Danmachi: the Great Devourer

C175: Getting to know the city

Alt Title Teaser: Upgrades people, Upgrades

Overall Word count = 3119 on 1/7/2025.

So I made a small error in the last chapter, not all ripperdocs are illegal, that's my bad. But there are alot of 'bad' rippers out there, ripperdocs is the technical name for any doctor who specializes in implants and bioware/cyberware. 

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A few days later and while the rest of the Maine crew is off on some retrieval mission they got from some low class no-name Fixer [1], Axel is out and about eating some fake ice cream treat as he walks along the streets. His body is notably different than a few days ago, he has different testimonies prepared but officially he had his first implants done a month ago and now he is coming for his second operation as there was only basic stuff 'done' last time around. 

He now sports 2 ports on the right side of his neck only along with a wire on his wrist so he can 'plug in' to the various technologies of this world. This second 'operation' would give him mano-wire as well as some subdermal kevlar for protection and offense. He has to think more about what other types of 'implants' he wants, so he could legally show off more abilities but these things will be enough to explain his newfound durability and some strength (as a result of actually having metal in his body and not just being flesh).

The cold treat is nice but since he has already gone for a small trip in a more 2020s type world and had actual ice cream with proper dairy and not this synthetic stuff, he doesnt like it all that much. He soon arrives at his destination, uses a plastic knife to cut off the pieces he licked and then he hands off the rest of the ice cream to some random kid walking around, ditching school.

The kid is naturally shocked but the partially hidden seed of joy at getting the expensive treat is made clear to Axel and he just waves the other kid off and enters the stylish business building. A renowned doctor is here and Axel has a contract with them. 

Entering the building and finding the doctor hard at work with an unconscious girl on his table, she seems to be getting some sort of subdermal armor layering done. Axel doesnt say anything as he simply goes to the backside and chills.

When the doctor finishes his work and goes to his office to sit down, he nearly jumps, seeing Axel there. 

"Ah hello sir. Is it that time again?" 

"Yes Emmanuel, just gonna sit here for another hour or two and then ill leave, the second cover payment will then be transferred. Thank you for your discretion as always. Maybe next time we see each other, i'll be an official patient" 

"Ah ha ha ha ha, yes yes yes" The doctor laughs a bit awkwardly as he nods his head. "It would be a pleasure Mr. G Ram. You already looked through my available catalog before but i've gotten a few new items since a month ago, here it is, do let me know if anything catches your eye"

Axel's relationship with this doctor originated a month ago, just after he got the official world champion title for boxing. He and his 'coach' discussed possible implants and where to get them. Granted Axel overruled this talk since he can't really get implants, so it's all about faking them. 

As such, the story of how he went to a high class ripperdoc for his implants and then came to Emmanuel's store to make an official notice of these implants. He at least gives him the courtesy of looking through his new catalog and finds an interesting little thing. A prototype implant for a flame thrower of sorts.

"I like this one, but for now, ill be 'resting'." Axel makes his opinion known as he points out the prototype and Emmanuel is about to go into a pitch about it, listing the benefits of this self defense item but hearing the word, resting. He promptly shuts his mouth again and returns to work, processing his previous patients files, he decides to eat a bit as well since this time period is 'reserved' afterall. 

A few hours later Axel makes his way out of the Clinic and back to the main crew. He changes his body enough to make it look like his stuff is new and healing beneath his clothes. 

As he makes his trek around the city, he stops by a quaint little church, he listens to the service that he walked in on halfway. His 'finer' appearance notably stands out amongst the regulars of this location. 

As Axel makes his way into the office that the head priest entered, he knocks upon the door. 

"Yes, come in."

Axel enters, face to face now with an old man with plentiful tattoos on his body, most notably a 'repent' above his left eyebrow and a V with a cross in between on his right. He has two rings on his right hand. Sebastian Ibarra, a former Valentino gang member before he retired and became a fixer and church leader in Heywood[2].

"Welcome Son, how can i be of assistance."

"I wish to confess my sins Padre, but I was unfortunately late for the service" The man seems to partially relax but the few hidden guards in the various corners of the room are the real threat that remain on guard. 

"I suppose I can make some time, Come along then, Just to the next room." The man says and enters the next room while Axel exits the office and moves over to the official confessional.

"En el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espíritu Santo, you may confess onto me Child." (name of the father, son and holy spirit)

"Forgive me father for I wish to Sin." 

The priest is notably surprised by his first words. "Ay child, sin is never good but I wish to know your reasoning." 

"Sin makes money, if I can help some people here, I hope that it would counterbalance my future sin" He talks a bit cryptically but the priest understands his message, he is not speaking to a priest, but Padre, the fixer. 

