[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-protagonist-system":3,"chapter-the-protagonist-system-the-protagonist-system-chapter-537":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Protagonist System",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1824145,2426,"530 A Day To (Not) Relax Part Two","the-protagonist-system-chapter-537",537,"\u003Cp>Not surprisingly, Biotechnica wanted the Scavs dead. Personally, I would want them alive and turned over to them to face justice, which would include them taking the place of their volunteers. But hey, it was their money they were wasting, so I took the heads of the kidnappers and dissolved their bodies, put the heads in a bag, and stored it and my phaser rifle. I stored the other cars as well and looked at the dilapidated trailers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had already logged the dead bodies of the victims and stored them, just in case their families wanted them back, so there was no reason to leave the trailers intact. I also didn't want anyone else coming here to use them for similar acts. With that in mind, I made sure there were no electronic signatures within a mile and took out an industrial replicator and a generator from the Invincible universe to jumpstart it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Using the built in tractor beams on the replicator, it made short work of ripping apart the trailers and converting all of that material into energy. I even cleared out any foundations and then used magic to fix any holes, which wiped out all traces that anything had been there. I stored the energized replicator and would use it later for another project I had in mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I checked the vehicle I was stealing and made sure it worked, fixed any issues using my powers, like changing the vehicle's ID and registry and the color to a more pleasing light blue from rust brown, and merging the armor plating with the shell of the car and smoothing it out to hide it. I hopped into the driver's seat and glanced at the unconscious woman in the seat beside me and she looked peaceful. She would stay that way until she woke up, at least.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Surprisingly, despite having to step so far to reach Rocky Ridge to find the missing people, the drive through hostile territory to get back to the outskirts of Night City only took about ten minutes. The mostly straight highway only had a few obstacles that I easily drove around, thanks to the suspension on the car. There were also no bandits or traps waiting for passing cars, either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I drove through the city to Victor's place and managed to park in the alleyway beside his shop. It wasn't until I went around the car to retrieve the woman that I realized I couldn't deliver her to Victor like she was, namely already healed and not suffering from days of starvation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a sigh, I climbed back into the car and drove back across the city to where the desk sergeant at the police station had searched out the bounties for me. I pretended to get the bag of heads from the trunk and went inside, only to be met with six revolvers pointed at my head and chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mask and helmet off! NOW!” The closest cop ordered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I changed my face to my Atlas persona and set the bag down, then pulled off the helmet that had hidden my face from view. “Sorry about that, chooms! I'm used to wearing it all the time and forgot to take it off before coming in.” I intentionally took in a big sniff and pretended to cough. “Can I put it back on? This city stinks!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone laughed and they all relaxed. Only a couple of them put their guns up, though. The rest kept their eyes and weapons on me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I was on my way here from Chicago and passed through the abandoned town nearby.” I said and kicked the bag of heads. “I found a bunch of varmints and figured I'd stop in and see if they were worth anything.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Scavs or Wraiths?” The closest cop asked and finally put his gun away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is there a difference?” I asked with a smirk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heh, just the numbers when they gather.” He said and walked over to me. “How many did you hit?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A clean dozen.” I said and opened the bag to show them off. “A few had Wraith tattoos.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cop nodded and motioned to the counter where the desk sergeant sat. “Go ahead and log them in. We can clear out any pending crimes they were involved in after they've been identified.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You got it.” I said and went to the counter. A touch of telepathy made sure the sergeant didn't rip me off with the bounties and I offered to do a coffee run in exchange. They looked really happy about that and gave me their order list, so I left and went to the same coffee shop Patricia loved and handed it over. It was filled only a few minutes later and I was handed three large boxes filled with coffee cups.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I drove back to the police station and tried to decide if I wanted to drop the captives off there or wherever Victor had filed the police report. Finding them so far away from where they were taken, which just so happened to be near where their last signals had been tracked to, wasn't the best spot to deliver them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, I dropped off the boxes of coffee cups at the front desk and they were immediately swarmed by everyone nearby. I left without the cops noticing and drove back across the city until I reached Japantown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I parked in a relatively safe spot and used a notice-me-not on the car before I closed my eyes to do a dive into the digital world using a nearby cyberdeck. I needed to send a message to a certain fixer to handle one of the captives for me, since stopping in without warning and dumping the problem on her, was just rude.