Mr Jin, the man of so many words usually, just said, "Hai!" I don't know why but I found that amusing. Also, I guess his first name was Ryuichi?
Mr Inoue glanced back at me and smiled, seemingly genuinely, "Thanks for the beer, even if it came with a double dose of overwork for me tonight."
I nodded and watched them leave my apartment before sighing and sitting down, nibbling on some cheese with shakey hands. That was a bit stressful. I had the impression that the conversation could have gone a different way, one I definitely would not have liked.
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I'm bona fide
The next couple of days were pretty interesting. Himiko resumed her running two days later but wouldn't talk about it until they both walked back to the twelfth floor, and she asked if she could come inside my apartment briefly.
As soon as the door closed, Himiko turned to her and said, "You won't believe what happened! I mean, I bet you saw all the goons in front of Clouds the other day, but about twenty Tyger Claw enforcers came in and arrested everyone but the dolls and the clients that were still there."
She shook her head, "They brought Evelyn and me in with one of the Tyger Claw bigshots, and they asked us to tell them everything that happened, including every time you and I have ever met. No offence, but I told them everything. I mean, there wasn't much choice."
I waved her off, "That's fine. You should probably not ever lie to them. They had already seen me. The fact that so many dolls had shown up at my apartment was noticed. But I have a fairly good relationship with one of the people who run this building." I was being careful with what I was saying. I'm not sure why I didn't want her to know that I had approached the Tyger Claws myself, but I didn't.
"That was the start of it, actually. I didn't mention your names, but I told them I suspected that that manager guy, Rogan, was embezzling and that the doctor he was recommended might be abusing you and definitely was harming you through his negligent quackery," I finished.
She blinked at me, "Wait, abusing?"
I frowned, forgetting I didn't mention that. I specifically avoided mentioning anything about how the Trojan in their implants worked or what it was capable of doing, too. I just described it as malware. Since I suspected that there was a non-zero chance the Tygers might try to shut me up, I felt the same for the dolls.
I honestly didn't know what I would have done if Mr Inoue had decided to try to shut me up. Still, I had both my pistol with me and also my alt-dad's shotgun taped to the underside of the table I was entertaining them at, as well as a unique device in my pocket I had tinkered with that might have incapacitated them. I also would have been a lot faster than they might have expected. I didn't think I would have survived long if I had killed or even knocked out two of the managers of the Tyger Claws, but I definitely wouldn't have gone down like a domesticated cow walking through the slaughterhouse.
Did they still have cows here? I was pretty sure I hadn't eaten any, and although the beef scop had the taste of ground beef down pretty well, none of the "steak" options was very palatable.
When I had first thought it might be possible the Tyger Claws might kill me to ensure my silence, the idea of a genetically engineered respiratory virus with especially high morbidity in only Japanese-common phenotypes entered my head, which I felt was... a bit much. Plus, I didn't have much of the equipment needed to manufacture viruses, and even if my power helped me with that, none of the viruses would kill before I was already dead, and then it would mainly kill innocent people. Honestly, I was a bit concerned that my power immediately jumped to war crimes, weapons of mass destruction and literal weaponised racism.
Powers were... really quite scary sometimes. I couldn't even imagine what would happen if one of the members of the E88 back in Brockton Bay gained my power instead of me. I'm sure if I was in Brockton Bay and the PRT knew half of what I could do, I would have had a pre-signed kill order with my name on it just waiting for me to step out of line.
Virology equipment I might not have; however, I did have a fairly full chest full of pharmacological drugs that I had been buying a little at a time for a rainy day since I got here, and I had managed to use some of them to craft what was basically a gas grenade full of anaesthetic gas. It wasn't like a... Japanese-specific anaesthetic or anything like the virus. But it was one that I, personally, would be more resistant to than anyone else. I'm not sure how, though, as it was similar to my yoghurt in that it was actually Tinkertech rather than anything that I felt was likely reproducible. And I wouldn't be able to sit in the gas cloud forever, but while it might put anyone else to sleep in a few seconds, it would take several minutes for me to succumb.
