Robert Meta
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The Brink and Back - Chapter Sixty One
🕑 Added 2025-04-02 15:28:31 +0000 UTCThe latest addition to the current local Aldecaldo branch sat down at the table across from me, looking around as he did. He spotted the stairs, the door to the door to Frank's office, as well as the kitchen set up that Jackie made his way to. He was clearly curious, but he kept his thoughts to himself, watching us silently.
"So, I suppose introductions are in order," I said with a smile. "My name is Jackson, and that's Jackie Welles."
"It's good to meet you both. My name's Alexander Shepard," He said with a nod, tilting his head slightly as he looked at me. "No last name?"
"No, I'm afraid any other name I had died when I came here," I explained vaguely, shaking my head slightly. "It's just Jackson now."
"Knowing what I do about this city, I would believe that," He admitted, glancing over at Jackie, distracted for a moment by the sounds of his kitchen appliances. "Well, Jackson. Dakota seems to trust you about as much as you can trust anyone these days, which is encouraging, but I do have some of my own questions. The most pertinent of all… How are you doing all this? Who is funding you?"
"Funding us?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"If half the stuff people are saying about this place are true, then someone must be funneling money into this place," He reasoned, gesturing around us. "According to the rumors, it popped up overnight, which is only slightly shorter than it took for you to wipe all the Wraiths from the area. Not to mention that you've got dozens of robots walking around like you bought them from Budget Arms in bulk. Now, I'm all for giving someone the benefit of the doubt, but this… is a lot."
"I understand your confusion, but I can assure you, there is no hidden backer," I said as openly as I could. "I won't lie and say that there aren't things going on in the background, things that, if you knew, would explain how all this is possible without someone pulling strings. And before you ask, no, I will not share what those things are. But I can promise you that it's not some sort of malicious trap."
He studied my face for a long few seconds before letting out a short breath, shaking his head with a wry grin.
"Dakota was right. You are a strange one," He said. "But I don't think you're lying. Or hiding anything other than what you've already admitted."
"I've been as straightforward as possible when dealing with Dakota, or anyone else for that matter," I responded with a shrug. "The biggest threat to you here are Corpos looking to take advantage of what I am working on, and we are rapidly becoming protected on that front through our own growing corporation."
"TinkerTech?" Alexander asked, though he clearly knew already.
"That's right. We have a relatively trusted corpo running it for us, and so far, it is making… a steady profit, plenty of which goes right back into this area."
"A trusted Corpo?"
"I trust her desires and goals," I explained with a shrug. "She has something she is trying to do, and I know she will achieve it by helping our company grow."
In all honesty, I was actually growing to trust Sable at this point. She had plenty of chances, opportunities, and reasons to sell us out, and yet she continued to work with us. At this point, less scrupulous corpos would have started trying to lock us down under her control or called in a strike team to steal from us. It wasn't the best foundation of trust, not being suspicious because she hadn't screwed us over yet, but I was getting there.
"I believe I have impressed upon her that keeping me around would be better for her than trying to cause me issues or take advantage of us," I said, trying to reassure him. "She seems to understand the point."
"I have a hard time taking your word for it, but it's not like there is anywhere to live without risk," he said with a shrug. "You are giving our people, and not just my Family, a place to stay with legitimacy, gives us a layer of protection here we rarely see. It's well worth extending a hand of trust, especially when Dakota already seems to consider you a friend."
"So, does that mean you'll be moving in?"
"We will be, I'm hoping it will happen within the next week," He explained. "It will probably take a full two days to get everything inside."
"We can lend you a few MRVN units to help with the heavy lifting," I explained. "That should make things easier."
"MRVN units?"
"The standard working robot I designed. They can handle pretty complex instructions and can lift a considerable amount," I explained, before something popped into my mind. "Just to make you aware, the orange and black robots are simple, relatively inexpensive models, but if you see any with special markings, additions, or with a different overall designs, with odd add-ons or painted different colors? Those are special models I am using to test experimental designs or programs. Do not mess with them. The robots are, for the most part, tools to use and, if broken, chucked away. The special ones are expensive, filled with unique tech, and not to be harassed or abused."
