Chapter 143 - Further Cyberware Upgrades

"This is... ZetaTech gear?"

Oliver stared at the list of cyberware available on Vik's screen, surprised that he had lucked out—Vik had managed to get his hands on ZetaTech gear, just the thing Oliver wanted.

"I've got some connections," Vik said casually, clearly not planning to elaborate. He pointed at the screen.

"This is all I could get. The best stuff is at the bottom—you can scroll down and check it out. Oh, and none of this is here. It's all one-hand-pay, one-hand-receive. Once you pay up, the supplier will send it over via drone."

"Got it, Vik. I've dealt with corp transactions like this before," Oliver nodded. Most of his experience came from watching his old man and the 6th Street gang shake down suppliers, but he was no stranger to how things worked. The military funding they used to get from Militech came through drones carrying cash and cyberware—this was nothing new.

Feeling lucky about the selection, Oliver scratched his head and looked at Karl and Jack.

"Guess I lucked out this time."

"Vik's connections aren't going anywhere. It's not really luck—it's just how things work," Jack said dismissively. "Besides, ZetaTech's Berserk line is solid. It was already on my list of possible picks."

With that, Jack and Oliver scrolled through the list on Vik's screen and quickly found what they wanted.

"ZetaTech Sandevistan Mk. III—I'll take this one. Perfectly industrialized, mass-produced, and a soldier's best friend," Oliver declared.

Karl raised an eyebrow.

Sandevistans were rare cyberware, sure, but this particular model wasn't impossible to find. Given the chance to grab something from an internal corp supply, Oliver was really going with this?

"Why pick this one? You can buy it outside."

Karl voiced his question, and Oliver's answer was straightforward.

"It's my first time. I need to test my limits before going all-in. Getting something too high-end right away might be more than I can handle. Also—look at the price difference. The outside market price is nearly double the internal one. If I can get it cheaper, why not?"

Fair enough. Solid reasoning.

Oliver locked in his choice: ZetaTech Sandevistan Mk. III.

Jack's choice was just as simple: ZetaTech Berserk Mk. IV.

One of the top-tier Berserk models available on the market—only the Mk. V was superior.

As for why he didn't go for the Mk. V?

First, because even within ZetaTech, that was top-tier, hard-to-get gear. Second… well, ZetaTech was known for two things—solid products and insane prices.

As one of the most expensive Berserk units available, Jack simply couldn't afford it. He'd have to borrow money from Karl, and while borrowing wasn't an issue, blowing that much eddies on a first-time install was risky as hell.

"ZetaTech Sandevistan Mk. III, ZetaTech Berserk Mk. IV—solid picks," Karl commented, watching his two friends make their selections.

He couldn't deny that he was feeling a little left out.

ZetaTech was a smaller company compared to Arasaka and Militech. They thrived on niche markets rather than direct competition, which meant they didn't put much investment into neural processors.

In other words, even their internal supply didn't have top-tier neuralware.

But Vik was Vik. There was no way he'd let Karl walk out empty-handed.

He knew Oliver and Jack had been eyeing Sandevistans and Berserk modules for a while, but he also knew Karl had always wanted a better neural processor.

Vik coughed.

The three of them were still focused on the screen when he walked over to a corner of his clinic, pulled open a refrigerated storage unit, and retrieved a sealed case from inside.

Then, holding it carefully in his arms, he turned back toward them.

"Ahem."

Karl glanced over.

"Vik, you coming down with something?"

Karl immediately turned around at the sound, and what he saw was Vik, smiling, holding a sealed case in his hands.

"Vik, what's this?"

"Something I got for you. Just remember to pay up—I covered the cost for you in advance."

Hearing that, both Oliver and Jack also turned to look, while Karl had already figured it out. His face lit up with anticipation.

"Vik, don't tell me—?!"

"That's right. An upgrade module. I happen to know a thing or two about this, so I should be able to upgrade your Arasaka Mk. III neural processor to a Mk. IV."

"You can directly upgrade it to Mk. IV? No compatibility issues?"

"Some cyberware might have issues, and of course, corps love locking their stuff behind proprietary encryption. But the upgrade chip needed to go from Arasaka Mk. III to Mk. IV isn't hard to come by, so… you know."

"Vik!"

It was a real surprise—and Karl knew exactly what Vik meant by "not hard to come by."

In reality, getting an upgrade chip containing the latest model's functionality was a nightmare. Corps wanted people to buy new models outright, not upgrade old ones.

There was no way Vik got this without jumping through a ton of hoops.

He hadn't said a word about it before—clearly planning to give Karl a proper surprise.

Karl was so overwhelmed that, after a long pause, the only thing he could say was the most basic, sincere response.

"Thank you."

Beyond that, he had no idea what else to say.

"Consider it payment for when you helped me deal with those gangoons. Oh, and don't give me that grateful look—you still gotta pay. Not a single eddie less."

Vik chuckled, waving him off before sitting down on a chair nearby. Then, he turned to Jack and Oliver.

"You guys done picking? If so, I need to prep for surgery. Move it."

"We'll move the computer over. You do your thing, Vik."

Oliver immediately stood up, picking up the monitor as he and Jack moved aside.

"Careful with that. You two handle things like a couple of clumsy oafs."

Shaking his head, Vik rolled his chair over to the workstation, grabbing some equipment before turning back to Karl.

"You wanna start now?"

"Hell yeah!"

Without hesitation, Karl lay back on the operating table.

"No worries. This is just a software upgrade and a few minor enhancements—it won't take long."

As usual, Vik reassured him first, then opened the case.

Inside were the upgrade chip and a prepped dose of anesthetics.

"Alright… let's get started."

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