Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 513: Biker.
A month had passed since the Red Garden incident. The crater left behind by the terrorist attack had remained untouched all that time. However, that was bound to change sooner rather than later. Now that the authorities were done with the investigation, construction had begun for a number of housing complexes.
The value of land inside a metropolitan city was insane, but since no one wanted to pay for the site of a terrorist attack, the ones who claimed it were a private equity firm whose main interest was relatively cheap rental apartments. There was no end to the demand for those, so investing in those was bound to give a steady stream of profits, even if it was a thin one.
Though the construction began only a couple of days ago, the first two floors had already taken shape. The fresh cement contrasted the decades-old constructs surrounding the incident site, and though it lacked majesty, some people still stopped to take a look.
As the cloudy sky grew subtly brighter, the building's image reflected on a helmet's visor. A biker had stopped on the road passing beside the construction site. That place had been a nice spot to watch the crater from, but that changed once the area was sealed.
The biker—a woman, going by the unmistakable curve on her chest—stared at the construction site for a while before riding off. The traffic was light in the morning, so it was some time before she came across something that forced her to stop.
Her destination soon came within sight, and so she looked for a place to leave her park. Everything in the surroundings screamed about the area not being the nicest part of town. The rider paid it no mind, walking over to a narrow passage squeezed between two buildings.
At the end of the passage was a thick alloy door. Seeing no control panel or doorbell, the rider raised her arm and slammed the door a few times. Seconds passed with no response, so she knocked a few more times. A panel slid to the side, revealing a gap through which a pair of eyes peeked.
"The fuck do you want?" A gruff voice asked.
"I heard you have nice toys," The woman said. "Ones that don't easily break."
"You heard wrong," the man said. "Fuck off."
The panel slid into place, and silence returned to the narrow passage. A few seconds later, the woman raised her arm and slammed the door a few more times. The panel slid again, and the eyes glared at her through the gap. Before the man could yell, the woman held something up for him to see. It was a small red card with a plastic sheen, half of which was covered in a black logo depicting a half skull. The card had a small yellow chip. When the man saw it, his eyes shot wide open, then narrowed into a glare.
"Take the helmet off."
The woman remained silent for a couple of seconds, then let her head drop. Heaving a sigh, she put away the red card, then grabbed the helmet and pulled it off. Freed from its confines, a mass of almond brown hair floated down in a fluid motion, weaving as the woman shook her head left and right.
Tucking a few strands behind her ear, she turned to face the door with a frown. The man's eyes were once again wide. Beautiful women weren't exactly rare in Neo-Vatra, but one would never expect that such a specimen would appear at such a place.
"Happy?"
Snapping out of it, the man stared her up and down once before closing the slide. A second later, the large metal door slid open.
"P-p-p-please come in!"
With an unsettling smile, the man gestured for her to come inside. She spared him a glance, noting the skull tattoo covering his face, then went inside. The corridor beyond the door mirrored the narrow passage, as if it rarely, if ever, gets cleaned. A small table was placed to the side with two chairs nearby. Beyond it was a piece of tech that looked out of place—an airport metal detector.
"Preferably, we would like to avoid searching you." The man said. "If you have any weapons on you, please leave them here."
Heaving a long sigh, the brown-haired woman took off her jacket and then removed the holsters from both of them arms, placing them on the table. She then took out a couple of pocket knives and tossed them as well. Walking over to the metal detector, she passed through without a problem, then turned around.
"My jacket," She said, holding her hand out. "It has some metal parts. You can check it if you want."
The man did as she said, then handed her the leather jacket. The metal detector beeped when she pulled it through, but the man tapped on the control panel and silenced it almost immediately.
"May I ask what you are looking for, miss?"
"Something fresh," the woman said.
"I'm sorry to say this, but you can't really find fresh at this hour," the man chuckled. "You gotta show up around midnight for that."
"This place must be quite popular, then."
"As popular as it gets. We're busy all night." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
"When will the next batch arrive?"
"Sometime this weekend."
"Reserve one for me, then."
They turned a corner and then climbed a few sets of stairs. Several alloy doors slid open as they approached, and they eventually arrived at a small room.
"Miss, may I get you something else?"
"Between ten and fourteen," she said. "And don't bring me a sack of bones. Those are no fun."
The woman went inside, and the door closed behind her. A large, circular bed took over half of the room. The wall was lined with chains like an ancient prison cell. On one side was a long table, the surface of which was lined with strange tools.
Taking her time to look around, the woman walked over to the bed and sat down, resting her chin in her hand as she watched the door.
