{Misty's Esoterica, Watson, Night City}

...

I felt her hand gently tap on my shoulders as I gave it a soft squeeze.

"When did it happen? I can tell you are stressed; your shoulders are so tense..." Misty spoke in a soft tone, and her words and the serene atmosphere made me relax slightly. There were still some glaring neon lights in the shop, but the candlelight did help to offset the balance.

"Well... not long ago, it's been a little hard." I diverted the conversation slightly. It wasn't hard to project the emotions related to distress and paranoia, as I had been dealing with that the past few days.

"Sit down. Vik is with a client, so it might take him a while. Why don't you lean back on those chairs?" She held onto my arm and guided me slightly toward one of the two chairs in one corner.

'Is this her sales pitch or something? Maybe she's a psychiatrist, or whatever comes close to that profession in this broken world.' I thought as I leaned back. She lit up some incense sticks, and their aroma slowly spread around as I relaxed onto the chair.

'Hmm, this isn't half-bad.'

"You are so tense. The present has not been kind to you," Misty noted as she walked up to my side, her hands gently rubbed onto something in the middle of my shoulders.

'What is she trying, acupuncture or something?' I thought, but I couldn't feel any change. She was a spiritualist, according to her, so most likely, she is fetching for information through the conversation.

"Yeah... my dad worked for Militech," I felt her hand pause, "counter-intel, his name was Gael Delwyn. Did he come here often?" I questioned.

I looked at Misty, who shook her head no, which wasn't surprising to me, "I guessed he didn't. Most of the corp agents are forced to work with the corp signed ripperdocs..."

"Can you believe they didn't even bother to set up a memorial? Nothing..." Misty switched her hands to my other shoulder. I'm pretty sure I should get a new acting skill, but it seems like the system did not recognize it. "All the corp agents did was try to offload me from having any relation to Militech." I sighed and leaned back. The backstory I had uncovered by reading through the junk mail put together this story.

Even Gus, the one kid who reached out to me, didn't bother replying; I guess I can understand why violence was so prevalent throughout the city. With the degradation of morals and feelings as a community, everyone is basically run by money and status.

"I guess Dad found out about Vik's clinic through his contacts and thought it would be a better place if I need something; maybe I shouldn't bother, though; from the way you quietened down, I can feel that corps aren't particularly welcome here," I said as I tried to get up but Misty's hands stopped me by pressing me down.

"I was just surprised, that's all..." Misty smiled. She looked at me briefly before nodding to herself, "Well, I can't say much about Vik, but you are welcome to talk to me anytime."

"Thanks," I smiled at her and focused on going into scanning mode; my vision went green as I scanned her and used the holo link to transfer €$25 into her account; her eyes glowed blue briefly before she looked at me surprised.

"It felt good to talk to someone about this. It has been eating at me for a couple of days now." I tried to keep the conversation going, but I still haven't received an okay with whether it was good to go and see Vik or not. Why was I so focused on seeing Vik that I didn't go to any other Ripperdoc? I'm sure most of them are not like fingers, but it is hard to trust someone in Night City. Plus, the only people I was familiar with being characters in the game, he was prolly my only lead right now.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

A green notification flashed in front of me, and I smiled and looked at Misty in surprise, whose eyes were glowing a little bit.

...

[Access Shard Acquired: Viktor Vector's Clinic]

...

"Uhh, thanks!" I smiled at the goth. I wonder if she's already dating Jackie or if I have a chance of taking her for a spin. She wasn't as gorgeous as, say, Judy, but then Judy was gay, so I'm left with either her or Panam... Maybe Alex?

"It's alright, kid. I'm sure Vik won't mind hearing your request, but he's with a client right now, and since you already paid for it, why don't you relax, and I'll give you a reading?" She replied.

"Sure..." I said as I sat back down. The interrogation likely was over, and in a few minutes, I would be subjected to her brand of spirituality.

'What was it tarot cards?'

...

----------------------------------------

{The alley opposite to Misty's Esoterica}

{At the same time}

{3rd Person POV}

...

"Boss, do we really have to wait for the kid? He won't go to the blues, and even if he does, we know where he lives, right? Aria?" Yasuko spoke as he leaned against the railing. The neon red light of the underground walkway felt comforting to him. He looked down at his open jacket and admired the efforts of the biosculpt that he had paid for a couple of days ago.

"Whtev~" the busty girl muttered as her hands continuously tapped onto her tablets. Her eyes glowed blue. Her neural link was jacked onto one of the access points as she scrolled through the net, hacking through the network architecture.

"Got a hit, boss. The name is Nooa Delwyn. He's a legacy of Militech but has recently dealt with Kizzie Marilla. She's part of the offloading team, so he's not a protected asset. The father was in counter-intel but is now listed as deceased. No records of Mother ever in the system, likely abandoned." Aria spoke as she decrypted the data while talking to the Boss.

Inoue Shō, an intermediate-level member of the Tyger Claws, would have recognized the murderer immediately if Nooa had seen him. He had assumed he had escaped, but Inoue had noticed him and followed him with his team. The man was wearing a red-green jumpsuit with a demon mask covering the lower half of his face. His long hair was tied down in a high ponytail, the end of which was colored neon green.

"Interesting, a corpo dropout..." Inoue mused as he stood in the orange glare of the cafe sign. His gaze was focused on the other corner of the street, where the brat had disappeared. He didn't look too young, but because his body was mostly flesh and there was a clear absence of chrome, Inoue wasn't threatened by Nooa.

"Why are we wasting time here, boss?" Yasuko once again interrupted the conversation. The irritation that was welling up in Inoue was forcibly pushed down as he ignored the gonk and instead turned to Aria. She was the designated netrunner of their group. However, classifying her as an actual runner is a little far-fetched as she couldn't actually breach most of the secure network. But she can dabble into areas he cannot touch, so at least there was a plus, and she was an asset to this little group he was in charge of... for now.

"Aria, what's the sitch with the shop? Misty's Esoterica doesn't ring a bell." Inoue asked.

The typing on the keyboard resumed as he had to wait a while. Aria was quite slow, but at least she got the job done. A minute later, she spoke, "The biz is nothin' special. Some spiritual bullshit. The interesting thing is that a Ripper rents a shop here; he's low-key and doesn't really have a big reach into the market as he is being frozen out by multiple corps."

'Corps again, I thought the kid was offloaded by Militech.' Inoue frowned. He didn't want to get entangled with the corps so soon. He had barely gotten his feet off the ground, and already, the bastard Kei had managed to get himself flatlined by a drugged-up gonk. Now, he was down a member and had a spot to fill.

'The kid would be perfect. He has no oversight from any corp or family member. A higher education means he must be taught something useful, and he saw me deal with the gonk so I have leverage over him...'

"Anything else of note?" Inoue asked as he leaned against the wall. If the kid had gone to meet with a ripper, they could be in here for the long haul.

"Boss, do we really have to wai-" Yasuko shut up when Inoue glared at him.

Aria ignored their interaction as she spoke, "The bar in front of the ship is run by Animals, so I say we ambush him a little farther than here..." She began speaking, already sending the map and several locations of note straight to Inoue's holo, and a plan began taking shape.

...