Previous chapter has been edited and should be a fair chunk better now. I still don't feel like its perfect (a touch fillery if we are being perfectly honest) but I am in a state of semi permanent cooked and that is just how it is for now.
Quick reminder to those who have missed the previous announcements (I really should stop deleting the rant posts but I like muh neat post list too much): 1: I will be taking a step away from writing for the whole duration of July (it may start a touch earlier depending on my level of cooked) (subscriptions shall of course be paused for the duration)2: The Star Wars fic is for all intents and purposes over/on hiatus, and the topic of the secondary story will be revisited once I'm back (either a rewrite of the chapters I disliked or just straight up starting something new, it is the "snippet" section after all and exists to feed the muse as it demands.)3: That third chapter slot is also on hold until after the break because dear God, I'm barely holding on as it is xD
My eternal yap session thus finished, enjoy today's chap!
The Mercs
"If ya keep pacing like that I'll start throwing things." The annoying nurse nagged from the comfort of her seat.
Avdol stopped walking and his eyes snapped up at her "Shouldn't you be doing your job?" He growled, pointing at the raging psycho they'd just barely belted down to the ripper bed, and who was currently trying very hard to wriggle from those bindings.
"Already did what I could for your buddy." The older woman shrugged uncaringly before pointing a lazy thumb at the psycho "And there ain't no amount of eddies in the world that would make me get close to that fuckin' thing."
Avdol held back a curse and closed his eyes. Their fight with the chrome fiend had been an experience straight out of a xBD nightmare. The big fucker moved faster than he had any right to and that speed had cost his team in blood.
To make things even worse, they couldn't go for the kill either. Jones was pulling out all stops and capturing the psycho intact and conscious came with a massive cash bonus that he and his people needed dearly.
The extra objectives briefly made him wonder just what sort of freak the Fixer was working with.
He shook the thought off as soon as it came.
They weren't getting paid to ask questions.
He just hoped Jonas and Yevgeniy didn't flatline for nothing.
'Not now.' He cursed at himself and turned to the two remaining members of his team, his voice coming out hoarser than he'd intended "How is he?"
Sofia shook her head lightly and then jostled the shallowly breathing Jay's shoulder, but all that did was make him bonelessly slump forward, forcing her to scramble to keep him sat up.
Avdol faced the nurse again, a demand already rising on his lips.
But all that earned him was another shrug "Told you I'm not a medical professional, kid. Just wait till the boss gets here, he'll probably fix you up if he manages to take his eyes off his newest 'subject'."
His eyes narrowed "And just who is this 'boss' of yours?-"
The doors of the basement lab shunted open and Avdol had to blink a few times because he could almost swear it was fuck mothering Magos who just blitzed past him without so much as a spared glance in his direction.
By the time he'd collected himself, the massive borg was looming over the cyberpsycho, glowing otpics staring directly into the feral chrome fiend's eyes as he mumbled something too quiet to catch.
"Yelena." The emotionless synthetic vocalizer droned a moment later "Fetch the unmarked injectors from the back, you know which ones."
"You got it boss." The nurse got up, unperturbed, no longer paying any attention at Avdol or his squad whatsoever.
Feeling his frustration finally bubble over his discipline, Avdol growled "Hey, tin can! Our choom is bleeding out here!"
For a moment it seemed like he was going to be ignored or worse, but just as he started to move towards the borg, pants shitting fear or not, something under the towering metal man's coat twisted, and three long serpentine limbs shot out, narrowly missing Sofia's face before two buried themselves somewhere deep in Jay's open guts.
And even as he started hearing wires get pulled and saw one of the limbs perfectly handling a welder, Magos still didn't turn away from his prize.
Which was the right decision as in the next instant, the beast they'd tied down to the bed finally managed to snap the reinforced belt holding it down, the massive cybernetic arm that had turned Yevgeniy's head to fine mush reaching for the ripperdoc's throat.
Only to get slapped- no, lightly whacked down like that of an overly curious child, clanging against the ripper chair uselessly while the doctor resumed his examination without alarm.
Avdol felt his cheeks clench.
And not the ones on his face.
Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
The subject currently foaming at the mouth about a foot away from my face was a truly massive specimen. If the first descriptor that came to mind when I'd met Hernan was a fridge, then this individual was two freezers tied together pretending to be a person.
Most of the body had been replaced by cybernetics, models of any and every brand available on the market stacked on top of each other without any rhyme or reason save for the increase in weight class and power.
Bone reinforcements followed by replacements, layered internal and external armoring, all four industrial power limbs modified for combat use, and I quickly realized as my scan continued I could keep listing the unrefined abomination of a loadout I was witnessing well into the night.
A small part of me was impressed... by the sheer fucking hubris of it all. But it was not what truly caught my interest.
It was the fact he had operated under the same neural strain for five entire years.
"Mr. Grant." I voiced slowly, making sure to look him in the eyes "Calm down and listen to my voice."
