Sewers

April 17th

2069

The morning light broke softly across Night City, dispelling the crawling night. Sophie sat on the edge of her mattress in the sewer hideout, staring at her cybernetic arm. Her thoughts lingered on Vik’s advice to take things easy, but she felt the need to do something productive. She couldn’t just laze around, wasting time. There was too much to do.

She put together a basic set of gear, including a couple of weapons before heading for her bike. She avoided Westbrook, fully aware that an encounter with the Tygers was something to avoid. However, there were plenty of other districts she could head to. Her first stop was an old, cluttered scrapyard on the edge of Watson. The place was filled with rusted car frames, discarded machinery, and forgotten tech. The perfect place to find materials.

She began picking through the scrap heaps, hunting for anything she could use. A small, half-intact generator? Into the inventory. Loose wiring and connectors? Also in. Sophie found broken panels and scraps of metal that she thought could be cobbled together into something useful later. A few old circuit boards that looked salvageable joined her growing collection.

The hours blurred as she moved from location to location, ducking into abandoned shops, alleys, and once even clambering into the remains of a derelict apartment building.

Along the way, she stumbled into what appeared to be an abandoned hardware store. It was mostly empty but she did manage to find a few damaged manuals, all basic guides for skills like plumbing, welding, and electrical work. Sophie leafed through one of them briefly, noting that although they appeared old, the diagrams were clear even for a novice. She added the whole lot to her inventory, though she did wonder why nobody had taken them. Maybe they aren’t actually helpful? She thought to herself.

On her way back, Sophie stopped at a dilapidated corner store that sold cheap supplies. Among the dusty shelves, she found cans of industrial paint in muted tones; gray, black, and white. With a slight smile, she grabbed them all. The place only had a single clerk and no cameras, so she slipped some extra brushes and sandpaper into her inventory, along with the paint.

The sun had begun to dip below the horizon by the time she made it back to her hideout. She stepped inside, the familiar scent of damp concrete greeting her. She set her new supplies aside, intending to work on some of her projects at a later time.

Rather than working on her home itself, she laid out all of her gear to take stock of what she had left. Sophie frowned at the damage.

Her netrunner suit was functional but bore scorch marks and tears that were currently unrepairable with her lack of resources. The tactical plate carrier had deep scratches and a couple of dents where it had been struck hard.

Her trusted Nue pistols were still in good condition, though the suppressors had seen better days. The combat knives were intact, their edges still sharp but the grips worn.

She’d found herself quite satisfied by the setup she’d used during her big battle with the Tygers, despite the difficulties of the actual fight. However, now that she’d fully stepped into the world of merc work with the Mox, she wanted a proper, professional looking combat outfit.

First, she patched up the netrunner suit, stitching together the worst of the tears and reinforcing sections with salvaged fabric. It wasn’t pretty, nor did it have the same amount of protection but it would hold. The plate carrier received similar treatment; she hammered out the dents and repainted it with a coat of matte black paint to cover the scars. It would do, at least until she had the opportunity to buy new gear. She wanted to save her eddies for other things.

Then there was the katana. Sophie ran her chrome hand along the blade’s hilt before drawing the blade carefully, the heat radiating faintly as it hummed to life. “It’s beautiful…” She resheathed it and looked at the weaponry arrayed before her.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She strapped the same pair of combat knives onto her thighs, the sheathes snug and easy to access. The Nues went into holsters on her hips, the leather straps tightening securely against her. Finally, she took the katana and sheathed it horizontally along the small of her back. The angle allowed her to draw it quickly, should the need arise. The modified size had turned it into a blade that was smaller than a typical katana but larger than a wakizashi, allowing such an unconventional style.

Sophie was satisfied but she felt like something was missing. Sophie ran her eyes over the pile of items she had scavenged and the inside of her inventory. Her eyes landed on the plain white menpo she’d retrieved from Suko Rei.

