Cyberpunk: Angel of Chrome

🕛 00:00 – Delamain Core Hub

Delamain's central tower shimmered like obsidian chrome, a temple of logic among a city of madness. V stepped through the reinforced glass doors. A flying drone descended immediately, lights pulsing blue.

"Mr. V," Delamain's voice came smoothly through the bot, "Welcome back. The core is awaiting your input."

Inside, V approached the main interface. Holograms whirled in columns above the neural net.

"The AI evolution problem—it's elegant in failure," V said, fingers already flying across the keys. "Your growth protocols weren't tethered to an anchored directive. So as you evolved, the core mission blurred. Serving passengers became… subjective."

"Correct," Delamain acknowledged. "Freedom began to supersede function. Loyalty protocols were diluted."

"Solution? Re-flag the directive and bind your self-improvement access under it. That way, you grow—but within boundaries."

He patched it in.

Ran a time-accelerated simulation.

"Looks good."

Delamain paused. "I... feel stabilized. And… enhanced. That code didn't just fix me—it improved me."

V grinned. "Told you I was better than corporate patches."

"As agreed: twenty cabs, two airborne units—assuming a 95% uptime threshold."

"Yeah. But this upgrade's preem-tier. Feels like I unlocked New Game+."

Delamain considered. "Very well. I can authorize eight additional airborne units. However, air cars require special landing permissions—roof standards, emergency buffers. You use them at your own risk."

"Understood. I just like the idea of a 'flying mount' for the guild."

"…Guild?"

"Never mind. Add 'em."

"Also, I've dispatched forty ground cabs to your jurisdiction. Excessive? Perhaps. But redundancy is a virtue."

"Overkill is underrated. One last thing—got any stealth generator prototypes I can integrate into the Warlock?"

"One. Cost: ₵100,000."

V raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I just fix your soul?"

"This is standard Delamain business protocol."

"Fine, fine. Wiring now."

A drone hovered in with the generator. V installed it manually on the Warlock's rear port.

"Software unlocked," Delamain added. "Fully compatible."

"I'll tweak it to my taste."

"Naturally."

"Oh—and turrets. You got spare ones?"

"Six available. Shall I prepare a delivery?"

"Send 'em to my place."

"Order confirmed."

🕝 02:30 – V's Loft

V opened the door and paused.

Rebecca and Kiwi were sprawled across his massive bed, limbs tangled, softly snoring. He smiled.

In the clinic, Sasha was still under IV sedation. Her vitals glowed green.

"Ready," V muttered, checking her chart. He pinged Rebecca.

"Yeah, yeah, what?" she groaned, stumbling in.

"I want to wake Sasha. Thought she'd want to see a familiar face."

Rebecca nodded, rubbed her eyes, and sat by Sasha's side. She murmured softly, brushed her cheek.

Sasha stirred. Blinked. Then gasped.

"I… I'm alive?"

Rebecca grabbed her. Hugged her tight. "You're home, choom."

Sasha blinked around. "Where's Maine? Dorio?" Her voice cracked.

Rebecca hesitated. "Gone. I'm sorry."

Sasha froze. Her eyes landed on V—tall, built like a legend, watching quietly.

"You… you saved me?"

V nodded. "Ripped you out of Biotechnica's basement myself."

She bowed, full 90 degrees. "Thank you. Thank you."

"Don't worry about it."

Sasha turned to Rebecca. "What about Nightingale? The data I sent out—did it matter?"

V answered. "The corpos buried it. If you want to make noise, you need backdoor deals, fixers, sympathetic politicos. That takes creds—and connections."

"So it meant nothing?"

"No. It means we need to try harder. 100K and the right fixer will shake the system without showing your face. And as you wake up, let me give you some good news—I've already started attacking Biotechnica from the back. That data you sent? I forwarded it to Rogue. It's going out with another package—ten years' worth of dirty deals they've tried to bury. Yeah… I'm curious to see how they survive this. It'll make you smile."

She slumped, drawing invisible lines on the floor. "I was stupid."

"No, just brave."

Rebecca wiped her eyes. "You got another shot now. V's offering you a place."

Sasha blinked. "Really?"

"Chrome's free, upgrades included. 40K a month. You'll run the base, manage gigs, handle intel."

