This is both shorter than I had wanted it to be and longer than I had wanted it to take, but Victoria 3 came out and ate up more free time then I had expected, I've not put a whole lot of effort into betaing so there is probably a lot more Grammatical errors than I usually like there to be, but I wanted a update out so here you go.
"Oi Crow we're here, you can wake up and stop bleeding over my cushions now."
You're shaken awake by Kobayashi, after groggily looking around you notice that you've arrived at the entrance of Jig-Jig street. Taking a deep breath to calm your nerves, you thank Kobayashi for letting you sleep as long as possible and open the door to take the steps towards the parlor.
Once you close the door of her car she peels off down the road to continue whatever she was doing before you interrupted her.
Jig-Jig street is familiar territory to you by now, when you had first escaped to Night City it might have scared you to be surrounded by the lowest of Japantown society. Now however, you had been to Japantown's own little red light district enough times that it was almost like a second home.
"Hey, Crow!" You look towards the man calling out your name, Gin, the owner of a little Japanese food shack. His food's shit but he pays your cut on time and being right in the middle of three well frequented sex shops means he gets a lot of business.
"What do ya need Gin, I don't know if you noticed but I'm in a bit of a hurry to talk to Wakako right now." You gesture down towards your hacked up body as you make your point, he cringes slightly at the sight of you.
"It won't take long I promise, I just needed to tell you that some guy came in here the other day asking for any info I could give him about the Crow, looked corporate to me."
"He give a name, or any contact info?"
Gin shakes his head for a moment before stopping to consider something, "Well, he didn't give a name, but I was given a number to call in case I heard anything."
"Send it to Wakako, I can't pay you right now for the info but I'll make sure you'll get a hefty compensation for the delay."
You sigh as you take a step back from his counter, "All the same thanks for letting me know, I'll look into it soon."
"It's no problem Crow, after that business with my sister it's the least I could do."
You say your goodbyes and continue on your way, you take a slightly roundabout way of getting to the parlor so that you don't worry any of the many 'tourists' on the street.
The sound of pachinko machines running is one you hope to never forget, it reminds you of home. While your mother, and by extension you, never really got tangled up much in the pachinko business, your grandfather loved them and would often frequent and invest in parlors around Tokyo.
As far as hobbies for leaders of megacorps go, it was pretty mundane and harmless.
Goro, Wakako's muscle, holds his hands up once you get to the door to her office.
"She's in a meeting at the moment Crow, said no visitors," Goro says once he sees who was trying to get in.
Goro was an old hand at the bodyguard business, having done this since before you were even born. He was a former Sumo wrestler so he was bigger than most and when you are in that business being bigger than most is a very good selling point.
You're about to protest but you are cut off as his eyes light up before he steps aside and someone pushes through the doorway, two someone's actually.
The person who steps out first is someone you recognize, not because you've personally worked with them but because you've seen them at the Afterlife once or twice. A tall netrunner that goes by Kiwi, she's got a name as a solo runner that can get most jobs done without too much fuss, the girl behind her on the other hand is someone you don't know.
She's about your age, maybe a little younger, with bright silver hair. No one you recognize so she's new, either to NC or to the biz as a whole doesn't matter. The problem is that they are in Japantown and they're doing business, and you didn't know that.
So it's time to put on your game face and pretend you knew that for the sake of your rep, people wouldn't accept a weak ass excuse like 'got chopped up, dumped in the badlands, and gone for at least two days' as a valid excuse.
How do you fake it till you make it in this case:
[ ] Introduce yourself, after all it's important to remind them that since they are working here you are watching.
- [ ] How do you go about introducing yourself (Write-in)
[ ] Continue on to Wakako, if you actually did know they were here it wouldn't be a surprise and you would simply keep going about your business.
"Crow, how nice to see you are still alive," said the matronly Wakako Okada once you managed to get in front of her desk.
You grin, "You should know by now Okada-sama, that my specialty is nearly but not quite dying."
She sighs after hearing your response, "As we are all unfortunately aware by now," She leans forward to signal that the small talk is done with, "So tell me, who was it that tried to kill you this time?"
"Well firstly, that ripper you sent me to needs a check up, if he's still alive he needs to not be for much longer. There were at least two scavs who were able to waltz into his office and grab me while I was under." You pause to let Wakako finish a message she had started to send half way through your report.
After she nodded for you to continue, "and the other important person was a scav by the name of Yuri Kelenkov, who is as far as I am aware, the last survivor of my old crew."
She hummed for a moment as she sent a few more messages, "I see, unpleasant business ahead then, I've already sent out some of the boys to check in on the good doctor."
She looks you up and down for a moment before continuing, "Do you think you will be needing help with cleaning up your old friends? If you'd like I can recommend a few Edgerunners I know who should be trustworthy enough, or we can always keep it in-house as it were."
Would you like help when you go to deal with Yuri's crew:
[ ] Yes
-[ ] Keep it in-house: You'll assault the scav compound with a few of the stronger Tyger Claws, this will mean you owe them a few favors for dealing with personal business.
-[ ] Running on the Edge: Edgerunners might be slightly less trustworthy than the Claws but all they will want is eddies and eddies is something you have in spades. You will get the option of a few Edgerunner crews or solos next update if this is chosen.
[ ] No, you're fairly confident that one scav hideout isn't going to be enough to force you to get back up, you never know of course but what's a few more bullet holes to you.
"As long as you remember it is always your choice."
"Of course, all the same though Okada-sama, I'll need to get to a ripper so I can get some of this looked at before I actually do anything with them."
She nods her head, "Not that it means much, recent events being as they are, but I can always recommend you to Cassius or Fingers."
Cassius Ryder was a Ripperdoc on the northside who also did tats, he was the ripper Wakako liked to send any outsiders she allowed access to the gang's signature tattoo implant. He was trustworthy enough and a decent fellow, you had gone to him yourself when you first left the scav crew.
Fingers was the exact opposite, a scumbag who was only allowed to exist because he still did good by the locals of Jig-Jig street. His prices were cheaper than basically anyone else's around and he did work for the dolls whenever he was asked. You've been to his clinic once on a business call and hated it, reminded you of the past too much.
There was also Anna, the doc you went to most often who worked near the cherry blossom market, she wasn't affiliated with the claws but she had personal experience with a patient going psycho on her. So it was a comfort for you to be operated on by someone willing and able to do what's necessary to end you before you lose yourself.
Who would you like to go see for repairs and replacements, next chapter you'll get a selection of cyberware to get chipped back in depending on who you choose. All three options will have a selection of basic options they just won't be as good as if you got them from a better doc for the job:
[ ] Doc Ryder: Fashionware/Prosthetics/Brain Implants
[ ] Fingers MD: Cheap/Limbware/Immune System
[ ] Hardened Anna: Premium/Speedware/Operating System
