Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
"Mmmm!" The Latino moaned in exaggerated delight as he devoured a cut of pizza "Tastes like food of the gods, ese!"
"Actual food tends to be like that." I said dryly, slowly chewing through my own portion for once in an attempt to contain my impatience.
Needless to say I failed.
"The delivery go fine?"
"Ay, Dios mio!" Jackie Welles covered his heart as if hurt "Always business with you, Mike. Its almost like you only want me for my skills, and not for my chicano charm!"
"Your what now?" I muttered to myself before deciding to play along.
"Yes, Mr. Welles, you were but a pawn in my game all along. Tremble in fear." I declared with fake gravitas.
He snorted and shook his head, going back to his pizza.
Once he was done with the cut he spoke up again "The old cabron gave me the creeps, but like you said he came with only a couple of chooms and took the merch without too much fussing."
He briefly narrowed his eyes in thought and added "The hustle was on guard but they weren't all skittish, so hopefully whatever is going on in Pacifica isn't gonna get too wild."
My dark chuckle made him raise an eyebrow.
"You know what happened?"
"Well..." I trailed off momentarily, only briefly considering if I should tell him or not for his own safety before mentally shrugging and doing it anyway "I may or may not have participated in a decapitation strike of the Voodoo Boys. The man you delivered the weapons to is probably going to take the gang over now."
Jackie went to say something but then his eyes flickered in that way they do when someone is paying attention to something else while still looking at you.
I frowned "Jack... are you on a call right now?" He went to answer but I was already hacking into it just in time to hear a terrified female [Fuck!] on the other end "I don't scan you because you are my choom, and this is what I get?"
"Calm down, Mike." Jackie raised his arms "Its just Bug."
"I know." I said tersely "Still should have told me."
"You know how forgetful I get." He scratched the back of his head and shrugged "You're right I should have stopped you from saying it, but you're also the client and Bug did the gig as much as me, so I can't just cut her out like that."
He wasn't exactly wrong there, and most of my annoyance came from my own lack of attention anyway.
'Guess that's what you get for relaxing even with friends.' I thought irritably.
But I wasn't going to make a scene about it either "Whatever, fine. That's what I get for listening to you instead of dealing with the work first."
"Hey, post gig celebrations are important!" He grinned.
"Of course. Especially when half the team refuses to attend." I exhaled and decided to move on "Ms. Bug. I trust me dealing with your previous... associates won't be a problem?"
She took a few seconds to answer, probably still shaken by the fact I slipped into their secure call without so much as a blip on her radar, and then the fact I knew of her dealings with them on top of that [No problem. Just took me off guard.]
So it was a negative association like I thought.
"Excellent." I allowed myself a small smile "Your discretion in the matter is expected. And now for your payment." And my account dropped by a tiny thirty thousand eurodollars.
"See, all is well that ends well!" Jackie grinned.
"Mhm." I grumbled, directing him with a stinkeye that went completely ignored.
He just chuckled and waved the waitress over and ordered us another round of drinks, staring off briefly and then focusing fully on me "Bug says she has other biz to do so its just the two of us now." Seeing me nod he went on "So what's got you out here?"
We were currently sitting in a restaurant in one of the more wealthy parts of Little China, away from any of my more frequented areas so his question wasn't too unexpected.
"Looking over some real estate." I informed him "I got a solid offer from one of my contacts but I need to examine it with my own eyes, and make sure the legal end is all good before proceeding."
"You buying a house?" Jackie quirked an eyebrow.
"An factory building and a warehouse. Maybe an office building too, it depends." I corrected.
He blinked, going silent for a good few seconds before realizing I there was no 'gotcha!' waiting to be said "You're not shitting me?"
"Apparently doing cyberware work for big names while evading taxes is profitable, who would have guessed?" I allowed myself a smirk "The natural next step is to expand operations."
"So what, you looking to go full corpo?" Jackie asked, frowning a bit.
"In the sense that I'll be hiring on a bunch of people and expanding my business beyond merely cyberware, yes." I answered without wavering "But if you are asking if I'm going to turn into a soulless asshole and treat people like merchandise, then the answer is an emphatic no."
"I dunno, Mike." Jackie says after a few long seconds "Feels like you just told me you're about to sell your soul."
"So what, being a business owner is selling your soul these days?" I asked, not particularly offended since I reacted much the same at first.
He winced, knowing that saying yes would be calling out his own family "You know that's not what I meant."
"We've been programmed Jack." I told him "To think ourselves as different from those above us. They taught us to never try so they can keep control." As his expression shifted I pressed on "And make no mistake, they are above us, no matter how much we may pretend otherwise."
Unable to argue against the fact, all he could do was scowl in discomfort.
