"♫Can you feel it

Can you touch it

Get ready cause here we go

Can you feel it

Can you touch it

Get ready cause here we go

My soul inserted with vital force

Won't spare what I'm hunting for

It's the animal in my blood

Wouldn't stop it even if I could♫"

The song set the mood for me as I finished placing on the gauntlets. I watched as they locked themselves into the groves of the vambraces. The clicking of metal clasping itself, followed by a beep of completion told me the unit was now one.

With a nod, I flexed open and close my hands while rotating my wrists and bending my arms. All seemed in order. The mask came on last. Well, it was more of a helmet, but Murk insisted on calling it his mask. Either way, it was an advanced piece of machinery on par with Militech's special forces, or rather it did at the time it was made. Their combat helmets usually came with a slew of capabilities, from different forms of vision enhancement, to various communication technologies, and even some netrunner abilities as a result of advancements in Assisted Combat Personal Armor (ACPA). He managed to miniaturize it in a way that Militech and Arasaka hadn't been able to.

Of course…that was then.

"Remember, this armor was my latest version before whatever happened to me happened. I don't know how it will match up to today's technology."

That was the rub. Murkman had been running around Night City back in the 2050s and early 2060s before kicking life off. The technology of the suit, the Caliburn, the command center, all of it was his work. It shocked me that he designed the Caliburn that I always loved in the game, which begged the question of how the car came around later given that it was so widely spread in the game.

So, the technology for the suit and car were about eight or so years out of date given the current date.

January 17th, 2070. A full seven years before the events of the game. Six before Edgerunners. Twenty five after the Red era. It honestly threw me off, given most of the events I knew of were so far off. On the other hand, most of the people I knew of that were destined to die, I could prevent from being "ended".

Those were distant events though. To me, the more immediate event to deal with was the Unification war the NUSA and Free States were currently having. It was what led Night City to become a City State, under the protection of Araska and the other corporations. That was months off, but that didn't mean the city wasn't in a state of controlled chaos as a result of it.

"I don't think it's too out of date given what's in it. Just no longer on the edge."

"Something to rectify in time."

The mask connected to the flexible neck sealed armor, and then closed itself over my face. The blackness that filled my vision returned to the sight of the lit room, with a HUD overlay showing the status of the suit overall. Coreless motors that enhance my strength to superhuman levels, powerful mini-energy cells to keep it all working for a full day in combat conditions, and the various weapon and tools to accomplish tasks in almost every situation.

Everything was green, and the suiting up was complete. I looked over at the screen that was built into the wall, and accessed it using the helmet, transforming it into a wall sized mirror.

The dark grey and black armor covered my whole body, with plates over the musculature and vital areas. Beneath the suit was a flexible smart fabric that could harden upon impact, allowing it to become like steel plate for less than a second before distributing the energy across the entire fabric as it loosened up.

The mask was smooth, covering the entire head save the nape of my neck, and possessed glowing optics where my eyes were. The ears were stylized antenna for radio, network, and laser communication, but they were bat like in appearance.

The chest and back possessed the only spots where any form of bright coloration existed, as a result of the Nano-Weave covering the computer system, power system, and wings. When the chest was lit up, it appeared as a stylized letter "M" that could be mistaken for the bat symbol. The wings themselves only really glowed when they were in use, but they also glowed when acting as a heat sink.

Overall, it looked like a hardcase version of the suit from Batman Beyond.

Okay. I am not normally a vain guy, but hot damn, I look badass!

"That's enough. Time to move."

I grunted as I moved away and towards the weapons locker that had opened for me.

Inside were a variety of smartguns. These ones weren't like the guns of 2077. Those were gyrojet weapons that possessed a combat computer inside of the firearm itself, which linked to the cybernetic eyes of the user through the neural-link in a subdermal palm augmentation. The eyes acted as both the targeting system and the smart scope for the weapons, which allowed target-tracing to basically hit a target without really aiming at it.

These ones in the locker were old school Smartguns. Based on technological advancements from the Time of the Red, they functioned like their original 2020 predecessors, only without the need for all the hardware. They only fired if they had a proper lock on, but also included aim assistance which I had on the HUD via target reticule where the gun was aiming and the trajectory was outlined, and it was able to use a subdermal link or a wired plug connection to function, instead of just plugs.

My gauntlets had a smart glove augmentation that acted like a subdermal smart link, and connects directly to the suit and helmet. I don't think they will work on the latest weapons though.

Unlike the 2077 smartguns, these were closer to power weapons in function, firing mostly regular bullets. I say mostly, because unlike 2077 smartguns, old smartguns had a variety of munition types to fire with.

As such, I didn't have much variety in the kinds of firearms I had, but did in types. Especially since these were mostly custom jobs from Murk himself.

I took an 11mm semi-automatic pistol. It was a large thing that had similarities to the Constitutional Arms "Liberty" pistol, save that it was a Smartgun. My smart link connection to it showed me its ammo capacity and how charged it was on the HUD, and I loaded it with a fresh magazine before holstering it. I took two extra mags as well.