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>*\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wakako was glad she wasn't in a meeting when the security alarm went off briefly, because a message from the man watching the servers told her that the new netrunner named Atlas had returned. She quickly left her office and entered the back room where the dive equipment was and the man there helped her enter the VR world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lady Okado!” Atlas gasped when she loaded in and he bowed deeply with respect. “Please accept my sincere apologies. I only intended to send you a message and to ask for a favor, not to drag you away from your work or to interrupt your day.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wakako was quite pleased at hearing that and to see him give her the proper respect and reverence that she felt she deserved, as both a powerful person in her own right that she had earned over decades of hard work, and because she was as old as she was and the elders of their society should always be revered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It is quite alright.” Wakako said and waved for him to stand up straight. “After our last mutually profitable meeting, I ensured that if you needed me for something, I was to be notified immediately and I would attend to you myself.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Atlas placed a hand over his heart above the stylized Earth symbol on his chest. “Thank you for granting me such an honor.” He said and smiled. “Speaking of attending to things personally...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wakako stood there and wasn't surprised at hearing about what the man had discovered in the badlands, since that was usually how the Scavs operated. What did surprise her was that he had found three survivors, one of which was a reprogrammed joytoy that he wanted to hide from its creator, Biotechnica.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Denying the company the results of their project was reason enough to help him. Gaining a waitress that was little more than a programmable sexbot? One that would willingly do literally anything to make her and her clients happy? It was a nearly priceless commodity for her business and supreme blackmail material against Biotechnica that she could use in her dealings with them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Again, Atlas was giving her a gift that benefited her and she wasn't sure why he was gracing her with so much bounty and he didn't want anything in return for it. That was a bit suspicious, even with her propensity to give him respect for being such a strong netrunner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you sure there is nothing I can do to thank you for all of this?” Wakako prodded again. She knew he wanted something, because everyone did. There was no other reason to give away so much for so little.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Atlas gave her a searching look before he smiled, then he barked a laugh. “You fully expect me to ask for the keys to the city or something, don't you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wakako nodded, albeit reluctantly. Admitting things like that openly was dangerous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then I'll ask you for something that's only recently come to my attention.” Atlas said and Wakako perked up to listen to his request. “I've seen all of the garbage piled around the city, some stockpiles of which are barely hidden and fill some back alleys. Where is the main industrial landfill and who is in charge of gathering it up and disposing of it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wakako blinked her eyes at him several times and gained an incredulous look. “Garbage? You're asking me, one of the most prominent Fixers in Night City, about garbage?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If anyone would know the information, I assumed it would be you.” Atlas said and took a step back, then another. “However, if you think my request is beneath you, then I will take my business elsewhere.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wakako barely stopped her gasp from escaping and didn't let her avatar show any signs of distress, despite her feeling of panic. She could not allow the golden goose to slip of her grasp and she needed to stop him before he left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait!” Wakako exclaimed and paused to take a breath and calmed herself down. “I'm sure I can find the information that you need.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Atlas gave her another searching look and frowned. “No, you're insulted that I asked you about something like that. I didn't realize you wouldn't have any connection to that part of the corporate world, despite how prevalent the need for certain disposal methods are in Night City.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wakako knew then that she had made a mistake. The most involvement she had with that side of the business, was telling her subordinates to get rid of someone or something for her, and that was it. Disposal was an underling matter and not one she had ever concerned herself with. That fact was now biting her on the ass and her ignorance had just cost her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“About the joytoy...” Wakako said as she tried to keep his interest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I think I have to find some other arrangement for them.” Atlas said and bowed. “Thank you again for seeing me on such short notice. Have a good day.