Chapter 1: Part 1
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***
Inhale...
Exhale...
I slowly clenched my fist, then unclenched it and looked around the room I was in....
What can I say, according to my new memory, it's an ordinary flat in the most ordinary megabuilding number H4, in the Arroyo district. And I woke up in a flat rented by my mother, who recently died. Died in a gang shooting on the motorway.
But that's not all...
Breathe in.
Exhale.
The guy whose memories, along with his body and skills I appropriated, was so crazy that when he found a sandevistan in his flat, clearly taken off someone, he went to a ripper he knew and installed it for himself.
That's just fucked up.
He was a smart guy.
Was.
He was studying to be an operative, but he was good with equipment and weapons, and this smart guy took and put a strange implant that appeared in his flat from nowhere. And from a not-so-good reaper.
No, he's one of the best in Arroyo, and he was in business with a guy who sold black brains, but that's just it...
I shook my head and stood up and walked to the bathroom where I looked in the mirror.
Eighteen years old, almost finished studying at Arasaki's corporate academy, after which, with his academic performance, he should have been offered not only a job, but also implants of high quality. And this was such a stupid move....
Although...
I probably shouldn't judge him so much, he's still a young guy, despite the fact that his mother worked very hard, he was loved and lost his mother... and the bullying of his classmates, which, after Gloria's death, only intensified....
Breathe in.
Exhale.
And here's the rub, I know about the guy's past and himself not only from his memories, but also from a cartoon I watched. A cartoon in which the main character was David Martinez. And in that cartoon he was solo, working on a team, first under some boogeyman and then as the head of that team.
Turned to the subject of implants and got cyberpsychosis, but realising this he left quite nicely, in a battle with Knight City legend Adam Smasher. Dating some pretty girl and dynamiting another girl who was in love with him.
And the world itself was also familiar to me from the game... Cyberpunk, but in the game there was almost nothing about the guy I was in, but....
Combining all this with the knowledge from my past life, I can say that this world is not a fairy tale. To survive here, I'll have to work like a damned, and if I want not only to survive, but also to live well, I'll have to work in triple mode.
I wrinkled my nose a little.
David always wanted to become a solo and become a legend of Knight City, to live a small but bright life, but I do not like this way. I've already died once, I'd like to delay the second time as long as possible.
- So, what do I do...
I washed my face once more and looked in the mirror and grinned.
- ...I'd probably start by searching the flat. If there was an implant like this here, maybe there's more to it?
As I left the bathroom, I looked at the urn with Gloria's ashes.
- I'm sorry, Gloria, I didn't mean to take over your son's body, but it looks like he couldn't take the blows of fate in this reality. Or maybe Doc messed something up when installing the chrome... But in gratitude for such a good body, with a minimum of implants and sufficiently physically developed, I'll scatter your ashes in some picturesque place....
I looked around the flat, which was basically a one-room flat, it had a large living room with a small cubby for the bed and a small cubby for the shower and washing machine. There was nothing else in this flat, no computer, no secret weapons room like Vee's flat.
Well, it was understandable, Gloria was a medical technician, not a mercenary, she just didn't have enough money for anything more than an ordinary flat, even with all the overwork....
Breathe.
So, where would you hide a weapon?
I can't believe Gloria didn't have even the tiniest gun.
And the first thing I did was look in the clothes wardrobe, and that's where I found Gloria's jacket. After looking at it, I sniffed it. The jacket smelled like a girl, but it was pleasant enough and I put it on and went back to the mirror and examined myself from all sides.
All in all.
Looks good. So we'll go like this for now.
I went back to the wardrobe and started pulling out all my clothes. It was not that much, but I put all of Gloria's clothes separately, so they could be sold at the commission shop. I'll make a couple of eurodollars.
After putting all of Gloria's clothes in a separate pile I noticed at the bottom of the wardrobe a small box with a gun in it.
- Hmmm... Unity, a couple of magazines and a box of fifty rounds. Not bad for a start...
Nodding at my words I took out the gun and quickly loaded the clips and put the gun in the pocket of Gloria's jacket, the jacket had very deep pockets and the gun fit there with ease.
- Hmm... And what next?
I further inspected the wardrobe and there was nothing else in it. Nor was there anything behind the sofas, as well as under the bed and behind the washing machine.
- So that's it, right?
I went back to the mirror and examined myself.
- Well, the face of course dull, but the knowledge is there, there is a sandevistan, if memory of the canon does not lie, it is a military model, as well as a pistol and two magazines each of which is twenty-five rounds. Not a bad start...
Nodding to myself I quickly went to the exit of the flat and first of all went to the nearest public phone point.
Yes, yes, there were such in this world....
A couple of minutes of searching in the phone book and I found the phone number I needed.
- Regina here, now tell me who the fuck are you?
- Hello Regina Jones, my name is David Martinez. I was an operative at Arasaki Academy until recently. But not too long ago my mother died and I did something stupid... Anyway, I need a job so I can pay off my debts and keep my place.
- And you decided to call me?
I shrugged, even though she couldn't see me.
- You're a fixer, a very good fixer, as they say, you're no stranger to a certain amount of pity. Which means there's a good chance you're not going to dismiss me. Especially since I was far from the last in my training stream.
- Huh, honest and speak respectfully... I have a couple of assignments that could be given to test.....
