Chapter 17: Chapter 17 – Start of Something Great

It was the following day, and I was sitting at my desk drinking a cup of coffee. Usually, I don't particularly appreciate drinking coffee, but I barely got any rest last night. I was so giddy after Panam agreed to go on a date with me that I barely caught a wink of sleep. And now I'm paying the price for acting like a high school girl.

I told myself yesterday that I would start getting more involved in improving this place, but I needed to figure out precisely what that meant. I want to help V, but helping her doesn't inherently improve anything in Night City. To improve this city, I need to do something bigger than just help V and Johnny.

I wracked my brain for ideas for a few minutes and got nothing, at least nothing feasible. Maybe taking a walk outside will help jog the old noggin. I needed to start looking for an apartment anyway. The store is nice, but I have to take showers by going to a local gym filled with Animals, and they aren't the best company. I still have plenty of Eddies left over from the ammo sales, and the Caliburn will net me a pretty penny. It's time to treat myself.

I stepped out of my store and pulled out my phone to search for apartments in the area. There were shockingly few apartments with reasonable rent, and weren't in an area known for mysterious disappearances. Eventually, I had to settle for the five with relatively low rent and only located in places with a lot of ordinary crime.

The first place I decided to check out was Megabuilding H10, the same Megabuilding V first moved in after the game started. It's also the building where Wilson has his shop, making ammo deliveries incredibly easy. The drive from my store is short, and parking was easy to find in the garage. The nice thing about Megabuilding H10 is that there's no significant gang presence, which means I can have some safety in my home.

I entered the elevator and used the touchpad to take me to floor 22, where the empty apartment was. The old rusty screen doors screeched shut, and the poorly maintained lift started going up with a jolt. During the ride, a cracked screen above the gate changed channels to the newest fluff piece from one of the media megacorps.

"It's that time of the year again, we present our list of the biggest and best corps to work for in Night City! Who offers paid vacation? Who pays for employees' Trauma Team insurance policies? Who provides discounts for daycare and child bodyguard services? Have a look at our rankings below!"

The newscaster then went on with their list of the best workplaces and the benefits each megacorp offered. It didn't take long for me to figure out that this world has some seriously messed up standards if these were the best work environments. 80-hour work weeks, six paid vacation days, and 20 to 50-year loyalty pledges were just some of the things touted as being 'benefits' in this world. It's not like my world was perfect, but this place is just a travesty.

The elevator soon came to a stop, and I exited onto the 22nd floor. The first thing that greeted me was the colorful graffiti sprayed everywhere on the walls. Looking down the hallways, I could see trash bags and garbage carelessly thrown outside the doors. This isn't the cleanest place in the world, but also considerably better than most places I've seen.

I turned left and after a few more turns, found myself walking towards a man in a dirty wife beater sitting on a chair and smoking a cigarette. The man was sitting in front of an apartment with the number I was looking for, so this guy must be the manager. Seeing how bored he was, the open house must have done a poor job drawing tenants.

When I approached the manager to see the apartment, he just grunted and opened the door. Taking this as his way of telling me to do what I wanted, I entered the flat and started looking around. The first thing I noticed was that the place was not clean, almost as if management never cleaned the area after the last tenant left. Checking the bathroom showed that the shower didn't work and the faucet only had cold water. There was also mold growing on the wall.

I decided I'd seen enough and left that place, not even bothering to talk to the manager at the door. If this is what they are showing me when they are trying to find a tenant, who the hell knows what kind of issues I'm going to run into further down the line? Off to the next place it is.

This process is repeated for the remaining options. One had giant rats chewing through the walls, another one had a bed bug infestation, one had neighbors making SynthCoke, the final one was a recent murder scene, and the carpets were still soaked in blood. I'm starting to think that the problem was me and that my old world's sensibilities were getting in the way of me finding a new place to live.