"Fair enough, I will warn my people."
"Great, I-"
"Hold that thought, Genio," Jackie said, leaving his kitchen area while carrying three large mugs, each covered in frost and filled with milkshakes.
"Don't know if you're allergic to anything, so it's just simple vanilla," The large man warned, placing a mug in front of each of us before tossing a few spoons on the table as he sat. "Normally, I would put some booze in it, but seeing as this is sort of a business meeting..."
I refrained from pointing out that it wasn't exactly normal to be eating milkshakes during business meetings either, and instead picked up a spoon. Alexander hummed in understanding, though he was still clearly a bit confused about the choice of food. Still, he was clearly smart enough to roll with the punches, no matter how weird they seemed. He took a spoonful of the ice cream and put it into his mouth before freezing up completely.
"I don't know if Dakota or Panam mentioned this, but one of our ongoing projects is the development of cheap, accurate, and more healthy artificial versions of various food types," I explained with a smirk. "Jackie here works pretty hard on the project as the chef, and we are particularly proud of our new dairy line."
Alexander seemed to mentally reboot long enough to take another spoonful of ice cream, only to get stuck again as he stuffed it into his mouth. This time, when he broke free, he just stared at the mug, watching frost and condensation freeze around it.
“This… is incredible…” He finally said, leaning back heavily in his chair. "You said it's artificial? I've never tasted real ice cream, but… damn."
"It is, and we are quite proud of how it turned out," I responded. "Would you like to try some cheese? Panam seemed to really enjoy that."
"I.. Maybe later," he said with a tone that said he was considering whether to continue eating the shake or not. "I need to focus on finishing the meeting first. Then you can try to bribe me with food after."
I chuckled and nodded along, all three of us working to finish the delicious drink. All of us were in no rush to finish, both because it was too good not to savor and to keep from getting a brain freeze. As we enjoyed the shake, we talked about the town and about some of the improvements I planned on adding. He seemed impressed with some of the ideas, as well as the progress we had already made. He also brought up the Wraith raids, congratulating us on a job well done.
"You should be proud of yourself. I don't think there has ever been such a successful campaign against them. I know there have been attempts to drive other groups out from around major cities, but they are usually like cockroaches," he explained, sounding genuinely impressed. "That gas was brutal but effective, and it clearly sent a message they didn't like to hear."
"Getting rid of the Wraith and other Raffen Shiv in the area makes everyone around here safe," I pointed out. "Including myself. I was happy to help, but it's not like I was doing it selflessly."
Eventually, we finished our drinks, which meant it was time to start the tour. We stepped out of the Shack, leaving Jackie to clean up while I led Alexander to the corner section of the security perimeter. The corners were the most impressive parts of the perimeter, and gave us a decent view of the surrounding area as well as the wall in two directions. As we walked, I pointed out the areas for some of our planned construction projects.
After showing him the wall around our section, IO introduced him to Riggs, Kaytlyn, and Murtaugh. Murtaugh was introduced as a borg, while Riggs took his helmet off when he shook Alexanders hand. After a short introduction and conversation with each of them, we moved on, walking through the dusty town. I pointed out Samwise and his MRVNs as the special cases to watch out for, though we didn't go into the garage or production area.
After I was done showing off the storage areas, we made our way to the crossing between the main part of town and the campground, which, by area, was significantly larger. As we were walking down the street on the way to one of the two points of connection, Alexander frowned, taking a long breath in.
"The air… it smells different," He commented, looking around. "Not bad, but… different."
"The word you are looking for is cleaner," I explained with a smirk. "This town probably has the best outdoor air quality on the planet."
"How is that possible?" he asked, genuinely confused.
I gestured out past the wall, where one of the air-purifying towers was visible. Well, at least the spinning part on top was, the rest was hidden behind the protective walls.
"Those spinning towers we saw past the boundary line and beyond, those are macro air purifiers," I explained. "They pull an absurd amount of contaminants out of the air. It's so bad they pull in a couple of bricks worth of different waste every three days."
