UNKNOWN

Somewhere in The Borderlands - Year 23XX

He hated the Borderlands.

It was too much of everything he hated. Too much sun, too much sand, too far from the city. Not at all the type of ambient he was accustomed to. He didn't know how the Nomads could love such an environment so much, but he knew that asking would do him no good — after all, Nomads weren't really known for talking to outsiders, unless business was involved.

And as always, his life came back to that one word.

Business.

He couldn't really say that he liked his job. It was good enough to pay the bills and have a comfortable place to sleep, still, he didn't necessarily like what he did. Honestly, he'd be worried if taking lives became a source of enjoyment. But he was selfish and had enough self awareness to recognize that if he wasn't the one doing what he did, someone else would and he'd be very much flatlined in some random alley because people like him were just that.

Dispensable. Easily replaced.

So he made it so that they wouldn't want to replace him.

He did everything he was ordered, from protection details to covering crime scenes. He was the guy that those powerful tycoons from Angeles City called when shit needed to be done. Or he used to be. He was, until a proposal came and he became corporate.

Not really corporate. People of the streets would've called him a Corpo Dog — he had lost count of how many people had said he had "sold his soul to the devil", but he was okay with that. It was better to sell something that gave him nothing in exchange for the life he had now, even if that made him a selfish bastard. He had money, a luxury penthouse and top-knot cyberware. He could pay MedBay to save his life whenever he needed, he was guaranteed a good and long life until he naturally flatlined.

And while he had all of those, the people who sneered at him for being a Dog were dying from lost bullets in the city gangs' turf wars. He much preferred to sully his hands for the corpos, at least he would always receive.

That was why he was in The Borderlands, making his way to one of the many warehouses Illéa Corporation had in this desert. He usually didn't deal with things outside the city, but the situation was different as he knew that most soldiers of the corporation had been called. That painted a grim picture since the last time it happened, another Corporate War almost broke out. Corporations were never free of tensions, even allied ones like those of the Senate, so a war breaking out was never an option off the table and that worries him since the first one to go would be people like him.

The warehouse was like the others. The outside of the building was dilapidated, windows having cracks on them, paint chipping and the roof had numerous holes. It was a prime example of every other building one could find in The Borderlands; and then you stepped inside and took the elevator down — that piece of tech was very much out of place with the interior, the metal polished and shining under the rays that invaded through the roof openings. The wait inside the elevator was abnormal to anyone who lived in the city, mostly because of security protocols, something that wasn't present in most warehouses unless they served great purposes.

When the doors opened, he found himself in a long corridor, poorly lit — a tactic to try and hide the numerous small cameras that were sure to be decorating the darkest corners. At the end of it, another metal door, this one much heavier looking than those of the elevator or even the metal walls of the corridor. Another identity check followed, his prints and irises being used to confirm he really was one of them.

There weren't many words to describe the room behind the last door. It was big but cramped — scientists hurried down diverse corridors along the walls, their white coats flying behind them while security maintained their positions along each entrance. Organized chaos. That was the one thing that came to mind when watching the happenings of the saloon and that was the thing that sent red flags to him. Illéa Corporation was not a place for chaos, it had its rules and norms, each one having to be followed to the letter unless someone was keen to be fired or disposed of.

So, organized chaos meant problems.

Usually big ones.

Making his way across the room to grand double doors, he tried to keep his nerves in check, especially seeing the person standing in front of the assembly hall's door.

The woman was tiny, even with her black stilettos. Her short, purple-ish hair didn't even reach her chin, bangs covering most of her forehead and fell on her eyes a little; eyes that analyzed every move around her with a faint violet glow — an indication that her cyberoptics probably worked as scanners. Netrunner. At least, that was what his scanner told him, based on how superior her cyberoptics were to his own. None of her facial features indicated that the woman could be a threat, but he knew better. The cyberware running down her neck told him another story, as did the silver lines that decorated her face, arms and legs — more cyberware, high grade ones disguised as decorative implants.

The woman accessed him from head to toe, her calculating gaze making his palms sweat. He had never liked the feel of being prey, a feeling he had become acquainted with during his childhood in the streets of Angeles City. It wasn't pleasant but he endured it for two minutes before she looked away, eyes glowing faint violet again and he could almost see the data passing rapidly in her irises.

"The presentation will start in thirty minutes, please sit at your assigned number. Illéa Corporation thanks you for your loyalty." Her tone was soft, educated and bored. Each word perfectly enunciated, he could tell that she had said the same lines all-day long.

The woman stepped aside. The door opened and he made his way inside the hall.

Seat 73. A middle sit. It perfectly represented who he was inside the corporation's hierarchy. The seats closest to the stage were reserved for those of high rank while the ones closer to the back were for the grunts, the newly ranked. He sat in the middle, he was one of those who held a strange existence of following orders at the same time he issued them; he had underlings but he was also someone else's underling.

The hall was full, most men and women already seated, conversing with those closer to them while waiting for the presentation to begin. There had to be, at least, 150 people in the assembly hall and, no doubt, other warehouses were just as full, with projectors showing the stage that was in front of him. He stayed silent, he didn't really want to hold conversations when every nerve in his body seemed to scream that something was wrong, so he looked around, pinpointing every exit around the room. It was better to have an escape plan than be a sitting duck.

It didn't take long for someone to take the stage, the same woman who had been greeting the soldiers at the double doors made her way to center stage. The 'tic tac' of her black stilettos on the wooden stage reminded him of an old fairy tale his mother used to tell him — when the clock hit midnight all magic died; when the captain heard the 'tic tac' coming from the beast's belly, all blood left his face. The sensation of being prey came back, even with the long distance between him and the woman's violet gaze. Her back was straight, her silver implants shining beautifully under the light as she stopped in front of a small microphone.

"The presentation shall now begin. Please, stand at attention for our beloved Chairman, Alaric Schreave."

Then the lights went out.


HELLO LOVELIES! I have come with a project that is very dear to my heart and I hope all of you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now, this story is inspired by Cyberpunk 2077, a game by CDProjekt. I decided to write this because, after finishing the game, I got some inspiration and some things that I missed in the game ended up making their way here.

For those interested, I'll post the form on my profile in the next two days (I'm still finishing it).

I also want to thank LoganPerdue for helping me out so much and encouraging me! Happy Birthday!