If I had known how successful my business would be, I might not have canceled my lease so early. The rent was high, but the place itself was pretty nice. Then again, it wasn't the safest place in the world since the Tyger Claws were all around it. Giving up on the house hunting, I got into my van and started driving back.

Maybe I'm approaching this all wrong. Instead of finding a new place, what if I just turned the store into a nicer place to live? All I had to do was replace the couch with a futon and install a shower. If I remember correctly, the store lease never said I couldn't live there. And even if it did, I'd say that the only employee had 20-hour workdays since that was normal in this messed up world.

I didn't come up with any ideas on improving night city yet, so the day was starting to seem like a waste. Maybe I'll start with some low-level government-sanctioned gigs. Crime was such a problem in Night City that the NCPD subcontracted solos to handle violent crimes they couldn't get to. Maybe I can open the scanner and take on some contracts for more minor crimes.

While I was considering a life in vigilantism, my phone rang from a call from Rosa's dad. Wonder why he would call me.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Basil. This is Grant Moreno, Rosa's father. I was wondering if we could talk."

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"Sure. What's it about?"

"I want to offer you a job, but I don't think we should discuss this over the phone. Sending you the address to somewhere we can meet. Can you be there in an hour?"

The location he sent me was a small food stall on the docks right next to the Arasaka waterfront. I don't know what he wants me to do, but it wouldn't hurt to hear him out.

"Sure, Mr. Moreno. I'll see you there in an hour."

I knew that Rosa's parents were both executives from Arasaka with the bit of interaction I had with them. Her father was in the banking department, while her mother worked in the cyberware manufacturing division. Any job they have should be pretty high-class. However, I'm a bit trepidatious since they are still corpos at the end of the day.

I pulled up the directions and headed to the restaurant instead of back to my store. I managed to arrive five minutes early and took a seat at the Japanese stall where I was supposed to meet Grant. I had the chef make me an order of Takoyaki and munched on the deep-fried squid while waiting for my contact to come. Just as I finished eating the last piece, a man in a trench coat, sunglasses, and trilby took the seat next to me.

"Mr. Basil. I hope your evening has been going well."

"It's been so-so. What's with the look? Are you trying your best to cosplay a noir detective?"

"I didn't want anyone to recognize me, hence the ensemble."

"Look around you, Mr. Moreno. Notice anyone else dress like they are in a black and white movie? You want to blend in, so no one notices you? Dress like a local and maybe put on a fake beard or something. Anyway, I doubt you're here for espionage tips. What's the job?"

"I will take your suggestion to heart. But you are right; I am not here to play dress up. I think a rival of mine ordered my daughter's kidnapping. I need you to enact retribution on the ones responsible. Kill the scum that took the abduction contract and find the proof of who was truly behind it. You will be paid handsomely."

I mulled over whether or not I wanted to take this job. On the one hand, I'm killing kidnappers and helping an angry father get revenge on someone who hurt his family. On the other hand, I'm working with Arasaka. My entire day today was just a lesson on how shit things are because of the megacorps and ineffective government.

Working conditions are crap, crime is rampant, housing is scarce, and the environment is on its last legs. Do I want to engage with an Arasaka executive? Or maybe I shouldn't let the actions of a company that rots from the inside due to the leadership of a decrepit old man taint my view of an employee. If only Hanako or Michiko were in control of the company instead. They could do so much good with Arasakas resources.

They could do so much good...

Gears started turning in my head, and pieces of the puzzle I didn't even know I was working on started coming together. The seed of an idea quickly sprouted, and I added more details and included more people. My knowledge filled the gaps and soon became a robust plan.

"I'll do it. Send me the information you have on your rival and the bar your daughter was abducted in. I'll take it from there.

I stood up and nodded to Grant, bidding him good night. Getting into my van, I started it up and drove towards my store. I was shaking from anticipation, not from this job but from what I had planned for this world. The risks associated make the last few days with Panam look like a walk in the park, but I strangely found myself looking forward to it.

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