Chapter Text
Every now and again, you’ll walk past some raving drunkard screaming about the end of the world. He’ll shout and cry with desperation, waving his sign, but nobody will ever listen to him. After all, if nobody ever listened before, why start now?
Days, weeks, months go by and he’s still there. Still raving and shouting, but nothing ever changes. The world didn’t end last month, or last week, or yesterday. Tomorrow though, is forever unknown. You can check the screamsheets, the news, all of it about today or yesterday, but never tomorrow. You can plan for the future, for every last possibility, but something will always slip your grasp.
I learned that the hard way. I’m guessing you did too, if you’re here with me. I’ve been here a long time though, not sure if the lessons I’ve learned even matter anymore. So tell me kid, what did you do to get here?
MARCH 4, 2077 - MEGABUILDING 10, 10:42 AM
Johnny woke up to the sound of his ringtone blaring in his ear. He groaned in annoyance, and struggled his way out of bed. The sun was shining outside, and he could hear the sounds of the city just outside of his window. He sighed, and accepted the call.
“Hey, wake the fuck up Samurai.” Shouted Kerry. “Come downstairs, seriously.”
“Gig today?” Johnny yawned. “Did we even-”
“Nah, nothing like that. Trust me, it’s way better.” Kerry chuckled.
“Just tell me what’s up.” Johnny stood up.
“It’ll be better to tell you in person.” Kerry responded, then hung up.
Johnny sighed and looked down at the city below, then back into his apartment. It was fairly messy. Scattered across the floor were empty bottles, food bags, and dirty clothes. On the walls were a few Samurai photographs, album covers, poster ads, and of course, Johnny’s guitar. As Johnny stood up, he felt a sharp pain in his foot.
“Agh, fuck.” He looked down to see he stepped on a loose screw. There was no visible blood.
“Phew.” He sighed, standing up and walking over to the front door, placing his hand on the knob before realizing he hasn’t gotten dressed yet.
“Ugh, dumbass.” He thought to himself. Johnny walked over to his closet and got dressed. A jacket, Samurai t-shirt, some shitty jeans, and his sunglasses. “Perfect,” he thought to himself.
Johnny exited his apartment and walked through the megabuilding’s hallways. It was cramped as always, and the distinct smell of human sweat wafted through the air. He hurried down the stairs to the elevator, slipping between the mass of people walking around. The gun store was closed, and some people were watching a boxing match between a very large man and a robot. Johnny briefly watched, before continuing onward.
“Mind if I squeeze in?” Johnny said, stepping into the crowded elevator. The gate shut, and they descended to the bottom floor. The smell of human sweat was slowly replaced by the familiar scent of NC’s air pollution. The familiar sound of N54 news’ intro played on the screens behind the group. Johnny wasn’t really paying attention to the broadcast, though a few words stuck out to him, “Relic,” “Immortality,” and “Arasaka.” Three things he’d been hearing a lot about lately. He continued waiting in an awkward silence until the elevator hit the ground floor. He waited for everyone else to leave before stepping out.
“Alright, now where’s…” Johnny looked around the front entrance of the megabuilding for Kerry.
“Over here!” Kerry waved to Johnny from a food stand. He was wearing a ratty old biker jacket, relatively clean jeans, and his treasured bandana.
“Hey, there he is.” Kerry smiled, eating out of a takeout box. “Sit down.”
Johnny couldn’t help but smile back, and sat down. “So, what’s up?”
“Heh, what isn’t up?” Kerry chuckled, “Take a whiff, smell that?”
Johnny sniffed around. “Bad teriyaki?”
“Nah, it’s the smell of a shitton of eddies headed our way.” Kerry responded.
Johnny leaned forward, interested. “Oh? Tell me more.”
“You ever heard of Frank Nostra before?”
Johnny nodded, “Yeah. New fixer in town, ambitious little man.”
“Wouldn’t exactly call him little.” Kerry laughed, “Man’s older than both of us combined.”
Kerry cleared his throat, “Anyways, I got us a sweet ass gig from this guy.”
“Sweet? How sweet of an ass are we talking?” Johnny joked.
“Oh man, the sweetest. Not even both our asses combined measure up.” He responded, mouth slightly full.
Johnny chuckled and nodded, “Okay, so pretty damn sweet. Didn’t think we’d get noticed this fast.”
“Apparently, our dear friend Murph told him about our work,” Kerry took a moment to swallow his food, “I guess he was impressed.”
