I am reborn in Cyberpunk

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***

It didn't take long to get home, but when I got to my flat door I found it locked.

I had to go down to the tower administrator's office.

- Greetings... I have a problem here....

- What kind of problem?

There was a bloke behind the desk who didn't know me at all.

- The flat was paid for another three days, but now it's blocked.

- That's right... you paid someone else.

The administrator grinned at me with a nasty grin, to which I nodded understandingly.

- Can I get my stuff back?

- А?

- The stuff is mine... or I'll sue you. See, in a situation like this, the law says you had to notify me that the flat would be locked. At least a week's notice. And believe me, I'll be a prostitute, but I'll scrape together the money for a lawyer and he'll destroy you.

- Smart, huh?!

The guy got up from his seat trying to loom over me, but when a pistol appeared from a holster hidden under his jacket, and it went straight to his chin, then he lost all his bravado.

- I'm gonna charge you another thousand for your arrogance, as compensation. Do you understand?

- Y-yes.

- I'll give you a thousand in cash.

The guy immediately complied with my demand.

- Now let's go to the flat, I'll pack my things. Since this megabuilding doesn't need, even if not very rich, but stable paying tenants, I'll move to another one.

When I said that, I stopped talking. When I got to the flat I quickly collected my things, took the urn with ashes, and then quietly left both the flat and the megatower. After a bit of thinking I got to the nearest public connection point and through the general network found a flat in the megatower H12, in Watson. The flat was small, in addition to a bed and a large living room, it had a storage room that could be converted into a small workshop and weapons storage. And it suited me just fine. And the price.

Only a fiver a month.

Considering the compensation from the H4 arsehole, it's more than OK, cos I'm not going to go without food. So I booked a flat and headed for the nearest metro station, where I planned to get to the mega-tower.

A dozen minutes and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a movement....

A girl... A blonde girl... Walked along the carriage very slowly and somehow hack extracted chips from the sockets and hid them in her pockets. However, I did not have chips in my pockets, so I just stood quietly when she passed by cleaning another corporat.

Did I feel sorry for those poor souls?

No. It was their own fault for not taking care to protect their chips and their cash. Personally, I transferred everything from my personal chips to the account Regina had set up for me. I didn't need any chips for that one. Although it did cost some money to set up the account.

Well, apparently she thought I was promising enough to open such an account rather than tie it to the chip she would have sent me through the post office.

When I got to my station, I calmly got out of the underground carriage and walked towards the mega-tower. It was only halfway there that I realised that the girl was probably the blonde that David had met in the canon.

Well.

I had to admit she was pretty enough and if it wasn't for the briefcase in my hands and the bag on my shoulders with a few small belongings, I might have wanted to meet her.

When I got to the mega-tower I went to the receptionist, with whom I agreed to rent a flat.

A couple of minutes, and here I am getting out of the lift....

- Fuck you, you arsehole! I'm fucking feeding you and you're fucking with me?!

The neighbouring door to mine was open and on the doorstep stood a small, but quite formed girl, who was shouting to someone inside the flat a lot of interesting things.

Even though I was curious about what made the girl yell, I knew from David's memory that in Knight City it was better not to be interested in other people's business, so I calmly walked up to the flat and opened the door, my biometrics having already been entered into the database.

With a quiet hiss, the door closed behind me, cutting me off from the sounds of the megatower's common corridor.

- Well...

Setting the case on the floor and sliding my bag off my shoulders, I looked around thoughtfully.

Standard flat for a megatower....

Nothing new...

The first thing I did was to put things in their proper places, put the urn with Gloria's ashes on a shelf, and then dragged the casket into the pantry, which was clean. That's where I opened it up, arranging everything as I needed it. Still, the case is not a repair station, it's a package for easy carrying....

Twenty minutes of work and suddenly there's a fist banging on the door.

- Tz...

Standing up and covering my future workshop I walked to the door and pressing the button opened it.

- Yes?

- And you're our new neighbour?

The same little one looked at me with interest and challenge.

- David Martinez.

I noticed the recognition in the girl's eyes when I said my surname.

- Rebecca...

- So?

- Hey, Chum, you got a hundred you can borrow?

- I don't lend to strangers.

- Chum.

I got a pleading look on my face.

- What happened?

- Bro, fucker, I spent it all on chrome! Can't even buy food!

- Wait here.

I closed the door and went to the food machine and bought four burritos, then went to the door and opened it and handed them to the girl.

- Na...

- А?

- I don't lend money, but if you don't have anything to eat, I can give you food....

I shrugged my shoulders and slammed the door in the girl's face.

After that I went back to the workshop and continued to lay out the tools. It was only when everything was in the right place that I grinned and pushed the case into a corner. I will use it as a small box for storing all sorts of small things, but for now....

The unity was taken out of the holster, and a bag with the parts I bought for it was brought from the room.

- Time to get to work...

