Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077

She had no nationality either.

Because she had grown up in an Arasaka facility in another country since childhood.

She did not know who her parents were.

Nor had she ever felt or experienced the warmth of a family.

She was an orphan.

Along with other orphans, she was instilled with the dream of "becoming a hacker to serve the world's most powerful corporation."

They endured the harshest training,

all for the sake of a dream that had been forced upon them.

Even more tragically, after completing their training, they did not join the Counterintelligence Department, become company employees, and stride confidently across shiny floors.

Instead, they were taken to a dark underground facility and forced to conduct deep dives.

It turned out Arasaka's goal in training them was never to have them join the Counterintelligence Department.

Instead, they were treated as expendable tools and cannon fodder, sent into the Old Net.

The Old Net, also known as the Deep Web, was a fragmented and perilous domain that no one dared to enter.

Whenever the Old Net was mentioned, there was one name that could never be avoided: Rache Bartmoss.

He had been the most gifted netrunner, yet also the most paranoid.

Bartmoss's advanced virus programs had brought down the entire cyberspace, shattering the global network into local nets (subnets) that were like isolated islands.

NetWatch had tried to rebuild the global network with the help of the European Parliament.

But the viruses and rogue AIs were far too powerful.

They hunted down netrunners who ventured recklessly into the Old Net.

In the end, NetWatch decided to abandon the reconstruction and launched the Blackwall Project.

This involved creating an impregnable ICE wall that separated the usable networks from the areas controlled by viruses and rogue AI.

On the Blackwall's side lay the subnets currently in use.

On the other side was the Old Net (Deep Web), teeming with dangers.

If one used online games as an analogy, the Old Net was like a dungeon whose level far exceeded the player's limit.

Everyone knew that the treasure chests in that dungeon could yield many good items,

but it was also full of unbeatable monsters.

Moreover, if one died in cyberspace, the netrunner in reality would die along with them.

Arasaka wanted to use these orphans to dig up the massive stores of knowledge and information lost in the Old Net.

But the Old Net was a danger even NetWatch and the European Parliament could not handle.

How could a few orphans possibly emerge unscathed?

Arasaka certainly knew the risks.

That was why they specifically chose orphans to carry out such perilous work.

Put bluntly, it was like raising livestock. From the moment Arasaka took in and trained these children, they had already been regarded as consumable, exploitable tools.

And the Old Net's dangers were indeed as rumored.

Lucy's companions were killed one by one in the Old Net by rogue AIs and viruses.

After countless deep dives, endless days that felt as though there would never be an end, the surviving children, including Lucy, finally came to their senses.

They realized it was not worth dying for a dream imposed on them.

Ultimately, believing that "we're going to die anyway, so we might as well fight our way out," Lucy and her surviving companions stormed out of the underground facility.

They were intercepted by Arasaka personnel.

Companions kept falling.

Lucy could hear her friends crying out, but she did not look back.

She kept running.

Kept moving forward,

toward the light.

By the time she snapped out of it, she had already escaped successfully into a ruined area.

After that, Lucy felt too afraid to stay in any one place for very long.

Thus, she fled from country to country, region to region.

In the end, she arrived in Night City.

Lucy sat on the windowsill,

arms wrapped around her knees,

her body curled up like a cat.

Outside, the bright neon lights cast rainbow hues upon her face.

Life on the run had not been easy.

She had been betrayed.

Of course, she had also received help from kind people.

But no one had ever helped her as much as Leo had.

Not even once before.

When she first arrived at the apartment in Japantown, she had kept thinking Leo must have had some ulterior motive.

But Leo merely brought her there, transferred money to her, and left without even taking a seat.

There was no surveillance equipment in the room.

So what was he after?

Why did he treat her so well?

…

Night shone brilliantly.

For some people, the day felt like it was just beginning.

One might even get the illusion that the city was more vibrant at night than during the day.

Leo drove along the coastal road of Japantown, heading back toward Heywood.

He had put in so much effort for Lucy, not just because she was alone.

It was because he saw something of his past self in Lucy.

When he first arrived in Night City, he was simply supposed to finish helping Jackie move some goods, after which they would go their separate ways.

But Jackie had been willing to team up with him, which allowed him to have the life he did now.

If not for Jackie, he would never have met Mama Welles, V, or Padre, and undoubtedly would have taken many detours.

He felt the money he spent to help Lucy would be earned back soon enough, but to Lucy, it was a timely lifesaver—like handing out warmth in the dead of winter.

It could really help Lucy a lot.

Considering how proficiently she used the Monowire and the fact she had an anti-detection jammer implanted, she was obviously no ordinary person.

Hence, he invested in her.

Leo's ultimate goal was to bring her into his own team.

He did not plan on becoming a lone wolf legend like Morgan Blackhand.

He believed the more friends and wider connections the better.

Whether in Night City or anywhere else, life worked best with plenty of friends to have your back.

.....

..

.

Afterward, Leo, Jackie, and V took on several more jobs dealing with the Raffen Shiv.

He finally saved up twenty Potential Points.

That same day, after saying goodbye to V and Jackie, Leo hurried back to his apartment in the Glen.

This apartment had its own weapons workshop.

He no longer needed to occupy Jackie's garage.

He ate, then went into the workshop, rubbing his hands in excitement.

"Use 20 Potential Points to obtain the improved blueprint—Powered Arm Bracers."

Just like before, the blueprint for the Powered Arm Bracers, along with the manufacturing knowledge, poured into his mind.

Leo was delighted.

The Powered Arm Bracers served the same function as the mechanical limbs that Manan had wanted—they greatly enhanced one's strength.

Only these were external devices. No need to cut off your arms.

As long as you wore the Powered Arm Bracers, tearing apart a tank would not be out of reach.

He carefully reviewed the knowledge in his mind, then glanced around the weapons workshop at home.

It looked decent enough.

The space was sufficient.

It was just missing some essential tools and components.

So he placed a call to Padre.

"Padre, it's Leo. I need some things…"

After finishing the call with Padre, Leo stepped out of the weapons workshop.

He knew gathering these materials would take some time, even for Padre.

While waiting for the items he needed to be prepared, he planned to rest well and train diligently, storing up energy.

Three days later, Padre's men showed up carrying several crates.

Leo directed them to bring the crates into the workshop.

Once they left, he set the floor-to-ceiling windows to a sealed background and locked the elevator door,

then entered the workshop.

…

The days began to blur together and soon a week quickly passed by.