"Hey, Vic, where do you want this body?"
"Where, where, where. put it in the chair. you're gonna have to change the equipment after him anyway."
"Well, don't worry, I'll even take a vacation from Regina and Bestia to help you install the new equipment. You're a good man, and there aren't many of those in this town..."
"Thanks kid..."
I put Mayne in the chair and stepped toward the small table. Becca and the other members of his squad were crowded at the entrance, hesitant to enter.
"So, look, this is the tranquilizer I gave him. I mean, it's an elephantine dose, but I was just afraid the cyber-psyche wouldn't take it any other way.
I put the empty injector on the table, and next I took out and put in a few more.
"And this is what I injected into him to stop the bleeding, in addition to putting bandages on him."
"Uh-huh... you're the one who said that. or I might have taken longer.
Vic injected a dose of the drug into his hand and checked how the reaper's glove responded to his movement, then went to the table and took the injectors from it and loaded them into the analyzer, which quickly showed him what was in them. Well, it's understandable, after all, I don't use any special mixtures. Standard, so to speak.
"Well, it's not a bad solution, if you want I'll synthesize a couple of more appropriate drugs for similar cases later."
"I don't mind..."
I shrugged. Still, when one of the best rippers of Knight City offers you such a thing, if not to take into account corporate molders, though I think he won't be the last among them, he'll rather be in the top ten...
In general, you don't give up on something like that.
"Okay, let's check on him now."
And the chair, as well as all the instruments next to it, came to life.
"I'm gonna hang out here, okay?"
"In fact, you should get out of here."
"Vic..."
I looked at the riper carefully.
"We're dealing with a cyberpsychic and the fact that we've decided to dechromize him..."
I shook my head.
"...I don't know if it'll help or not. You know it only works 20% of the time. So a guy with synthetic muscles might be a good backup, just in case."
"Okay. just stay out of my way, and yes, you can unwind your cable, he won't wake up for another thirty minutes, and then I'll make sure he doesn't wake up again until the end of the operation."
I nodded and quickly unwrapped Maine before laying him back on the chair and stepping aside.
"What are you guys doing here?! Get out!"
Vic shouted at Mayne's group, after which they quickly disappeared. The reaper started working and first of all he fixed it in place, after that the chair turned over, the part that was adjacent to the spine, or in our case to Sandy, was removed and the operation on its disconnection and removal began...
*** Almost five hours later. ***
"Well, uh. I'm done."
I nodded my head.
"What's their name?"
"No. I'll talk to him myself. and you're the one who's been calming him down. Did you keep a record of his actions?"
"Uh-huh...
"Well, let's show him what his fascination with chrome has gotten him into. And all the chrome from different manufacturers... no normal ripper would want to install such a mishmash..."
Vic pressed a couple of buttons and I waited with him. However, we didn't have to wait long, and in two minutes we heard quite intelligible words from the chair.
"I... What the fuck am I doing here?"
Mayne didn't look like that burly guy anymore, now he was a stubby guy since he had to install the standard civilian chrome. Vic hadn't even bothered with the synthetic leather yet. Just installed everything and hooked it up. Yeah, and I advised against it, since the idiot would probably start chrome over again soon anyway.
"Hello, cyberpsychs..."
"Are you confused?"
He found me with a glance.
"Uh, no..."
I shook my head.
"You're the one who almost killed your own group. However, knowing your rumored love of chrome, it was only a matter of time before your cuckoo went off. Now, before you start accusing me of something, I've already forwarded our fight to Vic."
"Our fight? Kid, I didn't fight you..."
And then Vic switched on the screen, which showed our fight. Naturally, in very slow motion, because in normal mode it would have been impossible to make out anything without Sandy.
"Uh, is that me?"
"You, you idiotic piece of ..."
Victor nodded his head, and I decided to continue after him, opening Mayne's eyes to what had happened.
"So you're VERY lucky. The first time you were lucky was when your team saw you having a seizure and didn't eliminate you or try to disarm you, because they probably wouldn't have been able to fight you. Unless, of course, one of them has a Sandi?"
"N-no...
I nodded my head.
"The second time you are lucky in that I am very good to Becca and Lucy who work with you and when the former called me, despite it being my day off, and I work very hard and weekends are sacred to me, I rushed to her aid. For the third time, you're lucky the solo seizure wasn't reported to Max-tac. I think for the sake of a solo with your track record of elimination they would have been the ones to get out, not the police team.
Mayne swallowed the saliva that had become viscous.
"The fourth time you were lucky when Vic agreed to dechromize the cyberpsych, even though such a thing doesn't always work. And once again you were lucky that the funds in the squad account will be enough to replace Vic's equipment, because it is dangerous to connect to someone with equipment that worked with cyberpsych. That equipment is now scrapped. am I missing something?"
