Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077

Saburo Arasaka had lived for so long that many people had assumed he would go on living forever, all the way to the end of the universe. Johnny Silverhand sighed, "Never thought he'd see this day."

Leo patiently explained to this relic of the 1980s, "You died during the Fourth Corporate War, when Arasaka Tower was nuked. Back then, the president of the New United States blamed Arasaka for the blast, which led to the company's forces being uprooted and forced back to Japan. It wasn't until the Unification War that Arasaka was invited back to Night City. And now, it's 2077."

Johnny was stunned. "Invited back? Why?" He couldn't comprehend it. Back then, they had sacrificed so much to finally drive Arasaka out of Night City. How could the city have welcomed them back? How could they face those who had died resisting, or the countless victims persecuted by Arasaka?

"During the Unification War, New America tried to seize control of Night City. Lucius Rhyne, who was mayor at the time, reached out to Arasaka for help to stop that from happening."

"Fuck! How could someone be that stupid? Unbelievable! Unbelievably dumb! And that guy was allowed to be mayor? It's easy to invite vampiers, hard to send them away. Now there's no Samurai II or Samurai I nuke to push Arasaka back out."

"New America was a tiger; Arasaka is a wolf. To chase out the tiger, they invited the wolf into their home… Maybe Mayor Rhyne thought between two evils, the lesser was easier to handle."

Johnny paced around the room restlessly. "Alright, let's assume what you're saying is true—then why am I in this robot body? If you guys didn't do it, then who did?"

Leo shook his head. "I don't know all the details. But when you raided Arasaka Tower, you died there. Afterward, Arasaka used Soulkiller on you, digitizing your consciousness and storing it in their Soul Prison—or as they call it, the Data Fortress. Later, Arasaka developed the relic: a biochip designed to store personality engrams, with the goal of implanting them into new organic hosts when the time was right, achieving 'immortality.'"

Leo's explanation flowed rapidly, so much so that both V and Jackie were getting a headache just listening, and even Johnny, separated by a single door, felt overwhelmed.

"Okay, if you really can't wrap your head around it, let me put it in fantasy terms: basically, they copied your soul, stored it somewhere, and when your body aged or died, they put that copied soul into a new vessel—so you resurrect."

"As for whether the copied soul is still you… well, that's a question for philosophers. Anyway, that's the gist of how the relic works."

Johnny finally grasped the point. "So, you're saying my body's already dead?"

"Long dead. The grass on your grave is probably taller than you by now."

Johnny fell silent. His soul was now stuck inside a spider-like robot, and though they couldn't see his expression, it wasn't hard to imagine the storm raging inside him.

"Wait," Johnny suddenly caught a detail, "you say you guys aren't corpo dogs, so how the hell do you know all this?"

"Because we did a lot of homework before this gig." All the data came from the braindance Evelyn had recorded in the penthouse, including a scene where Yorinobu Arasaka sat on the bed holding a tablet crammed with relic information. Leo, suspecting it might be useful, had saved the data and could pull it up anytime through his tactical goggles.

His explanation was airtight, leaving Johnny no room to argue—but that didn't mean Johnny was eager to believe. He had no idea how long he'd been trapped inside the engram prison, and now that he was finally out, he found himself stuck in a metal shell, in a world that had dramatically changed, leaving this old rockerboy struggling to keep up.

"You've pretty much heard everything you need. By now, you should understand we're allies, not enemies." Leo hadn't bothered explaining all this because he was afraid of Johnny Silverhand. Even if Johnny had been resurrected in his original body, Leo was confident he could still beat him into the ground.

It wasn't about brute force. Leo wasn't a man who sought violence for its own sake. Against enemies, he struck hard and without mercy, but when it came to potential allies, he preferred to win them over with reason. He didn't expect someone like Johnny, stubborn and volatile, to follow his lead or fully join his crew. That wasn't important. Leo had no immediate plans to take on Arasaka, but if the time ever came, it would be smart to have people like Johnny on his side. Building that connection now was just a way of thinking ahead.

As long as Johnny was anti-Arasaka, they were practically brothers.

As expected, Johnny was someone who understood reason. After a long moment of thought, he finally said, "Alright, you've convinced me."

Leo smiled. He knew Johnny was someone who could be reasoned with. "Then I'm opening the door."

The rolling shutter rumbled open, revealing the mess inside the room. Items had been scattered across the floor, the shelves were half-empty, and even the netrunner chair was toppled over. Johnny Silverhand was huddled atop the corner server, his spider-like limbs waving slightly in an apologetic gesture.

V stepped inside, crouched beside T-Bug, and jacked her personal cable into T-Bug's neural slot—the quickest way to check her condition. A few seconds later, V pulled the cable out. "She's fine, just knocked out."

Leo nodded. "Good, that's a relief." Sensing the odd looks from V and Jackie, he introduced casually, "Let me introduce you. V, Jackie—this is Johnny Silverhand. Johnny, meet V and Jackie."

Jackie stared in disbelief at the spider-like robot huddled in the corner. "You're really Johnny Silverhand? That rockerboy?"

Johnny didn't hold back. "What, do you need me to play 'Never Fade Away' for you to believe it?"

"No, no need," Jackie said, eyes wide, "but weren't you supposed to be dead?"

Johnny groaned, "Good question. Next time, don't ask."

Leo explained helpfully, "The relic was designed to let the engram inside take over a new organic host. In theory, it should only work with humans, but for some reason, Johnny's engram ended up in the spider bot. Originally, I'd slotted the relic into the bot just as a temporary container, planning to pull it back out and hand it over to Dexter once we reached the No-Tell Motel. But, well, things didn't go exactly as planned, and the relic stayed inside the bot."

"Anyway, that's the situation." Suddenly, Johnny asked casually, "Rogue—she's still alive?"

Leo glanced at Johnny. "Not only alive—she's the queen of Afterlife now."

"Afterlife?" Johnny paused, clearly unfamiliar with the name.

"Back in your day, the merc legend spot was Atlantis, right? Afterlife is today's Atlantis."

"Shit! Sounds like Rogue's been living pretty damn well." Though he cursed under his breath, his tone carried clear relief.

"So, what's your plan? Going straight to see Rogue?"

"Kinda want to, but I can't."

"Why not?" This time, it was Leo's turn to be surprised. He had assumed Johnny, now essentially resurrected (even if trapped in a mechanical shell), would immediately run off to find Rogue. Given both the old rumors and Johnny's current questions, it was obvious their relationship had been much more than just ex-lovers or comrades.

Yet Johnny was holding back.

"Even if I could get in, even if I did see her… what would I say?" Johnny bent his mechanical knees slightly in a clumsy bow, the gesture looking downright ridiculous in his robot body.

"Hello, Rogue, it's me—your undying, resurrected lover. What do you think she'd say to that?"

"Pfft!" V and Jackie couldn't hold back, covering their mouths as they burst into quiet laughter.

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