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"Hey, Vik, where should I put this body?"
"Where to put it… just put it in the chair… I'm gonna have to replace the equipment after him anyway."
"Don't you worry. For a case like this, I'll even take a vacation from Regina and Rogue and help you install new equipment. You're a good man, and there aren't many like you in this city…"
"Thanks, kid…"
I laid Maine in the chair and stepped aside to a small table. Becca and the other members of his crew were crowded at the entrance, not daring to come in.
"Alright, so I injected him with this tranquilizer… it's a dosage for an elephant, but I was worried that anything less wouldn't work on a cyberpsycho."
I placed the empty injector on the table, and then I took out and placed a few more.
"And this is what I injected him with to stop the bleeding, in addition to the bandages we put on him."
"Uh-huh… that's good that you told me that… or I would have taken longer to figure it out…"
Vik injected himself with a dose of some drug and checked how his ripper glove was responding to his movements. Then he walked over to the table, took the injectors, and loaded them into an analyzer, which quickly told him what was in them. Well, it was to be expected. I don't use any special mixtures. Just the standard stuff.
"Well, that's not a bad solution. If you want, I can synthesize a couple of more suitable drugs for you for cases like this later on."
"I'm not against it…"
I shrugged. After all, when one of Night City's best rippers offers you something like that—not counting the corporate quacks, though I think he would still be one of the best among them, probably even in the top ten…
In short, you don't refuse an offer like that.
"Alright, let's check on him now…"
And the chair, as well as all the equipment around it, came to life.
"I'll stay here, okay?"
"You should get out of here…"
"Vik…"
I looked at the ripper intently.
"We're dealing with a cyberpsycho, and the fact that we decided to dechrome him…"
I shook my head.
"…who knows if it'll even help. You know yourself that it only works in twenty percent of cases. So a guy with synthetic muscles as a backup wouldn't hurt."
"Alright… just stay out of my way, and yeah, you can untie your rope. He won't wake up for another thirty minutes, and after that, I'll make sure he stays out until the operation is over."
I nodded and quickly untied Maine. Then I laid him back in the chair and stepped aside.
"What are you all standing around for?! Get out of here!"
Vik yelled at Maine's crew, and they quickly disappeared. The ripper himself started to work. First, he strapped him in, then the chair flipped over, and the part of it that was against his spine—or in this case, his Sandevistan—was removed, and the operation to deactivate and remove it began…
Almost five hours later.
"Well… I'm done…"
I nodded my head.
"Should I call them in?"
"No… I'll talk to him myself… and you stay nearby. You were the one who calmed him down… you recorded his actions, right?"
"Uh-huh…"
"Good. We'll show him what his obsession with chrome did to him. And he had a whole mess of chrome from different manufacturers… no normal ripper would install a mess like that…"
Vik pressed a couple of buttons and waited. I stood beside him. We didn't have to wait long. About two minutes later, a very coherent voice came from the chair.
"I… what the hell am I doing here?"
Maine no longer looked like that muscled goon. He was a skinny guy now, since he had been fitted with standard civilian chrome. Vik hadn't even bothered with synthetic skin yet. He just installed and connected everything. And I had advised him not to, since this idiot would probably start chroming himself again soon anyway.
"Hey, cyberpsycho…"
"You got something mixed up?"
He found me with his gaze.
"Nah…"
I shook my head.
"You're the one who almost flatlined your own crew. However, rumors of your love for chrome tell me it was only a matter of time before you lost your mind. And now, before you start accusing me of anything, I already sent Vik the footage of our fight."
"Our fight? Kid, I didn't fight with you…"
And then Vik turned on the screen, which started showing our fight. It was, of course, in a very slow-motion mode, since in real-time, you wouldn't be able to make anything out without a Sandevistan.
"Is—is that me?"
"That's you, you piece of shit…"
Viktor nodded, and I decided to continue for him, opening Maine's eyes to what had happened.
"In short, you were VERY lucky. The first time you were lucky was when your crew, after seeing you have an episode, didn't neutralize you or try to disarm you themselves, because they probably wouldn't have been able to handle you. Unless one of them has a Sandevistan?"
"N-no…"
I nodded my head.
"The second time you were lucky was that I have a very good relationship with Becca and Lucy, who work with you. And when the first one called me, despite it being my day off—and I work a lot, so my days off are sacred—I came to help her. The third time you were lucky was that word of a solo having an episode didn't get to MaxTac. I think with your track record, they would have been the ones to come neutralize you, not some police unit."
Maine swallowed the thick saliva in his mouth.
"The fourth time you were lucky was when Vik agreed to dechrome a cyberpsycho at all, given that it doesn't always help. And you were lucky again that there were enough eddies in the crew's stash to pay for Vik's new equipment. Because it's dangerous to connect to a cyberpsycho with equipment that worked on one. That equipment is now just junk… did I miss anything?"