I cast a glance at Vic and he shook his head.
"Where's my chrome?"
Vic gave Mayne a very displeased look, and I understood him perfectly. He'd just been told that even ripper equipment that simply connected to the cyberpsych was subject to elimination, and here he was asking about his chrome.
Vic's eyes lit up for a second, and after a couple minutes of silence, Maine's entire team piled into the clinic.
"Why do you need your chrome?"
"It cost a lot of money... I'll slowly put it back up so I don't get off the slicer again..."
Vic shook his head.
"If that's the case."
He nodded to me, and I pulled Maine's already sterile bagged spare parts from a separate corner of the clinic, which I stacked on a special table.
"Here is your chrome, but if you think about installing it, you can not contact me, and afterwards if you suddenly need to carry out dechroming again on me do not count on me."
"On me, too..."
I shook my head.
"...No, he's just been told that all the ripper equipment, which was just connecting to you when your slicer went down, is going to be scrapped, and he's thinking of installing the same chrome that brought him to this point."
"I may not be installing it... it's expensive."
"Uh-huh... and the cyber-psychos will likely increase in the city...
I shook my head.
"Anyway, that's your business. Me and Vic have done our job. Now please pay Vic for his work, and I'm outta here."
"And yours..."
Mayne looked at me glumly.
"I just ruined my day off..."
I shrugged.
"...and I'm only here at Becky's request, well Lucy was probably thinking of asking me for help, but even if not, leaving those two alone with a cyberpsycho..."
I shook my head.
"Anyway, I don't want anything from you."
"Look, I don't like to be indebted..."
"Mayne, I'm the one who called David, and I'm gonna pay him back."
"We..."
Lucy stood beside her and nodded to me.
"...it'll be enough to work with him for a week or two, I think we can settle up in that time."
"In two weeks?"
Pilar whistled in surprise.
"How long are you going to work?"
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"I work a lot, I usually do two orders a day..."
They all coughed.
"Why are you looking at him like that? He doesn't need the money. And he eats organic food, not fast food or burritos from vending machines. He's fed Lucy and me a couple times."
"Uh-huh...
Lucy nodded her head at Becky's words.
"Fuck, man, you eat organic? How much money do you make?!"
"None of your business..."
I shook my head.
"...And yes, Becca, if it's okay with you and Lucy, I'd really like to work with you for a week or two."
"Okay, I agree. and also a third of my usual share..."
"Likewise."
Becca nodded at Lucy's words agreeing with her decision.
"What are you--
I looked at them in surprise.
"...am I being a jerk or a cheapskate? No cutbacks, I'll just ask Regina to find assignments where Lucy can do her best and where things can go wrong so Becca can be on standby."
I shook my head.
"All right, well, rest today tomorrow and then we'll start work the day after tomorrow."
"We can do it tomorrow..."
"You can..."
I nodded my head.
"...but the point if it's a trivial job where no additional revenue is expected?"
"Well..."
Becca shrugged.
"Boy, you watch out there, if anything happens to Becca."
Mayne looked at me glumly, but I ignored him. I didn't care about his words or his opinion from now on. To be honest, I didn't care about him before, and it wasn't him I came to help, it was Becca and Lucy. I don't remember how it was in canon. Who exactly defeated Mayne when he went crazy...
But I didn't want to put them in harm's way, and our relationship was really more than good. So it would have been a shame not to answer the call for help.
"Pay..."
I looked intently at Mayne and his eyes lit up, whereupon Vic nodded his head.
"Everything came ..."
"Vic, can I help you with your equipment?"
He shrugged.
"Come on, if you've got nothing better to do..."
"There's always something to do, but that doesn't mean I won't help a good person."
Vic grinned, and together we escorted Mayne and his team out and started to dismantle all the equipment he had in his clinic. Vic made an announcement and even called his regular customers, warning them that he would be unavailable for the next three days.
After some thought, I also called Regina and warned her, and then contacted Becca and amended the plans to say that we would meet about the job in three days instead of a day. And only then did we get started.
All the equipment was removed, then Vic said what exactly in it needed to be ruined, so that it would be cheaper to dispose of it than to restore it to working condition. And if anyone thought about it, it would be even cheaper to buy used.
"Where's it all going?"
Panam strictly supervised our periodic transfer of broken equipment to the Cake, and was also responsible for placing it in the body and securing it so that nothing fell out on the way.
"I'll give you the address. and thanks for helping me out, I'd have spent all day tomorrow on my own."
"Don't sweat it..."
I grinned and clapped Victor lightly on the shoulder.
"We'll be there at 8:00 tomorrow morning, is that okay with you? Can you find the equipment and make arrangements to buy it?"
"Sure..."
Victor shrugged his shoulders and I got into the car after which Torticus smoothly touched down...
Victor is one of Knight City's best rippers if you don't take corp...