Chapter 14: Chapter 14 – Being the Change

I woke up the next morning feeling absolutely horrible. I hadn't showered in 24 hours, and sleeping in the clothes I fought and bled in wasn't the best idea. Simply put, I smelled like shit. Snoozing in my plate carrier was also not the best idea in the world. The weight of the armor pressed against my body, and there was this new soreness throughout my body. At least my shoulder felt a little better. It still hurt, but not as much. So something to celebrate.

I rolled over and sat on the edge of the bed, massaging my shoulder to relieve some pain. Once I was sufficiently woken up, I stored my clothes and gear in my system and walked into the shower. It's been a full 24 hours since I last cleaned myself, and sleeping in my sweaty and bloody clothes did not help my personal hygiene. Simply put, I smell like shit.

I stepped past the hippie bead curtain door and entered the walk-in shower. The initial blast of cold water jolted away any remnants of drowsiness in my body. The water warmed up, and I let the comfort wash over me while I looked into my system. Killing the Shivs and finishing Panam's job gave me three more levels and three points each for attributes and perks.

The fight with the Shivs taught me that the best way to win is to hit them hard and fast, ideally without them seeing you. The Dynalar Mk.1 I had was easily the best investment I made, so upgrading it will be my top priority. With a better Sandeevistan in mind, I used all three attribute points to raise my Reflexes to nine.

Technically I didn't have to raise my reflexes since in this world all you had to do was just buy the cyberware and pay a ripper doc. Unlike the game, where there were certain attribute restrictions for some of the cyberware. For example, the better the Beserk, the higher your body attribute had to be. 

I know the attribute requirements were for balancing reasons in my world, but its presence in the system only makes sense if it was there to prevent cyberpsychosis. A scrawny kid with mil-spec gorilla arms will probably have more difficulty dealing with the changes than a professional bodybuilder would. Since I don't want to tempt fate and go cyberpsycho, I'll raise my attributes according to what cyberware I want to get.

I decided not to use the perk points since I needed to figure out how to spend them. I won't invest in crafting for a while since I already have the basics. The only perks worth getting in the crafting tree require too high an investment in the Technical attribute to get. And I don't want to invest in combat-related perks before knowing which direction to specialize.

In my game playthrough, I spec'd myself into a Stealth/Sandevistan revolver/katana build. Sandevistan effectively increased stealth duration, so I would abuse that combo to try to finish any mission quietly first. If I get spotted, or it's not a stealth mission, I would slow time and hack away at superhuman speed. A revolver would serve as my backup when I wanted to gain some distance between my opponent and me. 

My current cyberware is already going in the same direction. Still, I want to wait to spend any of the perk points until I can confirm some of their effects in a safer environment. Perks such as Shifting Stand recover stamina if I dodge, but what does that exactly mean? Will I just get less tired every time someone misses me? I also need to learn how to properly use a katana before spending points on blade-specific skills. Using edged weapons is a serious thing. I wouldn't want to hurt myself by accident.

Once I was done messing with my system, I started scrubbing myself clean. One of the few nice things I gained from coming to this world was this new body of mine. Dakota was a solid couple of inches taller and took care of his body by playing tennis and swimming regularly. Sure he packed on a few pounds throughout the months of his depression, but you could still see his abs. In fact, one of the hardest things I had to overcome was dealing with being in a new body. Having longer limbs meant accidentally hitting a lot of things.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

"Hey, Basil! It's Panam. You up?"

"Yup! Just give me a sec. I'll be right there!"

I turned off the shower, walked out, and grabbed a towel to quickly dry myself.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

"Your second is up!"

This girl's got no chill in the morning. I haphazardly dried my hair and wrapped the towel around my waist. Walking out of the bathroom and opened the door. Panam was on the other side, leaning against the door frame, looking down at her phone.

"I'm here. What's the rush?"

Panam's eyes moved away from the phone and up to my body. Her eyes widened, and she stared at my abdomen longer than necessary.

"Hey, perv. My eyes are up here."

"Huh? Oh! No, I wasn't looking. Wait a sec, who are you calling a pervert!?"

Watching Panam fumble was cute, so I decided to tease her a bit more.

"What? Like what you see? Wanna take me for a test drive?"

"I wish"

She whispered that last part, but I heard her. Is Panam interested? Because I definitely am. Flirting put a healthy blush on Panam's cheeks, but she didn't like losing this much control over the conversation, so she brought up what she originally came here for.

"If you want the Aldercados to help you sell that Caliburn, I suggest we leave now so we can get the thing to camp as soon as possible."

+NEW JOB

MEETING THE FAMILY

• Get the Aldercados to help you sell the Caliburn

I want to tease her more, but I also want to get the Caliburn sold. Back to business mode, I guess.