Unsurprisingly, trying to talk sense to a raging behemoth of chrome did not seem to work.
A touch more surprisingly, it had the opposite of its intended effect as the subject began struggling even harder in his attempts to get out.
"Get me out of 'ere you bastards!" The subject slurred through half cybernetic lip, voice booming like thunder despite it "I'll fucking snap you like a twig!"
Interestingly, his eyes weren't completely empty like those of his predecessors, and his efforts weren't completely unfocused. It was almost like he was stuck seeing something that wasn't there and taking it for the truth.
'Useful but his mind is already degrading the same way the rest were.' I noted, as detached as I could make myself 'Logos, are we prepared?'
[Guidance protocol primed, awaiting injection.]
Just then, Yelena finally stumbled out of the storage room only to nearly fall over on her ass as my last free Mechadendrite snapped the nanite injectors from her hands, presenting them for my use a moment later.
Wasting no further time I injected the first into the side of the cyborg's head that was still partially made of flesh, followed immediately by an injection of backup nutrients to use as fuel.
The struggle of the subject became even more intense then but I did not need much effort to keep him subdued, instead focusing most of my attention not grabbed by the mercenary I was concurrently repairing onto the localnet.
[Nanite server established.] Logos informed [Beginning rapid integration procedure.]
[Cybernetic Ascension Mk.0.1.exe uploaded.]
[Executing...]
The nanite swarm immediately snapped into action, 40% of its mass focusing on maintaining the rapidly degrading central nervous system while the remaining majority began a full on direct physical survey scan of the brain.
Once done with their combing, the nanites snapped into action again, moving towards specific nerve clusters and forming bridges between them by interfacing directly with each other, effectively building up an entire nervous substructure in mere seconds.
Most of the 'bridges' disassembled the moment they received their first neural impulse, detecting they weren't in the optimal position and immediately moving.
The process was not perfect and it showed as the confused neural signals and shifts in structure jostled the already degrading nervous system but we were already expecting that.
There was only so much you could plan for without live testing.
I did what I could while Logos worked (It was his concept we were trying out here, I had no illusions about that), and my research on nanite shielding quickly began proving its worth as it was not limited only to armor, preventing some of the damage while the entire system was slowly and painfully dragged back into equilibrium.
Both Logos and I were so absorbed in the work we ended up tunnel visioning for God knows how long, only stepping back once the nanite clusters finally nested into their perfect spots and the subject's brain ceased its attempts to decommission itself.
It was very slow going at first, the brain's first response was the expected wasteful and self destructive maladaption process I'd observed in every singel one of my previous subjects, but once the nanites got involved and, in layman's terms, gave the brain more 'space' to work with it transformed into something far more productive as the entire structure, biological and artificial, began transmitting cyberware signals far more fluidly than before.
It was not a perfect process however. Some damage was inevitable, and the brain was a delicate thing.
The massive informational overload inflicted a massive shock on the psyche, and the process of learning to use the new nanite connections only exacerbated the issue further, effectively delivering a sudden and explosive hyper boost of neuroplasticity and cyberware affinity in a very short period of time.
And while that did sound pretty impressive, the truth was far messier.
Amnesia. Considerable in scope, and completely random in what memories it affected, and likely made them irrecoverable as well.
As the final connection settled, the subject jolted in the ripper chair, making the metal groan as his eyes regained some level of lucidity and I allowed his hand to reach up for something only he could see "H-hold on there, kid." He whispered, voice hoarse from shouting "I'm commin'-"
And then he lost consciousness.
Tilting my head in an attempt to remain detached I nearly startled when Logos pinged me.
[Ascension.exe semi successful.]
'A solid first step.' I thought with a fair bit of pride bubbling up inside 'You have everything recorded?'
He immediately sent me a multidimensional diagram of the entire process, alongside his own annotations to every step and initial ideas on how to optimize it.
[As surmised, our actions were too slow and methodical to fully preserve the ego of Subject No: 07. Further optimizations of the process will be necessary.]
'We will come up with something, I'm sure.' I decide 'For now we should observe the changes in the subject. Simple brain scans will not be enough, we need longer term data.'
[Agreed.]
'Good. I'm curious though, why ascension?'
[As theorized, the 'cyberpsychosis' process is an act of optimization by the subject's feeble grey matter. I am attempting to engage in 'optimism'.]
Shutting my Optics for a moment I took a short breath to keep myself from snorting aloud 'Whatever you feel like, buddy. Please keep observing. I don't want to miss anything.'
[Acknowledged.]
Offering a mental nod I turned away from the subject and to the rest of the room.
The duo of still conscious mercenaries noticed immediately and tensed, looking at me with the coiled caution of career fighters sharing a space with something far beyond their ability to combat.
They weren't outright hostile of course, we were still under Jones' contract, and I've seen this particular group once or twice before, in the Afterlife.
Yelena remained as unflappable as ever though, sipping on a can of Nicola without a care in the world while tapping away at her phone, barely even paying attention to what was going on around her.
