Cyberpunk: Unbound

> Watson, Kabuki - Charter Street

'Are we really doing this?'

Jamie's voice dragged Delaney out of his reverie.

"Course we are, we're here now, aren't we?"

The boy stood outside of the apartment building, dismissing the odd looks he received from the tenants who were smoking outside.

To be honest, Delaney was finding their reactions rather funny because he was used to being stared at for talking to himself, not for being soaking wet.

Due to the existence of the Holo, people could now call one another without the need for phones; so someone seemingly talking to themselves drew no stray eyes like it would have in his old world.

Jamie snorted in amusement, listening in to this line of thought.

'People only used to stare at us because you refused to talk in our mind. You made us look schizophrenic.'

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Replied Delaney, waving off his brother's comment and striding forward to enter the building.

The interior was dark - dirty too.

The cheap striplights lining the ceiling above were visibly broken, causing them to flicker off every so often. Every time this would happen, the already dark hallway would be plunged into near darkness.

Dark-coloured graffiti layered the grey concrete walls to either side of them, leading on and on, continuing up through the winding stairwell ahead.

Delaney sidestepped as a female resident shuffled past him, his face slowly morphing into a frown.

"It's the same as the game."

'Yes, that has been a consistent trend so far.' Said Jamie dryly.

"Yeah," Muttered Delaney, lowering his voice for the first time. They turned on their heel, storming straight out of the building. "So what about Valerie huh? What are we doing about that?"

'Or Vincent.' Jamie corrected automatically, his mind now sharply focused on something else entirely. 'You never know.'

"That's not an answer - stop being so annoying. And why are you making us leave already? We didn't even catch a glimpse of her."

'You can come back and fanboy at any time, she isn't going anywhere.' Answered Jamie, circling the apartment building. 'I've found us a target.'

"A target?"

'Keep our mouth shut Del, I don't want this to get complicated.'

Jamie reached into the hoodie's pocket, his fingers slipping around the weapon concealed there.

He strode forward into the parking lot ahead, navigating his way through the small maze of parked vehicles.

The woman who had pushed past them earlier was walking ahead of them, a handbag visibly slung around her shoulder.

"Ja-"

Delaney's words were cut off as Jamie gritted their teeth together, regaining control over their voice.

He pulled the gun from his pocket, flicking the safety off and aiming down the handgun's sights.

Delaney could only watch in horror as his brother pointed the barrel at the ignorant woman's head.

'Jamie!'

He pulled the trigger, a loud pulse echoing across the empty parking lot.

The woman fell, her face smashing forward onto the concrete, her freshly killed body now hidden between two stationary cars.

"That wasn't nearly as loud as I expected." Jamie mused aloud, flicking the Unity's safety back on and stowing it back into his pocket. "If this is how it is normally then I can only imagine how quiet it will be with a silencer."

'What the fuck are you talking about Jamie!? You just shot someone!'

Jamie ignored his other half's shouting, instead opting to walk forward and reach down for the woman's handbag.

Their fingers twitched feebly in protest against the movement.

Jamie halted his action, respecting Delaney's will over their body.

"Del, she's dead. There's nothing to do about it now."

He gestured toward the small hole in the back of her head.

'Fuck. What the fuck.'

Jamie felt the rebellion in his fingertips disappear as Delaney forfeited control back to him.

He pulled his sleeves forward before grabbing the woman's hand and sliding the bag off of her arm. No fingerprints to trace.

He popped it open, analyzing the contents inside.

There were a few of the typical accessories one would expect of someone of her gender, along with a couple of datashards, and a thin collection of crumpled banknotes.

Jamie scooped up both the datashards and the banknotes using his sleeved hands, pocketing them quickly.

He stood back up, giving the dead woman one final pitying look before stepping over her downed body and moving onwards through the lot.

'Why Jamie? Why? You didn't need to do that. It wasn't necessary.'

"No, but it was easy." Said Jamie offhandedly. He was used to dealing with his other half's irritating naivety. "And now we won't starve today - be grateful for that."

'That was a human being you just killed. A real, breathing woman.'

The boy snorted in amusement.

"This isn't our world Del, therefore these aren't 'our people'," Jamie argued back calmly, exiting the parking lot.

He glanced up, swiftly locating the towering megabuilding before moving forward again. "So no, they aren't real. The sooner you accept that the better."

The loud, obnoxious sound of a police siren blared in the distance.

'Get us off the street.' Delaney hissed, knowing that he was fighting a losing battle. He couldn't argue with Jamie's logic, ever.

His brother just kept walking however, completely apathetic to the incoming siren, the impending threat of being arrested not seeming to bother him at all.

'What are you doing Jamie? We're going to get caught.'

"I'm not talking with you until you calm down and start thinking straight." Said Jamie, prompting another outraged explosion from his other half.

He rolled his eyes, before pulling up his sleeves and examining their left wrist.

This thought had been nagging at him for a while now.

"So we aren't completely without hope after all." He murmured, staring down at the smooth rectangular box embedded beneath his skin.

It was a jack - a standard, multipurpose cybernetic implant, something that every grown adult in Cyberpunk 2077 possessed.

The moment his probing finger made contact with the metal, it slid back, revealing the extendable jack that was hidden inside.

An NCPD patrol car whizzed past them, sirens blaring; causing Jamie to glance over his shoulder and watch as it turned into the car park he had just left.

"That is a pretty fast reaction time," Jamie frowned, turning his head away from the car. "Just over a minute maybe?"

Delaney spoke up, his voice sounding defeated. 'She isn't going to be the last is she?'

"Of course not." Replied Jamie, whose interest had now moved onto the datashards he had stolen from their victim. "Rinse and repeat - at least until we find a better solution."

'I don't like this.' The boy stated unhappily.

Jamie's fingers reached up and traced the underside of his right ear, feeling the metallic neural ports embedded into the side of his skull.

"That's why I'm the one doing it, not you."

He carefully inserted one of the datashards into the port, starting in surprise when a red bar appeared across his vision.

[Extracting files]

"How is this possible?" Muttered Jamie, bringing up a hand and waving it across his vision. He momentarily disrupted the bar, causing the thing's progress to glitch out as his hand passed through it.

'Because it's 2077.' Said Delaney, perfectly mimicking his brother's dry humour.

"No, no. You don't understand Del. This body doesn't have eye implants yet, I mean why would this guy choose to stay partially blind."

'Oh.'

A moment of uneasy silence passed between them.

[Extraction complete]

"So," Said Jamie, his fingers once again passing the red bar ahead of them. "How are we seeing this interface?"

***

(Kill count - 1)