"Let me get dressed and geared up. I'll meet you at your truck afterward. Get in contact with whoever you need to now so we don't show up as a surprise."

I returned to my room and took a set of backup clothes out of my inventory. Once I got decent, I took out all my gear and ensured everything was in order. There were now two new holes in the front of my plate carrier from when the Shivs at the ghost town shot me. I switched the places of the rear and front plates so the armor in front would be fresh. I'm not expecting any more trouble today, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Donning my armor back on, I exited my room and found Panam checking some gear near her Mackinaw Warhorse. I walked briskly over to her to get the low down on the plans for today.

"So, have you made any calls to your family yet? Whatd'ya think the chances are that they will take the job?"

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"Under any other circumstances, they'd jump at the chance to sell something like this. Low effort, high rewards. The kind of job we all dream of. The problem is I'm bringing it to them. I called my closest chooms to set up a meeting with Saul, our leader. Saul doesn't know the meeting is with me, but I'm hoping he'll overlook everything once he sees what I'm offering."

"Hmmm. They're your family, Panam. They want you back. Just approach this with diplomacy in mind."

"Easy for you to say. Come on, let's go to the mine."

Panam hopped into her truck, and I loaded into the passenger seat. We pulled out of the parking lot and traveled the dusty road toward the mine entrance. While on the way over, I thought about everything that happened and my plans for the future.

Getting to vent a little on Panam was really healthy for me, and I feel a lot better today because of it. It also helped me put things into perspective. I knew about a lot of awful things about this world, and small actions of mine have a disproportionate ability to change this place for the better. A lot of the time, I don't even need to put myself in danger. Just give the right information to the right people at the right time.

My whole entire plan before this was to lay low and make money every now and then by intruding on the main story. This plan was profitable, predictable, and most importantly, safe. But it's also massively selfish. What kind of asshole am I to not make an active effort to help the people of Night City. You know what? It's high time I stepped up.

Remembering about a specific story, I pulled out my phone and searched the NCPD website for a certain string of kidnappings. It didn't take long to find the case and tips hotline number I was looking for. I dialed the number, and a robotic voice answered me.

"Hello. You have reached the tips hotline for... KIDNAPPINGS... please hold while we connect you to the next available operator."

What followed was classic hold music. This was not a good look for the NCPD. Several people have been kidnapped, and there is hold music for the hotline? No wonder crime rates are so high. But I can wait since this took almost no effort and would save multiple lives. While waiting for someone to pick up, I thought about Anthony Harris and the things he did.

Anthony Harris, AKA 'Peter Pan', was a serial kidnapper and murderer. He targeted troubled kids and tricked them into coming to his family farm. He then strapped them to tables and forcefully injected steroids and other chemicals into them. Keeping them alive by attaching feeding tubes and force-feeding the victims. The man grew up in a horrible environment, but it didn't justify his heinous actions. Honestly, I'm a bit pissed I only remembered this now.

"NCPD. You have connected to the tips hotline for kidnappings. Please provide your statement, and we will investigate as soon as possible."

If there's one thing I know about the NCPD, it's that most of them are dirty or incompetent. The good news is I know a detective who always tries to do the right thing.

"Hello, please connect me with detective River Ward. He interviewed me about a kidnapping case a few weeks back, and I have some new information to give him."

"Please wait while I connect you to detective Ward."

More waiting music followed, but this time it only took a few dozen seconds for someone to pick up instead of minutes.

"Hello, this is River Ward. I'm told you have a tip for a kidnapping?"

"More than just one kidnapping Detective Ward. I'm about to give you the key to Neverland."

I then explained everything to the eager detective. Peter Pan's identity, the farm's location, the security, and how he chooses his victims. I also told him how to get to the secret webpage on the anti-drug website.

"That's... a lot to take in. You have to understand this is a very serious accusation."

"It is a lot to take in, and I know it is hard to trust me on this, but let me tell you what will be even more challenging for you. Your nephew has been in contact with the kidnapper, and if you don't act fast, he will be the next victim. I gave you this information because I know you aren't like the rest of the NCPD. I know you'll do something with this information. Later."

Once I said everything I knew, I hung up on River and put my eyes back on the road.

"Everything you just said. About the kidnappings. Is it all true?"

Panam heard the entire conversation. Which is fine. I didn't exactly try to hide anything.

"Yup."

"That call sounded awfully familiar like your first call to me. A stranger out of nowhere rings my number and tells me information that no one should know. How did you come to learn about any of this?"

I put my phone away and looked her dead in the eyes.

"If I told you I was an interdimensional being with the ability to see certain future events, would you believe me?"

Panam rolled her eyes, figuring I was just messing with her again.

"Fine, keep your secrets."

If only you knew.

 

Author's Note

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