Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077-Chapter 168

Leo disliked asking stupid questions. If Rogue brought up Stella's name on her own, she must have had a reason.

"Stella's final job before he died was one assigned by Faraday," Rogue began. "A scientist defected from Militech to join Techtronika. Their people planned to smuggle him out of Night City to Moscow. Faraday, hired by Militech, got Stella's team to intercept the Techtronika convoy and kill the defector."

Soviet High-Tech (Techtronika) was a giant corporation from the USSR. It might not be on the same tier as Kang Tao, Arasaka, or Militech, but Leo was sure he'd heard of its weapons. One was called the SPT32 Grad—whose upgraded version was the Overture. Another was the RT-46 Burya—whose upgraded version was the Comrade's Hammer, a real heavy hitter.

Leo thought for a moment. "Stella failed?"

Rogue shook her head. "No, he succeeded, but right after that, he and his comrades got surrounded by Techtronika reinforcements and were wiped out in despair. Techtronika originally wanted to save that scientist, but once they realized he wasn't going to make it, they tried to salvage the data in his cyberware. Unfortunately, it was already too late. After death, a cyberware implant also starts to degrade. In the end, they recovered only a small amount of jumbled data, which turned out to be useless."

Leo's eyes flickered. "You're not implying that data is Militech's powered armor blueprints, are you?"

"Like I said, it's only a tiny fragment, scattered and incomplete. But why ask how it ended up with me?" Rogue crossed her legs, clearly enjoying Leo's expression. "Techtronika realized it was worthless and just stored it away. A friend of mine in that corp copied a set for me. Doesn't really count as corporate espionage when it's a pile of junk data that no one wants, right? Might as well turn it into some side cash."

"I'll take it. Name your price."

"Friend's rate," Rogue said, offering a figure that was basically a steal.

...

Leo spent about half an hour in Rogue's booth. A netrunner with dark skin walked in from outside, slid a chip across the table, and handed it over.

"Thank you, Nix," Rogue said with a nod, then slotted the chip into her neural link to confirm it. Satisfied, she popped it out and gave it to Leo. He transferred the payment to her on the spot, then stayed put to look it over.

He didn't distrust Rogue, but he wanted to see if these fragments might spark something in his mind. He inserted the chip into his tactical goggles, letting streams of data scroll across his vision. As he'd suspected, the files were too broken. Even reverse engineering wouldn't help much. No wonder Techtronika gave up on them.

Unless...

*You suspect that, despite the incomplete data, it'll give you a flash of inspiration...

Do you want to spend 100 Potential Points to obtain an improved blueprint?*

The system prompt appeared, and Leo's spirits lifted at once. Ever since learning Smasher was Yorinobu Arasaka's bodyguard, the pressure had weighed him down. Now he felt it starting to ease.

Quietly, he willed: "Yes."

100 Potential Points expended. You have obtained the Improved Blueprint – Exoskeleton Armor.

...

"Rogue, I need your help buying some items."

Leo sent her a materials list for building the exoskeleton armor. One glance was enough for Rogue to frown.

"This stuff isn't cheap. It'll cost more than replacing your entire body with Fourth-Generation cyberware. You sure about this?"

She didn't ask why he needed it; she'd already guessed. Leo didn't waste words.

"I'll pay you in six installments, plus commercial loan interest."

They might have known each other for a while, but it was never wise to let money ruin a relationship—especially when these materials cost more than a full Fourth-Gen body. To keep things fair, Leo volunteered to pay interest.

"No need for interest. I trust you."

"That's great. Talk to you soon."

Over the next few days, nothing much happened. Leo and V, Jackie, and Lucy occasionally met up. Meanwhile, Dexter took longer than expected to finalize a plan. It made sense: breaking into Arasaka's hotel wouldn't be a cakewalk. Leo welcomed the delay. Ideally, Rogue would gather the materials he needed to build that exoskeleton armor before Dexter was ready, so he could finish it and be fully prepared when the time came.

Around noon that day, a call came in. He assumed it was Rogue but saw that the name on the screen was "Linari."

"What's up?" he asked.

"Can't I call you without a reason?" frёewebnoѵēl.com

Leo stayed silent, staring at her through the holo-display. After a few seconds, Linari let out a sigh.

"Fine, I do have a reason."

"Location, job details, pay."

"Come to the street market in Kabuki. We'll eat and talk it over."

Leo didn't turn her down. If whatever she wanted wasn't too complicated, he'd take it; Dexter's plan could wait.

...

He found Linari at one of the street stalls in Kabuki. She was out of uniform, dressed in tight black clothes. They ate, then she asked him to drive north to the industrial district. While they were on the road, she explained why she'd called.

"Near Ross Street and Dockyard, a group of Scavs attacked some homeless folks, but the NCPD's not letting us near them."

"You want to get rid of them and figure you need backup, so you called me?" Leo asked.

Linari nodded. "That's right."

"How come you didn't ask anyone else in the department to help?"

She sighed. "They're armed, so going after them involves risk. The higher-ups won't sanction it, so my coworkers aren't keen to go looking for trouble. If anyone got injured, we'd be on our own for medical bills. They could even fire us."

"I see. You're not expecting me to kill these guys for free, are you?"

"Of course not. I did my research on how much a typical Scav clean-up job costs. I won't shortchange you. But..." She paused. "I'm just a regular officer. I don't earn much, so I'll have to pay in installments."

Leo agreed right away. "Fine. Installments are okay."

Scavs deserved to die, and he'd be getting paid one way or the other. It was a win-win.

"You can stay behind me. I'll handle them," he said. Scavs weren't a real threat to him.

But Linari shook her head. "No direct assault. We'll be smarter about it. I've already got a plan. We'll disguise ourselves as pizza delivery. Once those Scavs place an order, we'll spike the pizza with poison, deliver it to them, and let the poison do the work."

Leo gave her a thumbs-up. "Nice!"

About half an hour later, they reached the area near Ross Street and Dockyard in the northern industrial district. Linari found a vantage point where she could keep watch on the entrance to an underground mall over a thousand meters away. It was an unfinished, abandoned site. Many homeless folks used to stay there until a group of Scavs drove them out.

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