberware? That is the real score.”

“I’m ready,” Augustus insisted. “Put me out. Let’s do this already.”

I’ve got fuckall else to live for.

Giovanni de Prima chuckled darkly. “Initiate the implantation, team. Godspeed.”