"That is incredible… They work at that scale and that well?" He asked, still skeptical yet unable to deny the air he was breathing was different.
"They do. I'm looking to downscale them slightly, but I don't want to hurt their range, so it's slow going," explained, future-proofing any attempt I might make in shrinking the design with more advanced materials.
"Why aren't there any in town?"
"They interfere with radio signals and other sensitive tech," I explained with a wince. "They work perfectly fine where they are, and the interference is only a problem when you get closer."
We moved on, crossing through the section and stepping over the slight bump in the road that passed through our shared wall. It didn't look like much, but I knew that each side had deployable bollards that could stop even large armored vehicles dead in their tracks. As we entered into the campground, Alexander and I stopped so he could so he could look around.
"Wow, you really prepared for us, huh?" He said, sounding impressed. "I expected that you would clear some space… this is impressive."
"I wanted you guys to be comfortable," I explained with a shrug, before leading him further into the mostly cleared area. "Plus, providing infrastructure like the concrete platforms and bathrooms will just avoid wear and tear in the future."
We continued the tour, showing off the empty buildings, the bathrooms, and the trailer homes I had pre-built for them. By the end of it, Alexander was adequately impressed with the space, the buildings, and the defenses mounted up along the walls. When I finally walked him back to the Shack, he shook my hand with a firm grip and a smile.
"I appreciate all of the efforts that you have gone through on our behalf," He said, shaking his head with a chuckle. "At this point, I'm a bit worried we might be spoiling everyone."
"I could always knock down the toilets or something," I pointed out, chuckling to myself as he looked a bit concerned. "Diggin out latrines should keep them from going soft, right?"
"I think the toilets are just fine," He insisted, though I could tell he was just playing along.
"Of course."
"Either way, Jackson, thank you for the tour and for answering my questions," He said with a nod, reaching out to shake my hand. "Like I said before, we will probably start moving in by the end of the week, and it will likely take a few days."
"We'll be waiting," I said with a nod, watching as he made his way to his car. "Just do me a favor and call ahead next time."
A moment later, the Nomad leader was driving away, exiting down the main road and only speeding up once he was past the wall, kicking up a cloud of dust. Once he was gone, I let out a long breath, heading into the Shack, only to find Vik had shown up at some point while I was giving my tour, and was currently talking to Jackie and Frank.
"Vik, welcome back," I said with a smile, noting the container I had sent with him the day before, full of copies of my implant, was on the table. "What's the verdict?"
"As far as I can tell, you designed an excellent implant. Stable, cool, and resistant to all sorts of issues," He said with a smile, gesturing to the box. "I fried a few, but mostly to see the failure point, which was well beyond anything I would expect. Well done."
"That's great news, Vik!" I said with a smile, unable to keep my excitement out of my voice. "How is the progress on the surgery?"
"Just a bit of polishing, then I want to run it through a few times to make sure we have it all set," He explained. "Then we can complete the first step."
"Right. Well… this is about as good a time as any…" I said with a frown. "Jackie, you mind calling Kayt? I gotta do a little demonstration for something I made, something I want you and her to carry on missions…"
"Oh boy, you better have a seat, Vik," Jackie said, shaking his head and unclipping his radio. "That tone means that the pendejo is about to blow our minds."
I rolled my eyes before taking my own seat, with Frank moving to stand beside me. When I did not refute his claim, Jackie gestured at me like I had proven his point, getting a chuckle from Vik. While Jackie radioed Kayt, I glanced up at Frank. We had discussed how this presentation would go already, though Vik hadn't been included in the planning, not that it would change much. A minute later, Kaytlyn walked into the door, narrowing her eyes when she spotted me.
"Alright, Jay, what fundamental law of reality do you plan on breaking now?"
"Not reality, just biology," I explained, pulling out a newly streamlined stimpak from my belt and waiting for Jackie and Kayt both to sit before starting. "This is a stimpak, Frank and I recently developed it."
