Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077-Chapter 109

If Leo's crew had four people, that would mean two hundred thousand eurodollars total. And two hundred grand was no small sum. Even a top-tier Platinum membership with Trauma Team only cost a few tens of thousands per month.

Susie frowned. "No way. Fifty thousand each is too much. The most I can offer is twenty grand per person."

Leo refused to budge. "Fifty thousand. Not one eddie less."

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Susie tried haggling. "What about twenty-five? Or thirty?"

Leo stood up abruptly. "If that doesn't work, forget it. In that case, Ms. Susie, you and the Mox can just barricade yourselves in Lizzie's Bar. Worst case, don't go outside at night. At least you'd save some money."

Irritated, Susie let out a cold laugh. "Fine, I'll find someone else. It's not like you're the only merc in Night City—"

She didn't even finish her sentence before an urgent ringtone cut her off. Susie glanced at her phone. Yes, even in 2077, not everyone had a comm implant in their body; plenty of people still used phones—like Wakako Okada, or corporate suits you saw around town. Without a second thought, Susie hung up on whoever was calling. Barely a second later, it started ringing again, as relentlessly as death's summons.

Only then did Susie answer, annoyance in her voice. "I'm in the middle of a meeting. Talk later if it's not important."

A weak, coughing voice responded. "If... if I didn't call you now, I might not... make it 'til later..."

Susie froze—she recognized Judy's voice. "Judy? Who did this to you?"

"It's Anna. The ripperdoc Regina sent over was checking on her when she suddenly went berserk. Anyone she sees, she attacks... Regina's doc and his driver are both dead. We're hiding in a shipping container. Anna's still outside."

"Stay hidden—don't budge. We're on our way." Susie hung up and looked at Leo. "What's going on?" he asked.

"No time to explain. I'll fill you in on the way. Didn't you want fifty thousand? Prove to me you're worth it."

---

*Half an hour earlier, outside a Mox-owned factory in the Northern Industrial District...*

A dark van cruised slowly up to the gate.

"This is Mox territory—no trespassing," called out the guard in the security booth.

The driver, a young man, lowered his window and jerked his thumb toward the back of the van. "Regina sent us. We've got supplies onboard for Anna Knox's treatment."

The guard relaxed. "All right, go on in." He opened the gate, letting the van roll inside before coming to a stop.

The young man got out, followed by a ripperdoc wearing a white coat. After opening the rear doors of the vehicle, Judy and another Mox girl named Sylvia arrived, carrying a stretcher. On it lay Anna Knox, the woman Susie had rescued from the medical center.

"That's her?" The ripperdoc noticed the restraints binding Anna to the stretcher. "What's going on?"

Judy, holding the front of the stretcher, explained, "She attacked people once before. Better safe than sorry."

Nodding, the doc motioned for them to bring her into the van. The interior had been converted into a mobile clinic. It couldn't compare to a fully equipped hospital, but it was enough for basic examinations and initial treatment.

"Sedate her first, then take off the restraints," the doc instructed.

Judy smoothly administered a pre-prepared dose of sedative. She watched Anna's eyes drift shut before unfastening the straps. Judy and Sylvia lifted Anna from the stretcher onto a surgical chair, but even then, they stayed on guard, reusing the stretcher's straps to secure Anna's hands and feet.

The ripperdoc stepped inside the van. "I'll check her condition. Plug in her personal interface."

Judy nodded and pulled a cable out of Anna's wrist, plugging it into the diagnostic equipment. The doc focused on the screens showing a torrent of data, frowning deeper by the second.

"She has... a daughter?"

Judy shook her head firmly. "No, she doesn't."

The doc tapped the data on the screen. "Then why does her cyberebrain show memories of a daughter?"

Judy covered her face, unable to keep looking. "They're fake memories. When Anna fell into Jotaro Shobo's hands, he forced her to relive a black-market braindance nonstop—a story of a mother who lost her beloved child. She spent so long in that nightmare, she began to believe she was that mother."

The doc let out a sigh. "That's about as bad as it gets."

Judy froze. "But... you can save her, right?"

He shook his head. "Hard to say. Imagine driving a nail through a board—pull it out, and the hole is still there. You see what I'm getting at?"

Judy and Sylvia traded glances, both looking uncertain. Sylvia blurted out the question that had been on both their minds: "Since that bastard Jotaro Shobo could implant fake memories with a braindance, can't we do something similar to erase them?"

The ripperdoc gave a bitter chuckle. "The human brain is still the most complex instrument there is. Even in 2077, with people more and more cyberized, memories, consciousness, thoughts—they're not something we can just delete or cut-and-paste. It's not that sim—"

*Shlkk—!!!*

A blade tip suddenly burst through the ripperdoc's chest, with no warning at all. Judy and Sylvia stood there in stunned silence. The doc slowly lowered his head, eyes fixed on the knife protruding from his own torso, not yet grasping what had happened.

Blood spilled from his mouth as he tried to speak. Judy instinctively shut her eyes, feeling droplets splatter her face.

At some point, Anna—strapped to the surgical chair just moments before—had woken up. Evidently, the sedative had no effect. Her hair fell messily around her face like a horror-movie specter. When she spoke, her voice was a terrifying shriek echoing from the depths of hell.

"My child... Where is my child? Where is my child?!"

Anna's optics flickered like a glitching program, morphing from insect-like compound lenses back to a single pupil in an instant. She flung the ripperdoc's body out of the van as though discarding garbage. Slowly, her gaze settled on Judy and Sylvia.

Under that stare, Judy felt her blood run cold, as if she'd been tossed into a barren wilderness where a rabid wolf glared at her with glowing eyes.

"Did you take my child away?! Give my child back! Give her back right now!"

"Judy, get up—Judy!"

The frantic shout of her companion roused Judy from her terror. That was when she realized she'd fallen. Sylvia hauled Judy to her feet and pulled her out of the van.

"Run, Judy—run!" Judy, still in shock, let Sylvia drag her along. "We have to warn Susie. Anna's gone psycho. She's beyond help."

"What's going on?" The young man who had arrived with the ripperdoc had been smoking outside. Hearing the commotion, he ran over, seeing Judy and Sylvia flee as though chased by death. They bolted right past him, scrambling out of the van.

He turned to see what they were running from—and came face to face with Anna, hair disheveled like a ghost in an old Hong Kong horror flick.

"Shit!" A chill shot from his spine to his skull. Most people would freeze. But he managed to reach for his gun—only Anna was faster. Two gleaming Mantis Blades slid from her arms, piercing his back as though pulling him into a deadly embrace. Then she leapt straight up, vanishing into the darkness of the ceiling, the young man still impaled on her blades.

Judy and Sylvia heard his screams, spun around, and saw Anna clinging to the ceiling with all four limbs, head twisted 180 degrees in a grotesque, inhuman position. She peered down at them from above.

"You took my child! I'll kill you! I'LL KILL YOU!"

She tossed aside the man's body and kicked off, hurtling at the two women like a bolt shot from a crossbow.