"And I refuse to be below them forever." I finished with a mutter before remembering something "You know, this reminds me. I have a friend in the force, used to be a Detective but he's an LT now."
"Yeah?" Jackie leaned in with interest.
"We were talking about the state of the NCPD, and I outright told him he was employed by Night Corp, you know what his reaction was?" I asked "He didn't even register it. And he's one of the good ones."
My choom went through a couple of expressions before letting out a deep exhale "Way to make a gonk feel like shit, man. Its like we are all just cogs in the machine."
"Oh come off it, Welles." I chuckled "You got money and you got freedom, others are actual wage slaves. Complaining just makes you look like an asshole."
"So you are gonna kick me while I'm down too?" He grumbled, downing his drink as he shot me an annoyed side eye "Real classy, Mike."
"Gotta get through to your thick head somehow." I shrugged, sipping on my own drink.
"Still, even if you want to go big." He said after a moment "What makes you think the big names will let you?"
"It will probably be a balancing act at first." I admitted "I'll have to make sure I don't step on too many toes as I get established, but so long as I don't expand too much too quickly the big names shouldn't try to start shit."
"And if they do anyway?" His asked with a dark look.
"Then I make them regret it." I said, even if I knew damn well that actually fighting was the nuclear option.
"You know what?" Jackie said with an odd smile on his face "This is the first time I've heard someone say that and it doesn't sound like empty air."
"Didn't you say it a bunch of times too?" I quirked an eyebrow.
"Yeah but can you call yourself an edgerunner if you don't say fuck the corpos?" He smirked "Its just a boast for us poor salt of the earth fellows."
"Well you know me, Jack." I said "I never make boasts."
My intuition turned ominous as he registered those words "Is that right?" He smirked teasingly "Mr. 'I'm immortal'."
Once more, I found myself regretting the acquisition of skin, especially that of high quality, as I felt my cheeks heat up.
"You uh... remembered that?"
"Got the recording right in my noggin!" Jackie grinned.
"Mike?" His expression turned uneasy "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Oh?" I blinked "I was just thinking... Could I please take a quick look?"
He instinctually sat up, leaning up against the armrests of his chair.
My scalpel Mechadendrite slithered out from my back and fell over my shoulder but only so far as to allow Jackie to see it "I promise I'll be gentle."
He bolted.
---
Satisfied with my acquisition of blackmail, I finished my chat with Jackie and moved on to my reason of coming here in the first place.
Finding the plot, or cluster of plots as was the case, was not difficult, as the buildings Jugo's contact was trying to get rid of were situated only a few blocks away from the canal in the corner of Watson that near the crossings to both the City Center and Japantown.
Southeast of Megabuilding H10, but not quite deep enough to count as part of Kabuki, it was a good part of town, quiet just like I wanted but still in a spot that was convenient for both transportation and attracting traffic.
The abandoned car parts factory and its accompanying warehouse were for all intents and purposes big slabs of concrete, meant to house workers and machinery on the cheap, and for the efficient transportation of material, even including an AV landing spot each.
They were everything except charming, but they were solidly built, and could be repurposed with only minimal work as while abandoned for years they had yet to succumb to Night City's particular brand of decay.
The only issue was the office space I knew would be necessary, and annoyingly while the workspace was solid, its surroundings were less satisfactory, being made up of cheap blocky residential towers that while lively had definitely seen better days.
About five decades ago.
Only one building stood out as passable for my needs, but at the same time it was the most rundown of the lot, positioned just behind the warehouse and separated from it only by a thin metal fence, the residential tower had actual chunks missing from one of its sides.
Chunks characteristic of explosive ballistic detonations.
Whoever attempted to set up here did not leave quietly.
I was just about to move on in my observations before I noticed the rather large penthouse suite on top of the building, one with its own private AV landing area and what even looked like a thoroughly abandoned balcony garden, or at least the shape of it suggested it was a garden.
"Hmmm." I considered it for a long moment "Fuck it, note it down and we'll see about getting our hands on it as well."
[Acknowledged. Acquiring aerial access to future home base is prudent.]
"Yes, I've been thinking abut getting my hands on a proper AV for ages now." I admit.
[They make for good transport vehicles despite the fuel inefficiency.] Logos agrees.
"And they can be good in combat with enough plating." I add "They may be slow and ponderous but as a weapons platform they are amazing."
[I reiterate on the fuel inefficiency, the armoring only makes the issue worse.] Logos points out [The expenditure of running one surpasses a fleet of armored personnel carriers, even if the flight utility justifies it.]
"Been doing your research, huh?" I muse quietly "Think you can find a way to optimize them?"
[Doubtlessly.]
"Do you feel like doing it?" I ask, still eyeing the crumbling building.
[The project sounds productive.]