"Some kinda combat stim?" Jackie asked with a frown. "I don't do those, Genio. Those kinds of things always cause problems."
"No, not that kind of stim," I assured him, before looking up at Frank and nodding.
The AI robot pulled up the sleeve on my right arm and, before I could really even think about it, sliced my forearm open. All three of my friends cursed and shouted, but I ignored them. Even though it hurt, and I was bleeding, I wasn't in any real danger. Frank had made the cut with surgical precision, so even if I didn't have a stimpak in my hand, there was no way I was gonna bleed out, especially not with my nanohive bioware. Blood still leaked out of the wound, but it wasn't anything even close to dangerous.
Ignoring their shouting, and Vik coming around to try and tend to me, I picked up the stimpak and injected it into my arm. The effects were almost immediate, the slow flow of blood stopping within seconds. Next, scabbing began to start, sealing the wound and covering it as I healed underneath. Then, finally, the bloody scab faded completely, leaving nothing but a small trail of blood.
By the time Vik reached me and grabbed my arm, preparing to cover it or something, the wound was completely gone. Frank handed me some sterilizing wipes, which I used to clean up myself, while he cleaned the table. Vik looked for the wound, pulling and poking my skin, only to find nothing.
"What… what the hell was that?" Jackie asked, beating the other two to the punch. "You playing tricks?"
"Was that some sort of nanotech, Jay?" Vik asked next, his tone much more serious.
"No, it's all biology," I explained, handing Frank the dirty wipe while I rolled down my sleeves. "Frank and I managed to create a healing injection capable of fixing, cuts, scrapes, stabs, and even bullet wounds."
The room was silent for a long moment as what I said slowly settled into their minds, each of them almost visibly trying to work through my statement. Vik was the first person to break through.
"That's incredible!" Vik said, finally releasing my arm. "How does it work?"
"By using an artificial form of a specific type of stem cells to foster healing," I explained. "I can go into more detail later, I just wanted to show you guys. Kayt and Jackie, I want you to start carrying them around. Vik, you need to see them because they will let you speed up my surgery considerably."
"Your surgery!? Jackson, they will change the world!" He nearly shouted excitedly. "What kind of side effects are there? What's the maximum effectiveness level? Do they have a shelf life?"
"Using them drains your liquids pretty fast. One is fine, but stacking them quickly will make you rapidly dehydrate," I explained carefully. "They also aren't miracles. For simple wounds, one will wipe them away, but for more severe things like bone breaks or bullet wounds, it will be as if you had been recovering for an extended period of time rather than a complete fix. It also doesn't replenish blood all that well, meaning you can still bleed out or pass out from blood loss. Oh, and it's terrible with illnesses and brain damage, for different reasons."
"How difficult are they to make?" Vik asked, picking up the empty injector and studying it. "It's well made. I assume it's all in-house?"
"I've already got a production system designed," I explained. "Someday, I'm hoping to have them spread around the city. I would love to have a stimpack in every drawer, backpack, and pocket."
"But not yet," Vik finished with a frown, picking up on what I wasn't saying,
"If people knew that I had these, what little protections we've managed to build wouldn't last a second," I explained. "They would charge hundreds of credits per shot, or hoard the tech for the rich. As horrible as it is, Doc, if I want everyone to have access to these, then I gotta keep them a secret for a while longer. I'm sorry."
"I get it, kid," He admitted, sitting heavily in the chair next to me. "I suppose I should be thankful it's in the hands of someone who does want to share it. Biotech would never do that."
"I wish I could do it right now, but it's just not possible. I can't even just release the creation process online," I said, regret in my voice. "The creation process is simple enough that anyone with halfway comprehensive lab experience could do the crude method, but the problem is it requires blood, almost two cups each."
Vik's eyes went wide at the reveal, then even wider when he realized what that would mean.
"There would be blood farms by the end of the week," he whispered softly.
"That's right. And the method I used is too complex for anyone but maybe Arasaka or Biotech, and I'm not even sure of that."
"Dammit… Well… I suppose it will at least help you guys for now."