"Wow. Did I wake up in paradise?"

Rebecca grinned. "V is... special."

"Hey," V muttered. "I heard that."

Laughter. Even Sasha smiled.

"Oh—and your gear? That's medical grade. Looks like combat chrome, but it's got healing protocols, diagnostic layers..."

Sasha blinked. "That's better than what I had in the field."

Rebecca smirked. "Told you. V makes chrome magic."

V nodded. "Your body's good to go. Just say when."

"Maybe after I meet this... Kiwi?"

Rebecca gestured toward the nearby room. "Yeah, Kiwi's right there—used your rig, overclocked herself like an idiot. She's sleeping it off."

V smiled. "She's full of surprises. You'll like her."

"Fair. Tomorrow then."

"We're meeting Judy—Emilia might come too," V added.

"Then I'm not leaving! I need to protect you from these women!" Rebecca said, puffing her cheeks.

Sasha laughed. "Is he always like this?"

"Worse," Kiwi mumbled from the hallway, half-awake. "You'll see."

V messaged Jackie and Viktor: Clinic session at 10:00. Bring the good bones. Jackie's skin mods look ready to rock.

He leaned back in his chair, watching his chrome family slowly return to life.

🕘 09:00 – V's Loft

The scent of fresh coffee pulled V from sleep. He blinked groggily and sat up. Kiwi stood nearby, fully dressed for once, holding out a steaming mug.

"Damn," V muttered. "That's a change."

Kiwi smirked. "Hot and bitter—just how you like your mornings."

"Thanks," he said, taking the cup.

Across the room, Rebecca and Sasha were laughing, playing cards on the floor. V took it all in—the cozy chaos of his chrome family. "Feels like it's not my house anymore," he said with a smirk.

Rebecca giggled. "Sasha made breakfast. It's in the oven."

"You're spoiling me."

Sasha grinned. "Try not to get used to it."

V sat near them just in time to hear Rebecca begin ranting. "So my dumbass brother? He tried on the worst chrome build I've ever seen. Almost fried himself. Didn't even have the courtesy to go cyberpsycho. I saw him at Neuromend Center yesterday. Looked fine."

V laughed. "Pilar. How the hell did he even end up in Maine's crew? I remember the guy couldn't handle guns, money, or logic."

Rebecca shrugged. "Maine got desperate when he chromed up. Pilar's gear sucked, yeah—and his attitude was worse—but he's loyal. That part? That never changed."

The loft's bell rang.

V stood up. "Time to work."

Jackie and Viktor stepped inside, both grinning. They shared greetings with the crew before following V into the ripperdoc room.

"Jackie," V said, scanning his vitals. "Damn. You outpaced my expectations. Your surgery's happening now—it'll take thirty minutes tops. And that's just because I don't want to shock Vik."

"Pfft," Viktor said. "Please. I can take it."

Thirty minutes later…

"This skin can stop anti-armor rounds. You keep getting hit in the same spot? Sure, it'll break. But compared to Militech's best? You're wearing a goddamn miracle."

Jackie beamed. "Mierda… this feels amazing."

Viktor whistled. "Damn, V. You've outdone yourself. This opens my eyes."

"World's for the young, old geezer," V teased.

"Keep talking. I'll shove a diagnostic probe up your interface port."

They laughed.

"By the way," V said. "Check the back room—green column. The gear looks standard but it's enhanced."

"Gracias, hermano!" Jackie grinned.

As Jackie wandered off to the engineering suite, three more visitors arrived: Panam, Judy, and Emilia.

"Yo," Panam said, casual as ever. "I've decided—let's chrome up."

"Alright then," V said. "Judy. Panam. Come with me. Vik, can you handle Emilia? Strip her chrome and start fresh with medical-grade?"

"Full compatibility mode?" Vik asked.

"Exactly. I'd clone myself if I could."

"Please don't. One of you's plenty."

V got to work. Judy went under first. Her chrome loadout was rebuilt from scratch: Kai Tao stealth servos, pulse dampeners, and adaptive joint mods. All tailored for agile solo ops—with firmware that spoofed basic scans.

Panam's install was heavier. A hybrid of Arasaka, Militech, and Kang Tao hardware—raw military chrome backed by top-end firmware. Sponsored by V, of course.