I glanced at Vik, and he shook his head.
"Where's my chrome?"
Vik gave Maine a very displeased look, and I understood him completely. He had just been told that even the ripper equipment that was just connected to a cyberpsycho needed to be scrapped, and this guy was asking about his chrome.
For a second, Vik's eyes lit up, and a couple of minutes of silence passed. Then Maine's whole crew burst into the clinic.
"What do you need your chrome for?"
"It cost a lot of eddies… I'll gradually install it again so I don't lose it again…"
Vik shook his head.
"If that's how it is…"
He nodded at me, and I pulled Maine's parts, which were already packaged in sterile bags, from a separate corner of the clinic and put them on a special table.
"Here's your chrome. But if you decide to install it, don't come to me. And don't count on me if you ever need to be dechromed again."
"Don't count on me either…"
I shook my head.
"…I mean, he was just told that the ripper's equipment that was only connected to him when he had an episode has to be scrapped, and he wants to install the same chrome that caused it in the first place."
"I don't have to install that one… it's expensive…"
"Uh-huh… and the number of cyberpsychos in the city will probably increase…"
I shook my head.
"In short, that's your problem. Vik and I did our jobs. Now, please pay for Vik's work, and I'm leaving."
"And what about yours…"
Maine looked at me with a frown.
"I just wasted my day off…"
I shrugged.
"…and I'm only here because Becca asked me to. Lucy probably thought about asking me for help, too. But even if she didn't, leaving those two with a cyberpsycho…"
I shook my head.
"In short, I don't need anything from you."
"Listen, I don't like being in debt…"
"Maine, I'm the one who called David. I'll be the one to pay him back."
"We…"
Lucy stood next to her and nodded at me.
"…we'll have to work with him for a week or two. I think we can pay him back in that time."
"Two weeks?"
Pilar whistled in surprise.
"How much are you guys planning on working?"
"Well…"
I shrugged.
"I work a lot. I usually do two jobs a day…"
They all started coughing.
"Why are you all looking at him like that? At least he doesn't have to worry about money. And he eats real food, not fast food or vending machine burritos. He fed Lucy and me a couple of times."
"Uh-huh…"
Lucy nodded at Becca's words.
"Damn, kid, you eat real food? How much do you make?!"
"None of your business…"
I shook my head.
"…and yeah, Becca, if you and Lucy are okay with it, I would really like to work with you guys for a couple of weeks."
"Alright, I agree… and I'll take a third of my usual cut…"
"Same here."
Becca nodded at Lucy's words, agreeing with her decision.
"What the hell…"
I looked at them in surprise.
"…am I some kind of monster or a cheapskate? No cuts to your share. I'll just ask Regina to find jobs where Lucy can show off her skills, and where things might not go according to plan so Becca can be ready."
I shook my head.
"Alright, rest today and tomorrow. We'll start working the day after tomorrow."
"We can work tomorrow…"
"You can…"
I nodded.
"…but what's the point if it's just a simple job where there's no extra profit to be had?"
"Well…"
Becca shrugged.
"Kid, you just watch yourself. If anything happens to Becca…"
Maine looked at me with a frown, but I ignored him. From this moment on, I didn't care about what he said or what he thought. To be honest, I didn't care about him before either. I didn't come to help him; I came to help Becca and Lucy. I no longer remember who exactly took down Maine when he lost his mind in the canon…
I just didn't want to screw them over. And we had a really good relationship. So it would have been a real low move to not answer their call for help.
"Pay up…"
I stared at Maine intently, and his eyes lit up. Then Vik nodded.
"It all came through…"
"Vik, you want me to help you with the equipment?"
He shrugged.
"Go on, if you've got nothing better to do…"
"There's always something to do, but that doesn't mean I won't help a good person."
Vik smirked, and together, we showed Maine and his crew the door. Then we started dismantling all the equipment he had in his clinic. Vik himself made an announcement and even called his regular clients, warning them that he would be unavailable for the next three days.
I, after thinking for a bit, also called Regina and warned her. After that, I contacted Becca and made a change to our plans, telling her that we wouldn't meet in a day, but in three days. And only after that did we get to work.
All the equipment was being taken apart. Vik told me what needed to be broken so it would be cheaper to scrap than to repair. And if anyone was stupid enough to even think about it, it would be even cheaper for them to buy a used one.
"Where's all this going?"
Panam was watching us intently as we periodically carried the broken equipment to the Thorton. She was also in charge of placing it and securing it in the back so nothing would fall out on the road.
"I'll give you the address… and thanks for helping me. I would have spent all of tomorrow on this by myself."
"Don't worry about it…"
I smirked and lightly clapped Viktor on the shoulder.
"…we'll be here tomorrow around eight a.m. Does that work for you? Will you have time to find some equipment and arrange to buy it?"
"Of course…"
Viktor shrugged, and I got into the car. The Thorton then smoothly pulled away…
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