"And every improvement we make means the next step gets more and more safe and easier," I said with a bitter smile. "I know it feels wrong, but so much is counting on what we are doing here. We can't risk it all collapsing before we are ready."
"When do you expect to release these?" Vik asked, lifting the empty injector.
"As something we hand out? Once we have control over Night City, I plan on releasing a whole host of life improvements," I explained. "Our printed foods, stimpaks, various medicines, addiction treatment, though that last one is only in extreme circumstances. I have a method of wiping out someone's addiction, but the side effects are not fun. Frank is working on improving that."
"... you're gonna take over Night City?" Vik asked with wide eyes. "That's…"
"Not all at once," I explained, waving away his fears. "It's going to be a process. We will probably start with Maelstrom and Scavs."
For a long few seconds, Vik just stared at me, before eventually shaking his head with a chuckle.
"I have to admit, Jackson. If anyone else told me that, I would have assumed they were nuts," He finally said. "But you? With all of this… I'm thinking there's a chance."
"I should hope so," I responded with a smirk. "So, are you ready to put that implant in me?"
"Just give me and Frank a few more hours," He said, patting my shoulder as he stood. "I need to pick his brain about how the stimpak works anyway."
"Alright, so, ignoring the crazy shit you just showed us…" Kaytlyn started. "You do remember that Rebecca is still staying in the surgical suite, right?"
"Right, dammit," I cursed, slapping my forehead. "Okay, I'll go have a conversation with her. What do you guys think about her?"
"She is a little agitated that she is just sitting around, armless, waiting for nothing," Kaytlyn said with a frown. "She wants to bury her people and move on."
"Should I offer her a job?" I asked. "You said Maines crew was pretty decent. Would you consider her to be at the same level?"
"Fuck, Jay, I don't know," She admitted, running her fingers through her hair. "For what it's worth, she seems to have changed. The fact that she has been sitting around for as long as she has without causing trouble is proof enough of that."
"Given what she has gone through, I would be more shocked if she didn't change," I said, nodding as I considered what she said before looking at Jackie. "Anything to add?"
"I think… She seemed okay," He said after a pause. "I don't know what she fights like, but the little chica has a spine, and it's full of grit. And she just lost her whole team. She needs support."
"That's not enough, though, Jackie. She isn't a stray dog that needs adopting," I responded. "And to be honest… the way Kayt described her… I'm not sure I want her near our operations."
"What… what if she sticks with me?" Vik suggested, all of us looking at the ripper. "Make her some gorilla arms and tell her the price is to be my bodyguard and helper for a few weeks. I can get to know her and help her if she needs support. By the time she "pays" her parts off, I'll know if she is compatible or not."
"That's a solid plan, Doc," Kayt said with a nod, looking towards me. "She may be a loose cannon, but she will at least stick around him for a while and not fuck that up. And if she doesn't… well, is printing out whatever arms you have in mind actually going to cost you anything?"
"No, it won't. Fine, it's a good plan, Vic," I said, giving the man a thumbs up. "You wanna come up and talk to her?"
"That might be for the best."
Together, we headed back upstairs, leaving the rest of the group to themselves. Frank had clips of stimpaks, identical to mine, which he handed to Jackie and Kayt. I knew that Samwise also had plans to make sure that all of the MRVNs had a few on them at all times as well, but I made a mental note to get Murtaugh and Riggs on that list. They likely already were given how thorough my assistant was, but better safe than sorry.
We entered the surgical suite, which at this point was mostly empty, save some monitoring equipment. The young woman barely reacted when I walked in, but seemed to at least smile a bit when Vik did, an encouraging difference.
"Rebecca, good to see you again," Vik said with a smile.
"Yeah, thanks, Doc. It's good to see you, too," She said, fixing her eyes on me. "I get the feeling that with the boss man being here means this ain't another simple checkup?"
"Good guess. My team can build up those arms you want, make something reel preem, maybe better than what you had before," I explained. "But the cost is I want you to be Vik's bodyguard for a few weeks."