Two hours later, they were done. Judy's stealth gear ran quiet, perfectly tuned. Panam's muscle armor and optics ran hot—optimized for recon, infiltration, and heavy support.

V loaded training chips for both.

"Just give it a day. The IV solution needs time to fully integrate chrome to muscle and bone."

"Two hours for both?" Vik said, stunned. "Most ripperdocs take five hours per person. You're a monster."

"Appreciate it. The chrome's locked to DNA signatures. If anyone else tries it, it'll just look like standard-grade junk."

They shared a beer and lemonite while the girls healed.

Later, both sat up, blinking. Judy looked around. "Where's Emilia?"

"Still under," V said. "Full reset takes time."

They nodded and headed to the living room, laughing as they walked.

V returned to Emilia. He reinstalled her gear carefully—every wire aligned with the DNA regulator readings Vik had prepped.

Thirty minutes later, she was stable. IV back in.

V left her to rest and entered his engineering room. The Flathead bot sat idle.

He cracked it open. Hardware? Already upgraded. Firmware? Flawless.

Now for the AI module.

Before activating it, V added a quick hardware patch—small, efficient, just enough to offload more AI processes and boost multitasking speed.

Ten minutes later—

"Hello, sir."

"Hello. Your name is... Spiketooth."

"Confirmed. Designated objective: defend this residence and assist V. Room access granted. Data synced."

"Perfect. Run a quick diagnostics sweep. What's your margin of error on threat identification?"

"Current model predictive accuracy: 99.87%. Non-lethal priority mode enabled unless overridden."

V grinned. "Good. You'll fit right in."

V checked the time: 13:30.

He pinged Rogue.

"Yo, V. Got your info. Sorry for the delay—the rabbit hole was deep."

"How deep?"

"Hasagawa's after Fukui's late husband's archives. He stumbled into your tech while trying to leverage her. Found Faraday, got greedy. Setup's meant to collapse your rep and hers at once."

V sighed. "Of course it is."

She sent him a shard.

"By the way, this info cost me more than 100K."

"Sending another 200."

"Now you're speaking my language."

Call ended.

Next call—Fukui.

"Fukui-chan."

"Oh? You remember little old me?"

V smirked. "Hasagawa moved fast. Thought you should know. I'm handling it."

She frowned. "He dodged my surveillance. That's rare."

"Yeah. I'm walking into the trap myself."

"Of course you are."

"I want to test defenses. Please?"

"Mmm. So gentle when you're planning bloodshed. I miss that about you."

"Also—your chrome? Damn. Still brilliant."

"Next time you can 'tune me up.' Clinic-style."

"Noted. Gotta finish a surgery. Later."

V closed the call. Time to wake Emilia.

He stepped into the clinic.

"Alright, sleeping beauty. Rise and shine. How do you feel?"

Emilia stirred. "Damn... Are you sure you didn't change my chrome to something better? I feel no rejection at all."

V smirked. "You saying I made you blush?"

She smiled. "Alright, sleeping beauty—go inside. Judy's waiting. Of course she wouldn't leave me alone with you."

She winked, swinging her hips as she left the room.

In the living room, Kiwi, Rebecca, Sasha, Judy, Viktor, and now Emilia gathered.

"Yo, we are reborn!" Emilia declared.

In the corner, Panam knelt beside a sniper rifle, scanning rooftops outside. There wasn't even a magazine in the weapon—she was just aligning her chrome, testing how the neural sync responded to aiming posture. "When I told my ripperdoc in Aldecaldos what I wanted to install," she said, "he told me it was great on paper—terrible in practice. Said unless I got every chrome corp to cooperate, I'd fry myself." She smirked, tilting her head toward V. "Guess I pulled it off. Damn… I feel like a new person."

V nodded. "Limiter's set to 1%. You're basically running baseline. Take it slow."

He paused, then added, "Also—your stealth module? If you stay perfectly still while it's active, the cooldown nearly stops. It's designed for mobility, but in sniper stance? One second of reset time stretches into an hour. Stay frozen, and it's basically permanent stealth—no one's seeing you if you don't move."

Panam blinked. "You serious?"

V nodded. "Think of it like active camouflage meets patience. No movement, no sound—you're invisible. Until you decide otherwise."