"It is done." I voiced, and addressed the edgerunners "Why are you still here?"
The heavyset middle eastern man who appeared to be the leader hid his outrage behind a set of multi-spectrum vision goggles "What do you mean why?" He demanded, his hand pointed at his downed comrade "Jay needs help!"
Realizing just how asshole-ish I'd just sounded, I took a moment and flopped one of my Mechadendrites about, unnerving them both "I have performed basic repairs. He will survive if you get him to a ripperdoc within half a day. Anyone halfway competent should be able to repair him."
The edgerunner looked like he wanted to sigh in relief but discipline held him back "Right, thought you were just keeping him from flatlining until you were done."
"I'm not that big of an asshole." I allow myself a chuckle, and activate my Cyberdeck "Here is the list of all the damage, it should help whoever works your chrome deal with everything."
"Thanks." He nods, not even bothered by the fact the data just downloaded itself onto his Neural Link, and looks at his companion "Come on Sofia, we're getting out of here."
The duo grabbed their teammate and dragged themselves outside as quickly as they could manage.
"Fuckin' ice cold doc." Yelena mocked as the door shut behind them "Couldn't even kiss their booboos properly before telling them to fuck off?"
"I kept their friend from dying." I inform her of the facts "They knew what they were signing up for."
The ex-Scav shoots me a bemused look and then just lights up a cigarette without a care in the world.
Ignoring the spike of irritation, I gave the subject- Roger Grant, he had an actual chance now, another deep scan, and seeing as he was still stable I called Jones.
She answered within three seconds [How did it go?]
[I've managed to stop any further deterioration.] I informed her and felt my Optics widen as she full body slumped against her desk* [But-]
Jones snaps back to attention, her single eye staring at me with an unfamiliar intensity.
[-The process wasn't perfect.]
The pause in my explanation must have been too long because her question was almost immediate [What do you mean by that?]
Unmoved by her urgency I proceeded to explain the issue as best as I could to a layman. Telling her about the probable issues Logos and I could predict without making anything sound too definitive.
[I see.] The Fixer exhaled [He is not a lost cause then?]
[Not as long as I have access to him.] I informed her [This was the best I could do with a bit of medicine and elbow grease. Once my facilities at Ars Mechanica are complete I should be able to engage in some more rigorous experimentation.]
She paused, frowning [You want to keep him around?]
[So long as the problems I predict crop up, it will be necessary.] I assure her [If he becomes fully coherent when he wakes up I have no qualms in letting him go, but you know that any kind of instability is just asking for him to get shot the moment he steps outside of supervision.]
It was as if my words made her age in real time, a sudden soul deep fatigue overtaking her posture.
Unsurprising, considering Roger Grant was in fact Jones' old friend, someone she had been watching spiral down chrome addiction for the better part of a decade, and who just happened to be resilient enough to survive his idiotic cyberware loadout and snap now instead of five years ago, when he honestly should have.
Obviously that wasn't in the info packet she forwarded me but that never stopped me before.
[Fine.] Regina exhales [Just... keep me updated.]
[Of course.] I nod.
[You're sure you want to move this to your new lab though?] She asks after a moment [Experimenting on cyberpsychos might draw more attention on you if it gets discovered.]
[If.] I raise a finger to enunciate, earning a nod [Even then, Night Corp already has MaxTac as their poster boys. Another corp engaging in similar practices will only be a minor stain on my public image. So long as it is managed properly anyway.]
She nods slowly [That does sound reasonable... But I wasn't born yesterday. What's your direct involvement going to cost me?]
[Your direct influence as a Fixer.] I inform her bluntly [You seem to be very invested in cyberpsychosis for some reason, and seeing as I'm your best bet to fully solving it I will need your full support across Watson and beyond.]
[That's...] She frowns and remains silent for a long moment [Far too much.]
[I'm not asking for your funds or for you to act directly.] I elaborate [All I need is your information network. Someone tries to fuck me over? I need to fuck someone over? You tell me everything you know. No negotiations, no stipulations. That is all.]
She doesn't answer immediately, staring at me with her one eye for a long minute before saying [Alright. I can agree to that...] I don't quite catch her muttering to herself but I could almost swear I heard something about finally selling out to someone she actually respected.
Jones was too professional to say something like that though.
[I will keep monitoring Grant until morning.] I tell her, pointedly ignoring the idiotic train of thought, and focusing on something else. Like the ex-scav currently lounging behind me [What about the assistant?]
[You don't want to keep her around?] Jones asks almost disinterestedly. Yelena was obviously not all that high in her confidence.
For a brief moment, just a tiny speck of time, I considered saying I did. Annoying as she was, Yelena was useful. She did her work as instructed, and kept things in relative order. She could be made useful with enough patience.
And then I remembered she was an ex Scav.
[Fuck no.]
*Edited the previous chap so that Regina kept her composure for the most part, which would then make her reaction now more pronounced.