I honestly didn't think either my guns, speed or the gas grenade would have actually saved me if the entirety of the Tyger Claws in the building were out to get me, but I didn't have it in me to just accept that without some attempt to save myself. The way I felt about it was... it was better to be scary than to be scared. Alt-Dad would have said, "Speed, surprise, and violence of action." But I think they meant basically the same thing, except I would have added "unpredictability", too.
Although approaching the Tyger Claws had been the riskiest thing I had done so far in this world, I thought it was much less dangerous than doing nothing. The only other play I considered was immediately leaving the building and never returning, but I had no resources with which to gain a new identity in this world, and I had a lot invested in my current one.
I shook my head a little to clear my thoughts before shrugging at Himiko, "I don't know for sure... but that Ripperdoc had his medical credentials revoked and was wanted for sex crimes in the EC. He was definitely harming you, though, but I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be unconscious anywhere near him."
Himiko shuddered a bit, "Ugh. He was definitely a creep, but I hadn't considered that. Please do me a favour and don't mention that to Evie. I know it's weird; we basically do the same thing every day-"
I interrupted her, "It's not weird at all. You choose to do those things with the clients you see. And you have scary men with katanas to protect you while you do it. It's not even comparable."
She smiled genuinely, "Thanks, I appreciate that."
After that, we talked more about what happened. The Tyger Claws had brought in a team of edgerunners, including a netrunner and a med-tech, to double-check my work, apparently. I thought that they might use someone on their own staff, but I didn't think for a second that they didn't have netrunners or med-techs in the gang. But, edgerunners... at least the good ones I had read about online, did have a reputation for not disclosing any of their missions given to them by a "Fixer."
Neither the manager, that Rogan, nor that ripperdoc Finn Gerstatt, had been seen again, but the actual Tyger Claw manager, that Kiryu-kun, had already been sited as the new manager for one of their casinos on Jig-Jig street. Not one of their better ones either, so it was a clear demotion.
I was very glad that I had put everything on the manager and ripperdoc to give them a chance to save "face." I wasn't sure what that meant precisely; in fact, a number of net searches told me that the concept wasn't completely translatable to English using any number of words, and it was only really understood if you grew up in the culture unless it was something like pounds and inches instead of kilograms and centimetres, then?
I thought it basically meant that I hadn't embarrassed them even when I had the opportunity to do so, but with some additional cultural baggage that I didn't quite understand. That was enough for me.
It also seemed like the Tyger Claws were going for the admitting a bit of what happened to hide the real truth play. While it wasn't technically public knowledge, I had been following a lot of local net sites that discussed both the Tyger Claws and my Megabuilding in particular, and there were reports on a site that was basically an unofficial forum for Clouds that the Tygers closed Clouds briefly after discovering one of their employees colluding with a third party to harm and steal from the dolls working there.
A post by the official social media account for Clouds indicated that they were fine and that Clouds was covering the expense for each of their entertainers to visit one of the nicest cyber clinics in the city.
I hadn't quite realised how... beloved some of these dolls were, as there was a hue and cry by a group of people claiming to be clients, demanding to know if their particular favourite was okay. Or about how easily they could sweep everything under the rug just by giving part of the truth.
There were a few rabid posters offering to fund an XBD starring whoever hurt their favourite doll, and I shuddered because I felt there was at least a possibility that might actually be produced. The fact that there were what were, in effect, full-immersion snuff films around was one of the more disturbing parts of this new world.
Oh, and Mr Jin was the new manager at Clouds, which I guess explained his inexplicable middle finger emoji the other day. He must have been giving me the bird for giving him more work.
"Yeah, the Med-Tech and netrunner looked everyone over; they were specifically approving of what you did for me, Evie and the others; by the way, plus we're all getting free trips to the Skyline cyberclinic downtown over the next week with everyone getting a budget of eight grand to use however we want after he checks us all over," Himiko finished, very enthused.
