Cyberpunk Patriarch-Chapter 104 – Use Two at the Same Time!

Lucy glared. "You're tweaking your own spinal implants now?! Do you even know what you're doing?"

Arthur nodded, still focused. "Yup."

"That's not comforting!"

"I've done worse."

"That's also not comforting!"

Arthur didn't respond right away. He was busy ensuring the two neural accelerators didn't conflict—adjusting thresholds, syncing output modulation, and isolating energy spikes. DIY installation was always risky, but DIY overclocking neural stimulators? That bordered on suicide.

Lucy stared at him like she was watching a clown juggle live grenades.

"You're really not afraid of snapping and turning into a raving chrome cannibal, huh?"

Arthur shrugged. "We live in Night City. That's practically a Tuesday."

He took a breath, adjusted a setting, and continued. "Besides, I'm not stacking them for power. I'm planning to alternate them depending on the situation. Precision mode on my old unit. Long-duration slowdown with the Adam Smasher model."

Lucy crossed her arms. "You're telling me you've got a toggle switch between combat reflex modes?"

Arthur smiled. "More like a mental dial. One for finesse, one for chaos."

He leaned back, finished with his configuration, and exhaled deeply.

"In a pinch, I could run both at once," he added, "but that'd cook my brain like street yakitori."

Lucy lit another cigarette. "And that doesn't bother you?"

"It's my last-resort card. It might buy me 20 seconds of pure, god-level reflexes. Slow-mo reality. Perfect awareness. Could save lives. Or end them."

"And your brain?"

Arthur tapped his temple. "Hopefully still attached."

Lucy shook her head. "So what—you're just walking around with a loaded neural grenade strapped to your spine now?"

Arthur grinned. "Only if someone pushes the big red button."

To demonstrate, he activated the Adam Smasher unit. Instantly, the world slowed around him. The tick of the clock on the wall became a visual crawl. Lucy's blinking became a slideshow.

Time decelerated. His senses sharpened.

Arthur stood up and casually strolled across the room, watching dust motes drift through beams of fluorescent light like slow-moving sparks.

He walked to Lucy. Looked her over.

Smirked.

Then, with zero shame, he reached forward, tugged the zipper on her bodysuit just slightly—just enough to confirm his hypothesis.

Vacuum-sealed combat gear. No undersuit.

Arthur returned to his seat, settled in, and deactivated the acceleration.

Time snapped back into motion.

Lucy frowned. Something felt off. She looked down, then glared daggers at Arthur.

"Pervert."

Arthur tilted his head innocently. "Hm? What was that?"

Lucy didn't buy it. She folded her arms tightly and muttered, "You're a freak. No way you're just some back-alley merc with tech smarts."

Arthur pretended to be insulted. "That hurts."

"I'm serious," Lucy said, sitting beside him. "Nobody does what you just did. Nobody installs dual spines and lives to brag about it. You hacked your own nervous system like it was a modded video game."

Arthur paused.

"Well... I did once jailbreak a toaster to project Netrunner porn. So maybe it's a gift."

Lucy rolled her eyes and lit another cigarette. "You sure you didn't escape from some shady corpo lab?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. If so, I want my warranty."

"You're absurd."

"And you're still here."

Lucy shrugged. "Well, someone's gotta document your inevitable meltdown."

Arthur took a drag from her cigarette—without asking—and puffed a cloud of smoke into the air.

"I've thought about going full chrome before," he admitted. "But something about keeping a bit of flesh... keeps me sane."

Lucy studied him for a moment.

"You ever think you're too smart for your own good?"

Arthur leaned back, hands behind his head.

"Every day."

She flicked ash into the tray. "You know Adam Smasher's not going to ignore this, right? You stole his spare spine, his gear, and now you're walking around jacked on his own tech."

Arthur scoffed. "It's not the first time I've stolen from Big Hammer."

"That doesn't make it better!"

Arthur opened his mouth to retort, but his holo-screen buzzed with an incoming call.

He frowned.

The caller ID flashed: Old Captain.

Arthur squinted. "That's weird. He usually spends this time of night drowning in drinks and other things at the Ritz Bar."

He answered. "Yo, Captain. What's up?"

The voice came in fast, urgent.

"Arthur, what the hell did you do today?"

Arthur leaned forward, puzzled. "Define do."

"There are Arasaka agents crawling all over the city! I'm talking black-suits, smart-rifles, no-bullshit badged enforcers. Like cockroaches. The mean kind. They're shutting down half the net relays in Watson!"

Arthur blinked. "...Oh."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. That might be related to a minor... unregistered visit I paid to a cargo ship."

"You robbed Adam Smasher's freighter again, didn't you?!"

Arthur winced. "Borrowed. Temporarily."

"You stole his backup loadout, Arthur!"

Arthur rubbed his temple. "Well, not all of it. I left him the box it came in."

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The captain groaned audibly. "You're going to get yourself killed. And not by a bullet—a missile. A missile with your name etched on it."

Arthur looked over at Lucy. She raised an eyebrow.

He sighed, shoulders sagging slightly.

"Well," he said

, "I guess Night City's gonna get interesting again."

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