Johnny grimaced, “She didn’t tell him about that first gig though, right?”
Kerry laughed, “Ah, don’t worry about that. Shit’s buried now.”
“Sure, but in night city, shit has a way of finding itself in places it doesn’t belong.” Johnny responded.
“Really, Johnny, don’t worry about it.” Kerry said, placing his empty takeout box on the stand, then burped. “Oh, also. Your ride’s fixed from that last gig.”
“Sweet.” Johnny said, “I’ll take her down to the lot.”
“Actually, I had a different idea.” Kerry said, grabbing Johnny’s metal shoulder.
“Huh?”
“That arm of yours, pretty sweet, but it’s not gonna be enough for this gig.” Kerry gestured to the various bits of visible cyberware on his body, “Let’s go see Nauman, get you some chrome.”
“Said he had some new tech for us, discount for helping him out way back when.” Kerry answered.
Johnny shrugged, “Alright, I’ll go see what’s in stock, then decide.”
Kerry nodded, “That’s what I like to hear.”
Johnny pressed a button on his car keys, summoning his Porsche. “You’re not driving.”
Kerry chuckled again, “Wasn’t planning on it. Still sorry about that.”
“It’s fine.” Johnny shook his head and stepped into the car.
“Wonder if the radio’s playing one of our songs…” Kerry said, fiddling with the car radio.
“Probably not.” Johnny frowned, and began driving. “We could easily just walk over.”
“It’s early, and I just ate.” Kerry replied. “So, ready for some real chrome?”
“Hey, this IS real chrome.” Johnny scoffed. The drive was barely a few minutes long before they arrived outside of Milt Nauman’s clinic.
“You coming with, or gonna wait?” Johnny asked.
“I can wait.” Kerry said, continuing to fiddle with the radio.
Johnny nodded, walking into the clinic. Milt was at his desk, reading something on his monitor. The clinic’s interior wasn’t very remarkable. It was too small for multiple patients, having only a single patient bed. There were a few tools scattered around Milt’s desk, likely still unorganized because of how early it is. There were also a few freezers with spare limbs, organs, blood, and certain cyberware along the wall.
“Just me this morning?” Johnny said aloud. Milt jolted, turning around.
“Johnny boy, not in pieces this time?” Milt responded, smiling slightly. “Good progress then?”
“Not here about my hip again.” Johnny said, sitting on the patient chair, “Though now that you mention it, it is feeling better.”
“Good, good.” The man said, “Some other reason you’re here then?”
“Here to get chipped. Kerry got us a sweet gig.”
“Did he now?” Milt said, walking over to the chair and adjusting the monitors to face Johnny. “Who’s it from?”
“Guy named Frank Nostra, you know him?” Johnny laid down.
“Hmm…” Milt mumbled, “Sounds familiar.”
Johnny tilted his head, “You know him?”
“Might’ve worked on him in the past.” He paused for a moment. “I think he was missing both of his legs?”
“Damn.” Johnny grimaced, “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on losing mine.”
“Good. Now, go ahead and peruse my wares while I run a diagnostic.”
Johnny analyzed the monitor readout. It displayed his body’s vital signs and health, as well as available cyberware within his price tag. He selected all of the chrome he could afford.
“Optics, processor, new RAM…” Milt mumbled, “Alright. Gonna need to put you under for this.”
Johnny nodded. “Nighty-night.” The ripperdoc injected Johnny with an anesthetic, then began the procedure.
ONE HOUR LATER
“Rise and shine, Silverhand.” Milt said, tapping Johnny’s forehead. Johnny yawned and struggled to open his eyes.
“Ugh…procedure done yet, doc?”
Milt nodded. “Everything is in order, all cyberware installed as requested.”
Johnny pushed himself to sit up, “Put my savings into this, this gig better be worth it.”
“I’m sure it will. I did some research, and it looks like your new fixer has some big dreams.” Milt patted Johnny on the back, “Now get out there.”
“Thanks, doc.” Johnny smiled and put his sunglasses back on, leaving the clinic. Kerry was waiting outside, petting a cat.
“Kerry? Got a new friend?”
“Oh, you’re finally done.” Kerry smiled. “This little guy jumped onto the hood, figured I’d say hello.”
“Cute guy.” Johnny offered his hand to the cat. The small animal meowed and purred as it rubbed against the cold metal.
“What’d you get?” Kerry asked.
“New optics, better RAM, and whatever the hell this is called.” Johnny pointed to the black patch on his right palm.