"I'm going to be traveling between Rocky Ridge and Night City a lot from now on, and I'm a bit nervous it might catch some attention," Vik explained. "Having someone around who can kick some butt would make me feel a lot more comfortable."
Rebecca's eyes went wide for a moment, looking between me and Vik in confusion. For a moment, I thought she was going to question our offer before she shook her head and narrowed her eyes at me.
"How preem we talking?" She asked suspiciously. "I got my old chrome sitting at home… assuming they haven't kicked us… me out yet."
"Stronger and tougher than what you're used to," I assured her. "As for anything extra, that depends on what you're looking for."
"I just need them to handle the big guns," She explained. "Can't fire an HMG with tiny noodle arms!"
"We can certainly do that and more."
"Good… And I want one of those big nova cannons that big guy has strapped to his back," She said, using her chin to gesture at Riggs, who, as he had been for a few days now, was watching over Rebecca. "Yeah, I want one of those."
"... I'll tell you what. I will make you some arms and cybernetics that will let you shoot that thing, cause it's not something normal people can shoot, even with gorilla arms," I explained. "And when you're done paying them off with work, if you're still interested, and Vik vouches for you, so I'll make you one."
"Fuck yeah, I'm in," She said with a wide, almost concerning grin. "You got yourself a shadow, Vik. Just get me some arms, and I got your back!"
Comments
Heinz
Will you have a hologram of Shepard saying "This is my favourite site in Night City"
Joyeus
To take over the city he’s going to have to up his corpo game a lot. The big corps like having disposable attack dogs for hire. On another note Jackson should look into more places like space, Europe, Asia, or just the rest of the americas, seeing how the different cultures have evolved over the last fifty years would be interesting. Especially Europe with its own dislike of cybernetics Jackson would fit right in. On another other note, I took a look at the other edition of cyberpunk, cyber generation and cyberpunk v3, and the tech gets crazy. I know they got retconned but it would be interesting to see elements of them pop up in some way.
Drumic
I think the info was on the device delivered at end of the previous chapter. MC just loves to put off looking at it, hopefuly next chapter will drop the info.
Ray
um what about the cannon char info
Fortunis
Given his current tech level I'd have deployed self loading micro-missle launchers on every permanent building roof top. Elerium tipped seeker missles would fucking delete Smasher in an instant. Cause fuck that guy. It'd also be a massive anti-armor/aircraft deterent.
James (Silencian)
Because she's a great character from a great yet emotionally crushing story/show that most people wish had a "good" ending for her. If you didn't want to read about Rebecca you'd have to either find a cyberpunk fic set in 2077 og timeline where she's dead, or not read cyberpunk fics and crossovers.
Al
Please, please no. Why is she everywhere. Its like Slenderman. You can't escape her in every fic...
Simca
Smart way to deal with ‘beca. Didn’t even consider that at all.
PeaceMaker03
That is a whole lot of awesome sauce in one chapter.
Duke of Coffee
Slowly Jackson laid his foundations of a takeover. Anyway I think Jackson would need to up his town defenses just in case Adam Smasher comes around.
Eich8noe
Will the first corpo raid fail spectacularly because they are driving to close to the ECM Towers that also smell good?
DrettTheBaron
I hope we see some progress on trh Night City front relatively soon. Building up is really nice and I enjoy it. But we gotta see scabs getting merc'd aight?
Feliprins
Wonder when they are gonna be targeted now? Bet the Raff Shiv is gonna pay a lot for information on them, and knowing Night City, there's always an idiot willing to die trying to make some money, and that will also likely bring a lot of attention from gangs and fixers from the city... MC got a strong defensive perimeter but lack a lot when it comes to manpower, the shipments of their goods are likely to be targeted, so are people leaving to their direction. MC needs to project their power with ADs, propaganda, influence and a more solid presence in the city as someone to not to be messed with.
Cmols897
And now the gun gremlin is hooked, once she has a taste of what Jackson can offer she won't want to go anywhere else
Hiram
Chaos Gremlin catch complete!
Freya
Tyftc
Noob
Tyftc