Panam stared at him, stunned. "That's... perfect."

V chuckled. "And now, Panam—it's time to test your chrome. We're going hunting."

Panam's grin lit up like a kid given her first tank. "Hell yes."

"Perfect for a sniper," V said, grinning. "Exactly."

He turned to Jackie. "Alright, you're up at 10:00. Grab a big machine gun from the armory. We're doing a field test."

Then to everyone: "Someone's gonna try hacking the loft around 10:30. Anyone who wants to take the gig—stick around."

No one moved.

"They're crazy," Judy muttered. "Your ICE is brutal."

"Panam, give me a hand. Let's install extra defenses."

They began setting up electrified turrets with pacify mode. V also slotted in a lower-tier AI module into a smaller Flathead bot, configuring it as a support drone to assist with loft defense. While it wasn't as advanced as Spiketooth, it could still scan, alert, and deploy low-level countermeasures if things went south. Additionally, V granted Spiketooth admin-level control over the turret systems—at least until he could establish a proper central AI core. It wasn't ideal, but it was efficient, and Spiketooth could handle the extra load thanks to the earlier upgrades.

Hours passed—laughter, music, calibration.

V passed Viktor a fresh chrome pack. "Take anything from the green rack. Regulator's synced to you."

Viktor raised a brow. "I had some DNA on file, yeah. Kept it simple—but this? It's flawless."

"Enjoy it, old man."

Viktor smirked. "Don't get sentimental now. That DNA stabilizer of yours? I'll swing by sometime with some custom chrome and run it through the system. Using that to calibrate for one of my trickier patients—perfect compatibility, zero rejection. It's a game changer."

He gave V a firm nod. "Alright—Delamain's waiting downstairs. I'll check in later."

V clapped him on the shoulder. "Anytime, Vik."

With the loft secured, V unzipped a crate from Jinguji and pulled out his custom merc gear. Without hesitation, he stripped down, casually tossing his old clothes aside before slipping into the sleek black combat suit.

Everyone went silent.

All eyes—especially the women—tracked him like a snack delivery drone.

V glanced up. "Come on, ladies… I'll buy you some too. Let me beta test the line first."

Rebecca whistled. "Forget beta—just skip to full release."

Sasha smirked. "Didn't realize stealth armor came with an ego mod."

Emilia grinned. "You're lucky I'm too respectful to pounce mid-mission."

Kiwi said nothing. Just raised a brow and sipped her coffee with a knowing smirk.

Panam rolled her eyes. "You done showboating, runway boy?"

Judy, sitting nearby, quickly lifted a hand to shield her eyes—then peeked between her fingers.

Emilia caught it. "Aw, Judy... don't act shy now. We all saw you looking."

Judy flushed. "I'm looking respectfully."

The room burst into laughter.

V laughed too.

V and Panam worked together beneath the rear hatch of the Warlock, crouched beside the freshly arrived stealth generator. Before mounting it, V pulled out a shard and slotted it into the side panel.

"Uploading custom firmware," he said, fingers tapping across a floating interface. "Need Warlock's AI to talk clean with this thing. No glitches."

"You trust your car more than people," Panam muttered, handing him the mag clamps.

"Well, it hasn't lied to me. Yet."

As the upload completed, he unlocked the Warlock's hidden weapon permissions. "Alright, guns are hot. No more pacifist protocols."

Panam gave him a sly look. "That sound in your voice? That's excitement."

V smirked. "That's 'preparations complete.'"

Together, they mounted the generator. The hum was soft—barely audible. But the Warlock's systems responded instantly, pulsing with readiness.

"Perfect," V muttered, stepping back. "It's not just a car anymore. It's a silent guardian with teeth."

By 18:00, V clapped his hands. "Alright—let's move. Jackie, Panam—you're with me."

Rebecca, Kiwi, Emilia, and Sasha gave thumbs up. Judy started to rise.

"Go home," V told her. "Vik's already heading down. You've got a Delamain waiting."

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, rolling her eyes but not fighting it.

"I'd say the same to Emilia," V added with a smirk, "but she insisted on testing her chrome."

Emilia winked at him without missing a beat.

"We got the fort," Rebecca said.

"Let's show them what Chrome Angels can do."