“Ah, nice. I have the same one.” He smiled.
“So, what now?” Johnny asked.
Kerry leaned against the car. “Frank wants to meet you personally, he said.”
“Okay, where is he?”
Kerry gestured to behind him, a limousine guarded by a burly looking man. “Just over there.”
Johnny nodded. “Anything else I should know about this guy?”
“Not much else to say, really.” Kerry said, “Some people say he’s former Arasaka, so be careful.”
“Arasaka, huh? Great.” Johnny frowned, “I’ll call you in a bit, then.”
“Got it, choom.” Kerry smiled.
Johnny stepped away from the car, crossing the street to Frank’s limo. A tall, burly man guarded the car.
“Step inside.” The man said with a heavy Serbian accent.
“Hey, nice glasses.” Johnny smirked. The man grunted in response, and opened the door. Inside, sat Frank Nostra. He looked to be nearly 80 years old, and had glowing white pupils.
“So, we meet at last.” Johnny sat next to Frank.
“Johnny Silverhand.” The old man smiled. “A pleasure.” He offered his hand.
Johnny squinted his eyes.
“Hmm.” Frank squinted back. “You look a lot like someone I saw back in my day.”
“You’d be surprised how often I get that.” Johnny responded, taking his sunglasses off. “So, what’s up?”
The bodyguard stepped into the limo and began driving.
“We’ll get there.” Frank lit a cigarette, “I have a question first.”
“Okay…?” Johnny crossed his arms, waiting.
Frank took a puff, then exhaled away from Johnny’s face. “What would you say is preferable, huh? Having a long, fulfilling life and fading to nothing?”
He coughed, “Or burning a path through your short life, so bright, it’s forever burned into history?”
Johnny pondered this question. He didn’t like the idea of dying young, but he also wanted to become a night city legend with his best friend.
“Hm. Not quite sure, actually.” Johnny responded.
Frank nodded. “Good response.”
“...Good response?” Johnny mumbled to himself.
“What was that?” Frank asked.
“Eh, nothing.”
He nodded, taking another drag from his cigarette. “Had a friend once, the exact same answer you gave.” He chuckled.
Johnny nodded.
Frank cleared his throat. “Now then, this job.”
Johnny leaned forward, listening intently.
“Simply put, it’ll put everything you’ve ever done, and perhaps ever will do, to shame.” The fixer smiled, coughing.
“Please, enlighten me.”
“Have you ever heard of Arasaka’s Relic program?”
“A few times. It’s been all over the news lately.”
“Client wants you to klep it.”
“That’s…” Johnny cleared his throat. “Possible?”
Frank raised his hands, “Now now, don’t panic. I’ve got one hell of a plan for you. Absolutely, positively, fool-proof.”
Johnny was suspicious of this. “Nothing is gonk-proof, there’s always a way to fuck it up.”
“Let me finish.” Frank took a last drag of his cigarette, before tossing it out the window. “First off, I have some bizz with Maelstrom that needs settling.”
“What’s wrong?”
“For the heist, I needed a droid, a Militech prototype called the Flathead. Maelstrom klepped it, I bought it off of them, and then this guy, Royce, put a bullet in the old boss’ head.”
“So you need us to get the droid back?” Johnny asked, shifting in his seat.
Frank nodded. “Lady he stole it from, Valentina Rodgers, has been sniffing around town for it. She could be useful.”
“Flip me her contact.” Johnny said.
“Done.” Frank responded, uploading the woman’s contact info to Johnny’s holo. “Get the droid back, it doesn't matter how you do it.”
“Alright.” Johnny replied, “Is that all?”
“Nope.” Frank answered, “Second, you need to meet up with the client, one Father Jacquito Welles.”
“Huh. We’ve done some gigs with him.” Johnny smiled, “Good man.”
“Indeed,” Frank nodded. “Tried digging around for more info from him.”
“And…?”
“Told me to mind my own damn business, and that he’d rather speak to the solo directly.”
“Small problem with that.” Johnny said, “Watson’s still locked down, remember?”
“I’ve already spoken with him about that. We pulled some strings to ensure your safe passage to Heywood and back.”
“The cops won’t be an issue?”
“Don’t know the exact detes, but yeah.” Frank nodded.
The vehicle came to a stop in the Kabuki Roundabout.
“Guessing this is our stop?” Johnny asked.
Frank nodded. “Indeed. Later, Silverman.”