"Then add it to the list." I allow and stand up from my perch "I got all I came here for. Here is to hoping the legal side of things won't make me want to punch my own head off."
---
My plea should have been specific, because the legal idiocy was even worse.
Oh sure, Jugo and his Tyger connections could deal with the ownership paperwork easily enough but once I started investigating the minutiae of starting a proper business there I realized just how convoluted and counterintuitive everything about NC's administrative system was.
The permits for most of the work itself were simple enough, and all I'd need to do was throw money at the problem until it stopped dragging its proverbial feet, and my new 'connection' to Netwatch allowed me to pretty much sidestep any of the usual scrutiny a firm dealing in so much high tech equipment would have to deal with.
Mosley sounded like he swallowed a lemon when I made the demand, but he wasn't idiotic enough to deny me, especially when he had been placed in Night City on a long term basis to watch over Pacifica in case something else happened.
His continued presence was mildly worrying due to Logos' mere existence, but at this point I'd almost take Netwatch attention over Night City idiocy.
Because for what was effectively an autonomous corporate zone, some of these rules felt almost feudal in how they were applied.
Specific companies held rights to specific streets, anything from vending machines, to street lights, and to Night Corps own particular obsession with maintaining rights to all of the surveillance equipment.
To make all the legal jargon I was forced to deal with slightly less soul draining, let's just say that a bunch of interest groups owned rights to the area that made conducting business an exercise in futility.
My lawyer, one Matthew Renfield Esquire who came highly recommended by Regina Jones, looked like death warmed over when he finally produced the documents on all one hundred and two entities with some kind of right aimed at my prospective property.
Needless to say that was completely and utterly unacceptable.
I was almost ready to just move on to somewhere less irritating, if not for one detail that my lawyer provided me with after I tossed him a bonus for all the sleepless nights he had to deal with.
He tried acting all roundabout on the topic but he pretty much just told me to get into contact with someone high up in the Mayor's office and most of the irritants could be written off in mere days.
And that sounded far more palatable to someone in my position.
So I shot Rogue a call and explained the situation.
[I do have some favors to burn.] The Fixer said after patiently listening to my explanation [But those don't come for cheap.]
To be expected [So long as the price isn't ridiculous I don't mind paying.]
[Not looking for eddies, M.] She shook her head [I need a favor in return.]
[I am always happy to practice my craft.]
She shook her head again [If I wanted that I'd have just called you myself. No, I need you to protect someone during a trip outside of NC.]
That was... not immediately objectionable. Still it begged the question [Don't you have an entire roster at your disposal? This sounds like something you could have dealt with already.]
[You'd be surprised.] She says a bit dryly [Most of the mercs who work for me don't like leaving the city, and the heavy hitters can rarely keep their heads in the game long enough for a job like this.]
Her eyes turn calculative [You on the other hand haven't fucked around even once since while working for me. And just a few days back you stormed a gang fortress pretty much on your own. For what I need? That's perfect.]
[My backup was beyond considerable but you are essentially correct.] I point out [And who would I be protecting?]
[Kerry Eurodyne.] She says.
My perception speeds up as I go through everything I know about Rogue, quickly connecting the dots of their known shared history.
Was she really just trying to watch her choom's back? Or was something else going on here?
My Kerenzikov returned to passive mode [And where would Mr. Eurodyne be travelling?]
[Zurich.] Rogue says, failing to hide the odd twitch in her face as I answered almost 'instantly' [There is a corpo gala scheduled to happen between all the movers and shakers next monday. Kerry's manager decided it would be a great idea for him to perform.]
[The same Kerry whose songs talk shit about said corps most of the time?] I asked, momentarily baffled [That Kerry?]
[Yes.] The Fixer's voice illustrated her disgust perfectly.
The rats probably found it charming to play the rebel or something. I doubted they'd allow him anywhere near their little gathering otherwise.
[Well it isn't my place to question the man's choice in employees.] I mutter after a moment [But I don't mind taking the gig itself. Its about time I got to see more of the world.]
[Best get it out of the way before you get bogged down in more paperwork.] Rogue agrees only half jokingly [I'll see about securing you some reliable backup in the meantime.]
[So long as it doesn't alter our deal. I need that red tape dealt with.]
[I know what I'm doing.] She retorts [Also, expect a call from your VIP before you leave. He's not one to leave things unanswered until the last moment.]
[Appreciate the heads up.] I nod [Good day, Ms. Rogue.]
She returns the nod and ends the call.
I lean back in my servo chair "Logos, move up the combat drone optimization to highest priority."
[Acknowledged.]
"Now then." I hummed to myself "A grand corpo gala in Zurich..." Best see what I can dig up about it in advance.
Not bothering with roundabouts, I shot a certain half rat a call.
-------
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