Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077-Chapter 144
Chapter 144 - 144
After her revenge was complete, Sasha found peace and returned to Maine's crew. Now there were two netrunners in the team—Sasha and Kiwi. There was never a rule that limited a merc outfit to just one netrunner, so Kiwi didn't need to leave simply because Sasha came back.
Meanwhile, having stayed far away from that piece of garbage Faraday, Maine's crew got along increasingly well with El Capitán. They were helping each other reach new heights: El Capitán drew closer to becoming a top fixer in Santo Domingo, and Maine's crew received more and more gigs through him. Everyone's earnings kept rising, and their future looked bright.
Leo, on the other hand, contacted Padre right after taking JoAnne down, telling him to stop acquiring components and parts for tech weapons and switch over to materials for smart weapons instead. Leo also dropped by Lizzie's Bar to find Susie Q, hoping to borrow a warehouse
The Mox owned in the Northside Industrial District. He had originally considered renting one on his own, but realized The Mox already had a suitable space. Rather than pay rent to some stranger, he preferred giving eddies to acquaintances.
But when he brought it up, Susie Q just tossed him the key without charging him a single eddie.
"You've done The Mox a favor," she said. "Use it however long you want. Don't bring money into it—cheapens the friendship."
It didn't take Padre long to deliver the parts and materials for smart weapons. Leo hauled them to The Mox's warehouse in the Northside Industrial District and got everything squared away. Once everyone else left and he was alone in the warehouse, he brought up his interface and took a quick look:
Potential Points: 120
He spent 40 points on Gun Repair LV5.
Gun Repair LV5 → Gun Repair LV9
You can now build and repair smart weapons.
Satisfied, Leo set down the Shingen smart SMG next to him. The moment he touched it, its blueprint and internal structure became perfectly clear in his mind—like he had built thousands of Shingens by hand. Not just that: an immense amount of firearms knowledge and repair experience flowed into him, as though he'd been making these weapons all his life.
He set aside the Shingen and opened a large box filled with parts and materials for assembling smart weapons. With smooth, practiced motions, he got straight to work. Before long, those parts formed a brand-new Shingen smart SMG.
"That's it," Leo said, grinning widely. From that day onward, he no longer needed to make tech weapons—he was switching to smart weapons. Any time he got his hands on a new model, Gun Repair LV9 would instantly give him the blueprint and design specs, allowing him to replicate it.
Smart weapons, being the cutting edge of firearm technology, were currently dominated by just two major manufacturers—Kang Tao and Arasaka—both based in Asia. This meant market prices were high anywhere outside of Asia. A single smart SMG could easily run over fifty thousand eurodollars, more than double what a tech weapon sold for.
He planned to dedicate part of each day to making about ten of these. Naturally, the best ones would go to himself, V, Lucy, Jackie, Maine's crew, and Padre's trusted people. The mass-market models—what he jokingly called "the civilian or neutered versions"—would go to Padre for distribution. It was safer that way. After all, you never wanted to hand out your best secrets, only to have them used against you.
He did some rough math: if he built smart weapons from now on and gave Padre his usual thirty percent cut, Leo's take-home profit would be about three hundred fifty thousand a day. Outrageous.
Arms dealing really was a goldmine.
Still, he decided not to launch into production right away. First, he needed to use his remaining Potential Points. He'd spent 40 on Gun Repair, so he had 80 left.
From LV1 to LV5, each level cost only one point, but from LV5 onward, each new level demanded 10 points—and a jump from LV9 to LV10 cost a whopping 100 points. That was more than he had on hand, so upgrading Gun Repair further wasn't an option yet.
Instead, he decided to boost Fitness LV5.
Fitness LV5 → Fitness LV9
The moment it finished, there was no dramatic message, no excruciating wash of pain, no vile sludge oozing from his pores. If the interface didn't show Fitness at LV9—and his Potential Points hadn't dropped by 40—he might've believed the upgrade had failed.
But soon enough he felt the change in his body.
He took off his powered gauntlet and walked to a hanging sandbag. Planting his feet, he sank his hips, then drove a single punch into the sandbag. A visible shockwave rippled through it, spinning the heavy bag a half circle, suspending it briefly in midair before it dropped back down.
He'd managed that with raw physical force alone, no mechanical assistance. Even the buffest Animals gang member would be impressed. Some might ask why humans bother training their bodies when they can never surpass steel. But it's absolutely worth it.
For instance, the Militech "Gila" combat vehicle required the pilot to have a certain level of physical prowess. It took two people to drive it, and if your body was too weak, you couldn't even handle the strain.
Another example was power armor—something you might not see in Night City, but Arasaka's special commando units in Tokyo used it. Only extremely tough soldiers could wear that gear.
Next, Leo poured the remaining 40 points into Block LV5.
Block LV5 → Block LV9
He had always believed that because he hated pain, stacking defense was the way to go.
...
Time flew. A month later, Leo and Jackie had now been in Night City for half a year. He, Jackie, V, and Lucy formed a small team of cybermercs and prowled the city streets. Thanks to their skills, gear, and synergy, they'd never failed a single gig assigned by fixers. Unlike Maine's group, which mainly operated in Santo Domingo, Leo's group had worked with fixers across nearly every district, forging connections far and wide. As a result, they were getting flooded with gigs, not just from one neighborhood but from all corners of the city.
Today was supposed to be a day off, yet Leo's inbox was full again. Every fixer seemed to have urgent requests. He politely declined them all, saying he wasn't taking jobs today—until he reached the message from Wakako Okada, which gave him pause. He sent her a quick reply, saying he'd accept this one.
It was straightforward enough: some corpo had been kidnapped by Scavs and needed a merc team to pull off a rescue. Typically, a wealthy corporate type would have a Trauma Team membership—if anything went wrong, the TT AV would crash onto the scene in no time.
But this time, something was different.
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