Its only external feature was a chilling smile. It would cover the lower half of her face. She picked it up, running her thumb along its smooth surface. On the inside was some kind of padding. Is this in case I get hit in the face? I wouldn’t get hurt by the attack or the menpo digging into my face. She gave it a quick clean, considering it had belonged to Rei before placing it on her face. It fit snugly, and came with the added feature of extra anonymity.

She looked at herself in the mirror. The damaged yet reinforced gear gave her a rugged, battle-worn appearance. The white menpo, felt off though, as it stood out too much against the dark tones of her suit.

I’ll give the mask a new paint job soon. But I still feel like I’m missing something…Boots. I think I need heavier duty boots. I’ll have to keep an eye out for something that fits. What else am I missing? She thought about it for a moment. A cape? A cape would look good and I could use it to obscure my body and movements.

As she daydreamed about what kind of cape would be a good choice, a sudden thought left her frozen. Am I becoming Batman!? She quickly took stock of her outfit, realising there were clear parallels.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, right? Batman’s cool and now that I think about it, he’s quite similar to the kind of person I want to be. Minus the fact I want to kill people. Actually, I’m also becoming pretty similar to Bucky Barnes, huh. With the arm and everything.

“Hmm, now that I think about it, I’m not quite there, huh. Batman especially uses a lot of unarmed combat. I’ve got that ticket too…Alright, let’s do that. Even if I don’t use it much, having combat skills that don’t rely on weapons is a good idea.”

Sophie quickly navigated to the system store and used the skill voucher she had. She didn’t feel like it was too much of a loss, considering there were only a few other skills she was interested in and she’d get enough L-Coins to buy one of them soon enough.

Skill: Basic Unarmed Combat has been unlocked!

Basic Unarmed Combat [1/100]

She felt the rush of new knowledge flow into her mind and decided to test it out. She immediately dropped into one of the basic stances dictated by the skill. Her left foot was slightly forward, knees bent and arms up.

From there, she whipped out a left jab, followed by a right cross. A left hook and right uppercut followed. She threw out a couple more punch combos before firing her leg out in a high kick towards an invisible opponent.

The movement immediately highlighted how important Flexibility was for the skill. There was a slight twinge in her groin from how sudden the stretch was. Need to improve how stretchy I am.

She pushed that thought to the back of her mind as she focused entirely on throwing a number of strikes. She took note of every error she made, like when her hands dropped too low or when she didn’t rotate her hips enough.

Every mistake she caught was quickly remedied as she found ways to improve. Not even 15 minutes later, she got a notification.

Basic Unarmed Combat Proficiency +1

Basic Unarmed Combat [2/100]

The message brought a smile to her face, though she was slightly confused. That was fast. I’m not gonna complain though. She continued her striking practice but soon realised that was a mistake. “Unarmed Combat doesn’t just refer to striking. I also need to work on my grappling. In fact, that’s probably more important, considering how many people have cybernetics.”

She dropped into a different stance, this one lower to the ground and more stable. Her feet were spread shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and weight evenly distributed. She exhaled slowly.

She reached forward, fingers curling into an invisible collar grip, pulling back sharply to mimic breaking their balance. Her left leg shot forward in a smooth motion, simulating a sweep while her arms twisted to maintain control of her ‘opponent’.

Sweat beaded on her forehead as she continued, transitioning into counters, slipping to one side and pivoting, imagining the weight of an arm she was trying to deflect.

Quickly, she found the lack of resistance frustrating her. Grappling was about feel, leverage, the subtle push-and-pull of two bodies contesting dominance. But Sophie continued anyway, knowing the muscle memory could make the difference in a fight. As she finished practicing a hip toss, she stepped back and straightened, breathing heavily.

“When I get the time, I need to find a gym where I can practice my grappling. Striking should be fine for now considering I can shadowbox.” While she took a moment to rest, she received a call from someone.

“Hey Rita. What’s up?”

“Sophie! Got a gig for you, scav related. Interested?”

A feral smile appeared on Sophie’s face as she replied. “Tell me everything.”