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wakako watched him retreat and disappear. She waited another moment, then let out a long string of curses in her native language that would have burned the ears out of most of her subordinates if they heard her and made them flee from her wrath. Her pride had gotten the better of her and soured her relationship with the new netrunner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She just hoped and prayed that he didn't come after her or the Tyger Claws because of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>*\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dammit.I thought and flew away from the protected server and out into the net. I came to a stop in a public bub and thought about what I needed. A place to stash an abused sex worker. A few options popped up and I chose the only female name in the list. Regina Jones. A probe of her deets told me she was the Fixer for the Watson District and handled the legitimate mercenary gigs in the area.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A brief inquiry gained me her contact information and I followed it to where her cyberdeck was. Why didn't she have a cut-out or a satellite site she could access remotely to protect herself? It was a little overconfident of her to assume no one would attack her if she was the sole Fixer in the city that didn't take or arrange dirty deals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I settled down there and started copying everything before I sent her a request for what I needed from her. The response was immediate and she demanded I tell her how I had infiltrated her personal server and to fuck off and leave her alone. I sighed and sent her a message that it was safer for her if she thought I was using her own cyberdeck to contact her and that I needed her help because a sex worker's life was in danger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My warning program about power disruption activated and I quickly retreated back into the net, just as the server went dark and was cut off from the net.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well, shit. I thought and floated there. I checked what I had copied and it was only about 30% of whatever she had. I browsed through it and found several references to Judy Alvarez and Lizzie's Bar. Her name was familiar, so I slipped out into the public net and found another out of the way spot to do a discreet search for both.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lizzie's Bar was located in the Kabuki sub-district of Watson and was owned and operated by the Mox Gang. The woman in charge of the bar was the gang leader herself, Suzie Q, so I found her contact info and flew across the net to land inside her cyberdeck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I headed off a repeat of the same situation with Regina and the first message I sent said I was spoofing the message origin for her safety and that I had a sex worker that needed to hide and also have their needs met. Again, the response was immediate and I was lucky this time. She didn't take offense at me being there and asked for the deets on the victim and how long they needed to hide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I held in my laugh at that question and told her that they would probably have to hide forever and that they had special circumstances, then I explained what happened to them, their cyberdeck modifications, and what I had to do to disguise them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I made their facial features more androgynous, gave them pouty lips, widen their eyes and sculpted their eyebrows to give them a permanent innocent look, then I added A cup breasts and a real working vagina for them to not miss out on nearly all of the joytoy programming that existed. If they were going to be trapped with that mentality, I wanted them to get the most out of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Susie was quiet for several minutes before she sent me another message. I was to bring them to the back door of the bar and she would make sure that no one would see them being delivered. She would take them in and give them a new identity and everything else they needed to hide them in plain sight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I agreed and told her I would be there in about ten minutes, since traffic was a bit heavy because it was near lunchtime. I flew back out into the net and returned to the random cyberdeck I was piggybacking off of and opened my eyes. I did the modifications on the guy that was going to become the first functioning hermaphrodite, and drove the car down the street and parked behind Lizzie's Bar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A woman with green and purple hair stood there by the back door. Part of her head was shaved, her skin all over was covered in various tattoos, and she wore a grey tank top and heavy leather overalls. Her eyes admired the car before she saw the three passengers and locked her eyes on my face. I had left the helmet off after the mistake back at the police station.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You the gonk with the stray?” She asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I opened the car door and stepped out, then slowly stood up to my currently full height of 6 foot 3 inches and looked down my nose at her quite short 5 foot 5 inches. “What did you call me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her face lost color and she took a step back and raised her hands. “H-h-hey, choom. I didn't mean...