Cyberpunk: The Ultimate Saga

"I never thought we'd meet again like this," Leon Black said, casually handing a candied haw to Lena Fox, who took it without hesitation. He bit into his own with a childlike grin.

"You mean that woman?" Lena asked as she bit into the sweet treat. Though she was of Japanese descent, her tastes had always aligned more with Leon's Chinese upbringing. The island nation she'd heard about in digital libraries felt like a distant fantasy. She had no real connection to it.

She was born in Night City. Concepts like family or homeland meant nothing. Her life revolved around eating, sleeping, and following Leon. If he ever asked her to leave, she would quietly return to the place where they first met—and end her life there.

Most didn't see Lena's mental state for what it was. But Leon understood. In some ways, she was deeply unstable, emotionally dependent on him to keep herself grounded. She needed him—not just as a protector, but as her anchor to reality.

What she had suffered at the "Red Mansion," a brothel that specialized in turning women into programmable sex dolls, couldn't be put into words. The abuse—physical, mental, and emotional—was systematic. Beatings, humiliation, verbal degradation. The victims were stripped of identity and turned into profit machines through hypnosis, drugs, and mind control.

Lena's own mother had sold her to the gang to feed her addiction to neuro-narcotics like "Goddess." In just a month, the bright and innocent girl had turned into something unrecognizable. Her eyes were hollow. The spark was gone. When she saw others being beaten or drugged into obedience, she no longer flinched. She was simply numb.

Leon had found her chained in an underground dungeon, sentenced to entertain grotesque foreign clients because she refused to comply. When she was released, she didn't speak. She didn't cry. She didn't even bother getting dressed.

She picked up a blade, severed the limbs of her abusers, and then crushed their genitals with the same expressionless calm.

Those men now lived in fear—kept alive in Lena's "collection room" as constant reminders of her vengeance.

Later, she had turned to Leon, her face expressionless but her voice clear. "Let me follow you forever, okay?"

Then she broke her mother's neck.

"I don't have a home."

Leon had watched it all in silence, not with horror but with a strange sense of helpless compassion. He, too, had been abandoned by the world. If nothing else, the two of them could at least warm each other in the cold.

That day, Leon Black's team gained its first real member.

The encounter with Mike Taylor would come later. But Lena? Lena had been with him from the beginning.

Leon never hid anything from her—not even the secret of his transmigration. And Lena never betrayed him either. Their bond wasn't romantic. It was familial, deeper than the love between man and woman. They were each other's last ties to humanity.

"She was one of the two people involved in the commotion at the Blue Bi Building," Leon remarked.

"Oh?" Lena raised a brow. "Are we reporting her?"

Leon smiled, calm and warm. "Lena, does that have anything to do with us?"

She blinked, then chuckled softly. "No. No, it doesn't."

---

Two hours later

After finishing lunch, Leon and Lena returned to the clinic. Victor was already waiting at the entrance, medical kit in hand. V had already left to follow up on leads with Judy.

No words were exchanged. They got into the car, set the destination, and let the Delamain driverless vehicle glide silently through the city.

Leon and Victor sat in the back while Lena settled into the passenger seat. She pulled a laptop from the console and opened a secure file.

"Since we're asking for your help, let me brief you on the patient's condition," Leon said as Lena uploaded the information to the screen in front of Victor.

The moment Victor saw the patient's photo, his eyes narrowed.

Evelyn Parker.

V had told him about her. Described her down to the shape of her jawline. She had been at the center of the Blue Bi Building incident. But if Evelyn was in Arasaka's hands, why was he doing the surgery? Arasaka had its own top-tier facilities. They wouldn't need someone like him unless...

Leon was acting without their knowledge.

"This woman is crucial to Arasaka—or rather, to the Blue Bi incident," Leon explained, ignoring Victor's expression. "And being important means she's valuable. Very valuable. But only if she's alive. Dead? She's just junk data."

Victor had never met a corp so shamelessly honest. He admired it, in a way.

"You're with Arasaka. Isn't this... beneath you?"

Leon chuckled. "I'm just a small player trying to make it in Night City. Is it wrong to want to earn more? Everything has risks. Why not aim high?"

"If Arasaka finds out, you're finished."

"Then let's make sure they don't." Leon leaned forward, voice calm. "I'm trusting you, Dr. Victor. I assume you won't violate your sacred Hippocratic Oath. It'd be a shame if Night City lost a legend like you."

Victor met Leon's gaze—and what he saw made his skin crawl.

His eyes were like an abyss—bottomless, endless, pulling at the soul.

Victor blinked, shaken.

---

"Doctor Victor? Doctor Victor, wake up!"

Victor snapped out of it. Leon was smiling.

"We're here."

Victor rubbed his eyes. Had he just been hypnotized? Dreaming? He couldn't tell.

In his dream, Leon had spoken to him about something important—but the memory was already slipping away.

"Forget it. Focus." He slapped his own cheeks and stepped out of the car.

The medical report had said Evelyn's condition was critical. He had to give it everything.

As he walked toward the secret lab, Lena leaned toward Leon.

"Was hypnosis not enough? Should we tweak his memory?"

"Lena, he's just a regular human," Leon replied, smiling.

"No OS in the head?"

"Nope."

"Then let's install one and then delete the memory!" she said, practically glowing with mischief. A little red devil with endless ideas.

"There's no need. Let's be kind for once."

Leon's eyes shifted from pure black to natural brown again.

Eyes of the Abyss, a legendary facial prosthetic. Plugins: Deep Hypnosis, Hallucination Induction, Enhanced Mental Resistance.

All top-tier products from Qilusi Corp, a century-old name in neural tech.

---

Inside the secret operating room

Victor blinked in surprise as he saw the surgeon assisting him.

"Nina Kravitz?"

"Victor Victor?!"

The two stared for a beat before laughing. Prosthetic doctors were typically tied to their clinics and rarely traveled. But their reputations preceded them.

"I'd heard the new assistant was top-tier. Didn't expect it to be you," Nina grinned.

"They didn't tell me this needed two people," Victor shrugged, relieved.

"I wasn't confident at first. But with you here? Maybe we really can pull this off."

She led him into the sterile chamber. Nina was a permanent member of Leon's team now and knew the layout well.

Family members were not allowed inside.

The operation began.

Victor sighed as he reviewed Evelyn's internal scans. "Poor girl. This is a nightmare."

Nina grimaced. "Tampered OS, corrupted visual implants, failing circulatory system, complete neural collapse... I'm shocked she didn't turn into a cyberpsycho."

She carefully removed a 3mm implant shard from Evelyn's brain.

"There's a systemic conflict between her nervous and circulatory systems. Her ocular nerves are directly linked to the trauma interface. She's likely still reliving those moments on a loop. Over and over. Until her brain dies."

Victor adjusted her neural patterns. "Whoever did this is pure evil."

"Do you think it was those two outside?" he whispered.

Nina looked confused, then quickly said, "Of course not! Leon Black and Lena Fox are good people!"

Victor blinked. "Come again?"

"They saved me," Nina said seriously. "Sixth Street Gang had me chained in a hellhole. Leon and Lena rescued me—and a dozen other medics. Paid our relocation costs. Got us to safety. They changed lives."

Victor frowned.

To him, corporate types were the enemy. But to Nina? Leon was her savior. Her faith was genuine.

And come to think of it, she seemed genuinely happy. Healthy. Even inspired.

He supposed everyone had their own truths.

After all, Leon hadn't meant to rescue Nina. That had just been an accident.

pàtreøn (Gk31)