Johnny opened the door and stepped out of the car.
“Oh, and don’t forget what I asked. Fade away, or burn out.” Frank said, “Not everyone gets to choose, but you might.”
Johnny raised an eyebrow at this ominous comment, then walked away to call Kerry.
“Yo.” Kerry spoke up, “You talk to Frank?”
Johnny nodded, “Yeah. Said some weird shit at the beginning, then told me more about the gig.”
“What’d he say?” Kerry asked.
Johnny continued, “So, Militech had this droid, the Flathead. Then, some Maelstrom gonks klepped it. There’s this corpo chick, Valentina, trying to get it back.” Johnny paused to think, “Right, then Frank bought it off of them. Unfortunately, he bought it right before a hostile takeover of the whole damn gang,” he said while walking up the catwalk surrounding the central market.
“Heard about that. Guy’s named Royce, right?” Kerry replied.
“Mhm. Now we gotta get it back. Frank gave me the corpo chick’s info, said she might be able to help us out.”
Kerry winced. “Ehh…I wouldn’t.”
“Yeah,” Johnny agreed, “But talking to her might make our lives just a little bit easier.”
“True, I guess.” Kerry sighed, “Anything else?”
“He told me about the client.” Johnny replied, “Father Welles himself, apparently.”
“Oh shit, seriously?” Kerry said, surprised. “The hell’s he in on this for?”
“No clue, he said he’d only tell a solo.” Johnny replied, looking around at the busy marketplace.
“Watson’s closed off though?” Kerry said, “How are you gonna get down to Heywood?”
Johnny shrugged, “Apparently they pulled some strings to let me get through the blockade and back.”
“Okay, sounds interesting.” Kerry replied. “So, where’re we hitting first?”
“I think I’d like to play it safe for now, I’ll go chat up Welles first.” Johnny answered.
Kerry chuckled, “Damn, Johnny Silverhand playing it safe? Are you sure the doc didn’t mess around with your head?”
“Kerry…”
“Nah don’t worry, I get it completely.” He replied, “Get as much info as you can out of the guy before we go in balls deep.”
“You never want to go balls deep without knowing who you’re going balls deep in, you catch me?” Johnny chuckled.
“Damn right. I’ll hit up Murph, see what she’s planning.” Kerry responded. “Seeya.”
“Later, Ker.” Johnny said, hanging up. He clicked his keys, summoning his car again. After waiting a few minutes for it to arrive, he hopped into the driver’s seat and turned on the radio.
“-in other news, sightings of the “Ash Reaper” continue in the badlands. We now interview two nomads from the Aldecaldo Clan, who claim to have seen the entity during their nightly drive.” A man on the radio speaks. “Tell me, Mr. Sota, what exactly did you see?”
A man with a slight western accent spoke up. “Well, ah was jus’ drivin’ with mah brother Tommy here, when we saw that damned thing staring at us from just over the hill.”
Another man, with no accent, responded. “Yeah. Ugly thing was standing on these, like, weird stilt legs. Had two big glowing orange eyes, and had smoke coming out of its back. It looked like a walking volcano.”
“A walkin’ volcano, sounds ‘bout right.” The other nomad responded. “Sounded like one too, when ah tried drivin’ towards it, the bastard belched out this awful roar.”
“A roar, you say? Like some kind of animal, or monster?” The reporter asked.
“Yeah, but it sounded like it was in excruciating pain.” The accentless man answered. “And I swear to god, it felt like it was…calling to me.”
“I-I’m sorry.” The reporter interrupted, baffled. “Calling?”
“Yeah, tell ‘im.” The cowboy nomad said.
The other nomad continued, “I like to think I know a decent amount about optics and audio receptors, I’m the nurse for our clan’s ripperdoc after all, but that sound…” The nomad audibly shuddered, “It shook me to my very core. I think it was some kind of signal.”
“A signal?” The reporter asked, “That sounds very interesting.”
“Like it was tellin’ us to come closer, but not too close.”
“Well, that sure was interesting. As we know, your clans tend to have less advanced cyberware than those living in cities.” The reporter laughed, “You were probably just experiencing some audio or visual glitches.”
“Now hold on-” The cowboy nomad tried speaking up before being interrupted.
“Anyways, next up, Night City’s cats: Pests? Or a charming feature of our city?” The reporter said, “We’ll talk more after these messa-” Johnny turned off the radio, and sighed. “Could’ve at least let those guys believe in what they saw.”