I then took the modified Militech "Crusher" shotgun pistol. A smartgun, it also only fired if it had a target lock. I made sure to load it completely before holstering it, and taking two mags for it.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Then I took the final firearm, a modified AKR-20. In addition to smart tech, it also game with a gyrojet grenade launcher under the barrel. I took four extra mags for that weapon.

"Remember that the wings arms extend out from the shoulder blades. Make sure the rifle does not interfere when you carry it."

"Yes-yes." I replied as I collapsed the rifle stock.

Finally, I checked the various grenades and throwing weapons my belt carried. All of them were armed and ready despite having sat for a near decade. Smoke, tear gas, stun, flash-bang, tazers, and standard mini-explosives were all in order.

For the throwing weapons, I didn't have baterangs, instead I had throwing disks that functioned the same way. Some had explosives embedded in the center of them, but the smaller orbs that were the actual explosives were smaller and thus higher in number. Counting out two dozen of the normal ones, and three sets of four made up of smoke, flashbang, and explosive types.

Doing one last check, I missed the two monomolecular bladed knives, and placed them in their sheaths.

Now I was ready.

"Alright. Let's go."

"Good. Take the car."

I grinned as I walked out of the lair and into the cargo container that I had woken up. I took a moment to look around, as if seeing for the first time again. It had felt like such a long time ago, despite it having been only a month and half since.

The Door of the Caliburn, or "Lurker" as Murk called it, opened, revealing the advanced inner space. While the game made it to be just another car, I knew how it worked. After sitting down, I linked the helmet to the wireless interface and my HUD lit up with hidden indicators that could not be seen without a VR overlay.

"Weapon systems online. Defense systems online. Navigation systems online. Network systems online. All systems nominal."

The sound of the car going through its start up sequence filled me with a thrill and chill. The weapons system controls showed me that I had a smart turret behind the top of the car under a hidden panel. Forward and rear facing miniature missile launchers under the grill and tail panels.

Camouflage systems to change the color of the vehicle, or even outright make it appear see through. It wouldn't hold up to scrutiny at close range, and especially in daylight, but from a distance and at night? Undetectable except by UV and heat detection.

While it is well armored, and possesses a bullet proof windshield and tires, it also possessed a modified SecSystems Protection Field Emitter that basically electrified anything that came within a few meters of the car, whether I was in or out of it. Short circuits Cyberware and nervous systems, unless someone is hardened against such a thing. On top of that it also had ECM systems, preventing anyone from trying to jack into it, or guided weapons trying to hit it, including smartguns as it spoofed smart scopes!

Whether that all still worked today or not however…

I would find out one way or another I reckoned. Activating the navigation map, I got a good look at Night City, but little to no sign of crimes in progress, save those being broadcasted over the band by NCPD, and to freelancers via city net.

"What's first?"

An icon of Murk appeared on my Hud as he spoke.

"Things have changed a bit from my time, but not so much that we cannot still do the same thing I had done before. We are going to go to each district of the city, including the combat zones, and find a network junction that connects to the whole district. With it, we can actively monitor the city and see events as they occur."

I nodded as I minimized the various car systems to a more manageable appearance in my HUD.

"You think your stuff will do the job?"

"While technology has advanced from what they were, I doubt the corporations and city government have. In time we'll have to do an update once we are better equipped, for now, this will do. Now get going."

Murk disconnected and I opened the door to the container. It slid open silently, and I quickly drove out and down the unfinished tunnel. The container closed behind me and appeared like an old abandoned unit once more.

The path out of the tunnel was rough, but nothing I couldn't handle. I would have to clean it a bit later though. Soon enough I was out and on a dirt path, and then under the open sky in the badlands. The stars were high and the moon was full, casting the land in twilight.

In the distance, I saw it. Night City. It wasn't entirely the same as the game, lacking some tall towers, but close enough with the hologram advertisement boards.

Pressing the gas, the car roared as it accelerated down the dirt road I had drove upon and towards the highway. I noticed immediately what appeared to be a military roadblock on the highway, just before the Sunshine Motel, and I was appearing far past them.

Without stopping, I rushed onto the highway and sped up to over a hundred and fifty until I reached the city proper, before turning up and towards where the dam would be. For a few minutes I drove the road, feeling a bit nostalgic as I gazed at familiar sights, and eventually reached the spot El' Capitan usually hung out in the game. It had no one at this time, so I just stopped beside the rail overlooking the city.

Stepping out, and walking over to the rail, I leaned on it as I took in the sight of Santo Domingo, and Heywood further than that, until I saw Corpo-Plaza, or what would be the plaza when Arasaka came back. It appeared the district was still amid reconstruction, but it was not a crater anymore.

Murk's icon appeared as he spoke to me again.

"Is it all you remember?"

"…It's what I remembered well enough."

"Well, it's time to put that memory to the test."

Murk cut off again, and the car started up. I watched as it turned itself around and drove away to someplace where it would be hidden, but close enough to get me out if I needed it.

With a deep breath, I looked down upon Rancho Coronado. It wasn't the tent city I saw from the archives, but it still held that same shanty feel to it. Same as it was in 2077.

I activated my helmet "VR Overlay" and scanned for the signals that Murk was looking for. Soon enough I found them.

"Time to get to work."

Stepping upon the guard rail, I flexed my neck, rolled my shoulders, and jumped.