Wow, there were a little over twenty dolls working in Clouds, so that by itself was almost a two hundred grand expenditure. Not including what they paid for the edgerunners. From what I could tell, the Tyger Claws, when they did use a carrot, made sure everyone knew about their stick too, so I felt that there was going to be a truly gruesome fate for Mr MacNeil and Herr Gerstatt.
Still, I smiled at her, "That's the clinic I go to. Dr Taylor is one of the best, if not the best, in the city."
That caused her to nod rapidly, "Really? Do you have any recommendations on what I should spend my 'store credit' on?"
That caused me to look at her and hum slightly, "He has a full clinic, so he has biosculpt services as well. It kind of depends on what you want, really." Text from a few days ago when I connected my personal link to her scrolled down my eyes as I reviewed what cybernetics she had. "Those BioDyne optics aren't great. Your current doll chip is actually quite a good brand. I'd go for whatever he recommends as far as the biosculpt for your general health and if you wanted cosmetic changes, which should be pretty cheap, and maybe a set of Kiroshi Mk2s. That would be about eight kay, give or take. Otherwise, maybe an internal bio-monitor or the biosculpt treatment for either nanosurgeons or an enhanced immune system. Things that will increase your health, keep you alive and allow you to earn more money should be your priority."
She paused, looking curious, "What are nanosurgeons?"
I shrugged, "It's a type of bioware, not cyberware. A colony of genetically tailored, organic nanomachines produced by a special organ in your body. Basically, it's a healing factor. If you get shot, you'll be much more likely to survive. The enhanced immune system is nice, too. It depends on if you're more concerned about violence or disease, I suppose." I intended to get both, eventually.
"Oooh... interesting," she said, and then I blushed furiously as I remembered an option I hadn't mentioned to her.
I said, after a pause, "Uh... I forgot to mention, but you could also get, you know... a Midnight Lady accessory. It might help your business. Techhair is pretty cheap too, they integrate with your doll chip too, so it would automatically shift into the hair colour, length and style preferred by your clients when the doll server generates their interpersonal ideal."
In Brockton Bay, I had unfortunately learned the word "vajazzle", and the numerous Midnight Lady accessories were this to the nth degree, but they also had a practical aspect. There was a line of over a dozen particular models, some for "up top" and others for "down below", that were designed both to be aesthetically pleasing (or incredibly disturbing) as well as functional, in perhaps every way you could imagine. I didn't want to think about it anymore.
That caused Himiko to laugh at my blushing and tease me slightly, "You're quite sheltered to have grown up in Night City, Taylor." She was right, and I would have to adapt a bit, especially if I was going to be working in the healthcare sector. It's hard to stay a blushing maiden while being a clinician. But then she nodded, "But you're right! I had even been saving money for such a thing, but I didn't trust any of the doctors I knew to put it in. Do you know how much they cost?"
I shifted uneasily. I had researched almost every type of cybernetic implant that I knew about, including types from companies that were out of business or weren't sold anymore, so of course, I knew. "They range from very reasonable to ridiculously expensive, as in a bespoke accessory for a BD star might cost a quarter of a million eddies or more. But in that case, it is like designer clothes. The cost is for the exclusivity. The most common and popular... accessory only costs two or three thousand eurodollars, maybe four at most at Skyline."
She nodded with a smile, "That's not bad. I might use my own money for that, then. The techhair and biosculpt are a good idea, too, except the 'sculpt will have to be subtle. I have a lot of clients who are more or less attached to how I look. But I'm sure if they're as high-end as you say, they can do a lot while keeping myself still recognisable."
I specifically said nothing about that, one way or another. Although I went to a different biosculpt clinic, that was basically what Alt-Taylor and, therefore, I did, as well.
After finishing the discussion, she left, and I went to school. It was a half day in class and a half day at the hospital day, and I was up to sixty-five per cent on the Kerenzikov, and I seemed to get the best results as far as getting used to it when it was set just high enough that I felt slightly uncomfortable with the boost and speed level.
I think I scared one of the patients I was working on when I forgot what I was doing and sutured him from a simple knife wound at what seemed to him to be super-speed, though. But I was done before he even had a chance to look really upset about it, and the sutures were tiny and impeccable, so win for me.