Johnny looked up to see El Coyote Cojo, a bar owned by the Valentinos, and the designated meeting place for himself and the client. He parked just out front, and stepped inside. The bar was full to the brim with gangers, but the balcony was almost empty. It was a popular place, even for non-Valentino members. It had grown significantly over the past few years, gaining a whole second floor above the balcony, which served as a safe space for people fleeing gang violence. He waved at the bartender, then walked up the stairs. At the top, was an older latino man, leaning over the balcony.
“Father Welles, we meet once again.” Johnny smiled, walking towards the man.
The man smiled warmly. “It’s been a while, hijo.”
Johnny offered his hand, the man pulled him into a hug. “How’s it going, big man?” Johnny asked.
“Ay, it’s going.” He sighed. “Guessin’ you’re here about the job?”
“Frank told me you’d only talk to one of us directly.” Johnny answered, sitting down at a booth, Jackie followed, sitting across from him.
“Mi madre always said, don’t dive headfirst into a pool full of concrete.” The man chuckled.
“...Did she?”
Jackie made a vague gesture. “Maybe, maybe no. I’m old, and I forget these things. But I haven’t forgotten this.” He pulled out a datashard, “Info’s on this.”
Johnny slotted the shard into his head, viewing the information.
“So, while you wait for that to download…” Jackie leaned back in his seat, “Konpeki Plaza, you heard of it?”
“Nah, not at all.” Johnny answered.
“Es una casa de corpos, home to some of the scummiest rich folk you’ll ever meet.”
Johnny nodded, “I figured.”
“And I assume you know about Yorinobu Arasaka?”
“Yeah, heir to the ‘Saka throne. Not the biggest fan of his pops?”
“Indeed, ran away from home. Can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same.”
“What about him?”
Jackie leaned forward, “Relic’s hidden in his room.”
Johnny nodded, “Yeah, I figured.” He cupped his face in his hands.
“He was planning on sellin’ the chip to Netwatch, probably to spite his pops.” Jackie replied, “But that’s not the important part amigo, just get the chip.”
Johnny nodded. “If he’s selling it to another corp, he probably stole it in secret?”
“Damn right, no corp security on it, little to nothing between the lobby and that chip.”
The data finished uploading as Jackie finished talking.
“Alright, what’s all this about?” Johnny said, glancing through the information.
“Had your ‘runner friend, Murph, look through some chick’s braindance.”
“How exactly does that help?” Johnny asked, carefully and methodically reading every word.
“Ehh…Some technobabble about using a BD editor to find certain things with certain senses.”
Johnny carefully studied everything in the chip. He was unfamiliar with many of the words, but a few stuck out to him. The chip was hidden in a secret safe at the top of Konpeki Plaza, a hotel reserved for corpos and the like. The suite was protected by heat sensors, alarms, automated turrets, and hidden cameras. He also received information about Konpeki’s current guest list.
“Explains the need for the robot, then…” Johnny mumbled.
“Murph already knows all the detes, just figured I should tell you as well.”
“That it, then?” Johnny asked. Jackie nodded, but as Johnny stood up, he grabbed his hand.
“Hey, hijo. There’s one more thing.” Jackie said, “This job isn’t about eddies, it’s more than that. Personal biz.”
“Data on the chip?” Johnny asked. Jackie nodded. “Can’t say anything else. Just want you to know, if anything goes wrong, cut Frank loose.”
“You want me to drop my fixer if something goes wrong?”
“Come on Johnny, I helped you out when you first came here. Taught you to read and write, can’t you help me out?”
Johnny nodded hesitantly. “Yeah, I guess I owe you one.”
“God bless you, hijo.” Jackie said, smiling. Johnny walked back down the stairs and exited the bar. Just as he entered his car, he received a call from Kerry.
“Yoo, silverguy!” Kerry said.
“Ker, what’s up?” Johnny responded.
“You talk to Welles yet?” Kerry shouted enthusiastically. “I'm itchin' to go knock on Maelstrom's door.”
Johnny nodded. "Yeah. On my way now."
"Wait, go check on that corpo chick. Got a hunch it'll be worthwhile.
"Not sure if we should open that can of worms, but I'll think about it.” Johnny said.
Kerry hung up and Johnny sighed. Things were going well, especially for Kerry. He had a somewhat good feeling about the Maelstrommers. They were good, but Samurai was better.
Still though, Johnny couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Nothing is ever this simple.