The girl was silent, and I was in no hurry to interfere with her thoughts.
- Okay, there's a point where the Scavengers are based. Not so long ago they took apart a girl from the corporates and even though her parents were not very rich, but they had enough money to hire a solo, even a pro.
- Where to?
- Give me your personal number, all the details are on it.
I shrugged my shoulders and sent my details to Regina, and after a dozen seconds I got the details of the assignment.
- What's the client's wishes?
- No, just kill all the Scavengers who happen to be there.
- Fixer's request?
- Work as quietly as possible, so as not to attract unnecessary attention and outsiders will not be harmed by your actions.
- Roger that. I'll call you after I complete the mission.
- Yeah, go ahead.
We've been disconnected.
Why would I call from a public phone when I gave Regina my own contacts? On the other hand, how would I know her contacts if I didn't have a phone book and a computer at home?
Shaking my head, I opened the data that the message had thrown at me, then ran my eyes over it.
Hmm...
Turning around, I used David's memory to orientate myself where I needed to go and quickly got to the monorail and took the train to another neighbourhood. From the metro stop, I walked to the house where the Scavengers were holed up. A couple of minutes to find an inconspicuous back alley and I wrap my face in a rag, then I leave it and calmly walk to the fire escape and climb up it.
A couple of minutes and I'm on the right floor, but I don't rush inside the building, no, I carefully press myself against the wall and watch what's going on inside. And pretty quickly I find the flats where my targets are located.
And there's the entrance.
I grinned as I made my way under the windows to a small balcony that I easily jumped onto and climbed up to the window to take a look around.
Three...stepping away from the window I quickly climbed to the ceiling of the balcony, which was the slab that was the floor of the next floor balcony. It wasn't easy to hold on, but it wasn't too problematic. And only after making sure that I had a firm grip I took a clip out of my pocket and clamped it in my teeth and pushed a single cartridge into my hand.
Inhale...
And with an exhalation I sent the round flying so that it would definitely attract the attention of one of the Scavengers.
- What the fuck?
- Come on... something must have fallen from above...
- No, we should definitely check it out.
- You want it, go fuck yourself.
- Fuck you.
So one of the rubbish collectors went out on the balcony and took a good look around.
- It's fucking empty.
He took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it and at that moment the door closed behind him.
A quiet jump and I'm already behind the Trashman, who didn't even realise that someone had landed on the floor behind him.
One hand movement and I wring his neck, then carefully lay him down on the floor and scoop up the corpse. One knife of shitty quality and unity, and only one clip.
I put the clip in my pocket, and put the gun in the corner, I'll take it on my way out. I can sell it and get some extra cash.
Once again I go to the window and carefully look through it to make sure that both idiots have their backs to me.
Covering my eyes, I count to three and press the door button to open the door and switch on my sandevistan, in real time not even two seconds have passed and I'm already standing next to the first Scavenger. I stab him in the temple and without wasting time pulling the knife out I find myself standing next to the second one and simply and uncomplicatedly snap his neck.
- Phhhh...
A quiet exhalation and I drag the bodies to the balcony, where no one can see them by accident. All they have on them is a Kalashnikov assault rifle of crappy quality and the same Unity. I stack the extra weapons in the corner, and after a bit of thought, I put a knife in the temple and two of my opponents whose necks I snapped.
With a chuckle I went back to the room and quickly looked around it and found nothing interesting, but it wasn't the last room, so I went to one of the doors and opened it.
Bathroom...
Slipping inside I noticed several bodies stacked in a tub of ice.
I wonder... is there anyone alive in here?
I quickly check for a pulse and realise there are no survivors. And the bullet holes in the heart area are a hint.
- Well, let's move on.
I'm not sure if I could have taken lives so easily in a previous life, and David and I weren't of the same mentality. But death and being in that darkness has affected me a little bit. I don't see death as a bad thing anymore.
So my conscience didn't bother me, especially knowing what those ghouls were doing, it was hard to see them as people at all.
As I left the bathroom, I quietly made my way to the second door and carefully opened it, quickly peeking inside.
Five...
To risk it or not?
Quickly looking around I hid behind the speaker, which was quite large, and taking the bottle that stood on it carefully threw it into the wall, so that it hit it and shattered.
Literally a minute later, one of the rubbish men walks in.
- Hey, Axe! What the fuck is going on?! Where is everybody?!
- What?
- It's empty!
- Well, maybe they're fucking the bodies in the bathroom.
- I'll check it out.
He goes towards the bathroom and I wait until the door closes with a quiet hiss and I stand up and throw a knife, which goes straight into the back of the bastard's head. After which I literally take three steps closer to him and stop him from falling to the floor with a loud thud.
To his balcony...
After quickly shmoozing him and pulling out a gun, which he never pulled out, I put another clip in his jacket, the body itself I put aside.
- What the fuck?!
Another Trashman came into the room, opening the door from the balcony I threw the knife at him, but I didn't have time to get to him before he fell, so picking up the body I quickly dragged him aside and pulled out the knife and got ready. But nobody showed up, and the guy had a belt holster, with a unity and a knife.
A minute later, I took off my belt and put it on.
As I looked out of the room I realised that the other three didn't care what was going on and that made me grin evilly....
It's their own fault for being such losers...