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Open the door!” I barked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She jumped as if struck, looked embarrassed at reacting like that, and reached behind herself to grab the back door's handle and pulled it open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I moved the driver's seat forward and reached into the back to unstrap the joytoy and carefully lifted them up into my arms. I shut the car door using my hip and carried them past the still blushing woman and into the back of the bar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Really, Judy?” Susie said with a sigh. “Go back downstairs. I'll take it from here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“S-sorry, boss.” Judy said and quickly ran off and disappeared down the stairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Susie waited for a moment and looked up at me. “Sorry about that, Atlas. Alvarez is one of the best BD editors and unofficial Doll Chip hackers in the city and I thought she could handle first contact with our newest club member.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don't think a hacker can do much for them.” I said and nodded down at the sleeping face of the person in my arms. “The meat part's fried and the cyberware's tinkered to fuck. Both figuratively and literally.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Susie stepped close and ran a hand through the long silver hair I had given to the victim. “She's going to get a lot of attention looking like this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yeah, just not the bad attention.” I responded and she nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This way. We have small apartments set up for a few of the girls that can't afford their own places.” Susie said and led me through the kitchen to another set of stairs and we went down to the basement and there were several small rooms, their use obvious, and she led me to one near the end of the hall. She nodded at it and the door opened onto a nice micro apartment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It's not that they can't afford it, it's that they can't be left on their own and unsupervised, if you know what I mean.” I said and she nodded. I laid them down on the bed and turned to Susie. “Do you have a slush account for me to put some eddies in for clothes, food, and anything else they'll need?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Susie looked surprised. “You just met them, choom. You don't have to...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It's not out of my own pocket.” I said and smiled. “I claimed the bounties for the ones that had them after turning in their heads at an NCPD station near the outskirts of town.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Susie lost the surprised look and smiled back. “Good. I'm glad.” She said and waved me out. “You said in your message that you saved two other people?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“One's a dancer and the other is a guy held for stress relief for their fists.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Susie shut and locked the door to the room and walked back up the hallway. “He didn't have any good chrome?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just a basic implant no one would spend eddies to buy as an upgrade.” I answered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well, drek. Sucks to be him.” Susie said and went up the stairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stared at her ass in her tight pants, just like she wanted me to. “It kept him alive.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heh, yeah. There's a difference between being alive and living, though.” Susie said and walked over to the bar and went behind it. She lifted a small device and stared at it for a minute, then nodded to me. “Go ahead and drop what you want in here. Only myself and them can access it, once they wake up and I can get their digital signature.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don't allow full access or let them pull out more than a hundred eddies at a time.” I warned her. “I told you, they'll do anything someone asks or orders them to do. Anything.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Susie looked at me with skepticism, so I sent her the log file I found in their cyberware that had a list of all the acts the victim had performed for the entire time they had been in the tender care of the Wraiths.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, fuck.” Susie whispered and her face was a little green. “R-r-right, I... I'll make sure to keep a much closer eye on them than I do for the other girls.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Watch them, too. An easy mark is an easy mark.” I said and sent ten thousand eddies to the shared account. “Thanks for doing this, Susie. I know it's going to be a pain looking after them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Naw, choom. Things like this is what we're here for. One of our own needs help, we're here for them.” Susie said and put the device back under the counter. She checked it and caught her breath. “Ch-ch-choom... you're crazy!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yeah, I kind of have to be.” I said and smiled as I walked towards the back door. I turned back and sent her a hundred eddies and she gave me a pointed look. “Have a drink on me, choom.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You know what that amount usually buys.” Susie said and kind of posed as she jutted out her chest and her ass. “I have a few girls that can start their shift early.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Give them a drink, too.” I said and left with a wave goodbye.\u003C\u002Fp>",3571,"2026-06-09T05:52:49.484Z",1,"novelbin.me","b6a4a546ad5af2051aed3c65ad945c9d195c0205d94deffe34439f3f45e538e9","the-protagonist-system-chapter-538","the-protagonist-system-chapter-536",542,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-protagonist-system-cover.jpg"]