A few hours of painstaking work and the gun got increased power, a good silencer, and 'Gloria Martinez' engraved on the side. Just so I don't forget who I owe my start. After all, she's the one who birthed and raised David. And it's because she ploughed and paid for her son's education that I have enough knowledge to both upgrade my weapons and work solo.

- Hmmm... isn't that the green girl from canon?

This idea occurred to me as I holstered my pistol, which I hung on a pre-prepared hook. Then I took out my knives, which after buying them from Robert I had three, and not the worst. I sharpened them thoughtfully. Not that it was necessary, but it was better to check the sharpening myself and make it to suit myself than to suffer later.

When I had finished with the knives I put them back in their places and left my workshop quietly.

When I looked at my watch, I realised that I had been doing things for too long and had only four hours to sleep. So I decided not to be an impenetrable hero and quickly undressed and took a shower and went to bed....

The morning came with a nasty ringing of the alarm clock, but unlike David I was organised enough to get up even if I didn't want to. David, on the other hand, would probably have turned off the alarm clock and preferred to sleep.

Although...

I had to admit that he tried to avoid such situations and went to bed early enough that by the time he had to wake up for the academy he was more or less asleep.

After taking a shower, I went into my workshop and checked the condition of my weapons. Still, I might have missed something yesterday....

But no, the weapons were in very good condition, so I calmly dialled Regina.

- Hello, Regina. It's David.

- Oh, I get it.

The girl snorted a little.

- You're an early bird, aren't you?

- I'm just in dire need of money.

- Something wrong? I think I made some good money yesterday.

- Well... my last mega-bash changed the manager, and since the flat as a whole was registered to my late mum, he thought it was a good chance to get me to pay extra rent. I refused and took my things and moved to another place where I had to pay the rent. So I'm pretty much broke.

- Hmm.

- Look, I was going to give you another assignment, but since you need money so badly... tell me, would you have a problem working for one of the gangs?

I'm a little wobbly.

- Honestly? I wouldn't want to work for a gang... Although... the Helms are pretty decent and don't try to cause riots in the streets. They also don't involve outsiders in their affairs...

- And the Animals?

I closed my eyes.

- Definitely not.

No, personally I didn't care, but it would be very strange if a guy easily agreed to work for a gang whose members had caused his mum's death. And the gang itself is too violent, they can attack, and my physical condition is good, but I could not feel confident in their company.

- If there's an order to eliminate one of them, I'll probably agree, but not to work for them.

- Are you sure about that?

- Regina, what's with the background checks? I mean, you've done your research and you know that the accident that killed my mum was caused by the Animals. I'm not gonna work for them. I'm not gonna work against them.

- I hear you.

The image of Regina nodded.

She was silent for a moment.

- Well, then, there's a task just about Helms... there's a girl called Judy, she needs help fixing the equipment for mounting braindance. Are you any good at that?

I scratched my cheek thoughtfully.

- Well... there's nothing super complicated about it. Computers, albeit powerful, although I can't cope with specialised equipment like glasses.

- Let me clarify the essence of the task...

Regina's image froze for a few moments, then she grinned and nodded at me.

- Well, they said they'd send you to fix the shocks as a last resort.

- I don't care if they make me clean sewers, as long as they pay me well.

- Hmm... There won't even be a reaction?

- Should there be? I came to you to work, not to argue... I'm a newcomer and I won't get a fat contract, so you have to understand me and my style of work first. So you'll be sending me out on all sorts of jobs. Of course I understand that you won't send me to clean up waste, but the rest....

I shrugged.

- Right. So you go to Lizzie's bar and tell her it's Judy from Regina.

- Roger that. I'm on my way.

- All right. Don't let me down, Quiet.

The connection went dead, and I got up from my desk and stretched. My back felt not so good. I'd have to visit the riper properly, to check what that lepila had done to me. Of course, I'd used the sandevistan a few times yesterday and didn't feel anything suspicious, but the fact that I hadn't been given any meds....

Sighing, I stepped out and glanced down at my T-shirt, which never came off. My back was covered in blood. I didn't like that either.

Of course, maybe it was supposed to be like that after surgery, but David hadn't been told any of that, which meant....

That means Doc was a real stickler for shitting on his clients.

Breathe.

I crumpled up my T-shirt and threw it in the bucket, then looked at myself in the mirror. Turning my back to the mirror I turned my head slightly and saw that my back wasn't bleeding now. I nodded and put on another T-shirt, then pulled an old jacket out of the wardrobe and put it on.

I folded Gloria's jacket neatly into a bag, deciding to have it dry-cleaned.

Why?

Perhaps it was the memory of David, who was not ready to part with it so easily. Naturally, I holstered my gun and knives under the jacket, and only then did I leave the flat, simply locking the door. Now no raner will be able to break the lock. But technicians among thieves are quite few, so I was calm enough.

After dropping my jacket off at the dry cleaner's I noticed the blonde woman I'd seen on the underground yesterday slowly descending from the floor above, but I didn't let on, instead I took the lift downstairs and got into one of the taxis that was parked in the car park waiting for customers and set off to do Regina's job.