"I'm sorry child but I believe you are too young for any sort of work that I have available." Padre Ibarra turns him down but finds a chip slide over to him. 

"I am simply the mascot of my crew, we can start off slow if that is acceptable, I can only ask for a chance. Perhaps they might surprise you, and anything, even charity work is better than the current employer."

"I understand, I shall take this under consideration, but if you don't mind me asking, who is the mainline for your group?" The Padre takes the chip, at least planning to humor the kid.

"A Cowardly slug named Faraday. I trust him as much as I believe he would go on a diet." A slight chuckle escapes the fathers mouth at the description but from the woodwork of his intelligence network, he has found that Faraday has been working with a few low level crews for seemingly random jobs.

"I see mijo, Voy a echar un vistazo. May the Father be with you" (I will take a look) The father says and knocks two times to symbolize the end of the confession. 

"More to you sir, i'll be fine." Axel says with grand layers of confidence which interests the father as he exits back into his office. 

"Nice kid, humble even though he looks wealthy."

"Padre, I couldn't comment earlier but thats the new world boxing champion" One of the guards in the office speaks up and Sebastian Ibarra widens his eyes as he finally recognizes the child for who he is. 

"Ay ay ay, I knew he looked familiar, I should ask for his autograph next time around. That kid Jackie was a big fan of his if I remember correctly." The priest says with a small smile on his face as he takes the chip more seriously, a crew which the current boxing champion joined as a mascot for. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

After taking care of business Axel begins to make his way back to North Oak, Westbrook where Maine's crew is located. He takes a Delamain to the location, "Welcome sir, Do enjoy your ride" The AI taxi bot says. 

"I will, and if you require any help in the future, you can also contact me and my crew if you need it." Axel responds back

"I shall take that under advisement but Delamain does not require outside services at the moment."

"That's fine, it's just an offer for the future, should anything happen of course" Axel doesnt feel rejected but continues to emphasize his offer as the AI simply says that he will take it under advisement again. 

The trip is not that long, roughly half an hour to an hour as the fancy car automatically drives to the location and let's Axel out before driving away. 

"Well, by the sound of it, Rebecca is probably threatening to shoot Pilar again, I wonder how Sasha is doing?" He says to himself as he makes his way inside. 

"Im gonna blow your stupid brains out!!!!" Entering the little garage, Axel spots Maine sitting on the couch with a drink in hand and a bd set on his head, likely watching a movie since he doesnt have any sort of 'gear' around his waist, Dorio is at the bar with Sasha, the cute little pink stylized hacker of the group is drinking apple juice, she mostly drinks that since she pavloved herself into thinking the apple juice helps her cooldown from her more intensive hacks. It does help her cool down and recover but not for the reason she knows.

What she doesnt know is that Axel had enhanced the stored apple juice with some of his energy, a form of pity on the netrunner who is meant to die some few months from now and get replaced by the traitor Kiwi. He ponders the state of things before taking his seat and Dorio giving him some orange juice who Axel greets. Sasha's special optics (the center of her pupil lights up) scan Axel up and down, taking in his recent changes. 

"How are you feeling kid? Do you need a lollipop to feel better?" Sasha tries to tease him but Axel remains stoic as he takes a sip of his juice before turning around to lean on the bar with his back.

"How about you suck my lollipop. Might taste better than that juice of yours and help you recover faster too." 

"You know, you have a real foul mouth for a ten year old." she puffs her kitty styled cheeks up as she turns her head away.

"Well, that just goes to show the company I keep, don't you think so?"

"Oh, so it's Rebecca's Fault?" She cranks her head to the side before nearly being knocked over by the sheer volume of the next words said.

"WHATS MY FAULT, I'LL SHOOT ANYONE WHO SAYS I DID SOMETHING I DIDN'T. Oh hey Axel" Rebecca comes out of the side room after overhearing Sasha's comment. She has a pistol raised up to the ceiling as she rushes in but stuffs it away hastily when she spots Axel is back. 

Rebecca is a relatively short girl with augmented skin of a bluish color while her eyes are completely reworked with white red and lime green coloring. She only wears a bikini with a thick jacket over it but Axel has been slowly making progress so that she would wear a normal shirt at some point. They have a pretty good relationship since she claims that she is no longer the shortest in the group anymore but everyone else dismisses that when she is about to hit 20 years old while Axel is 'only 10'. 

It's not like she is overly fond of Axel or anything, it's just that when he joined the gang as it's mascot, he had gifted Rebecca with a 'special' gun, specifically the Catahoula. A gun that syncs up with its user to detect if the gun itself killed anyone. When the condition is met, it tricks the user by unlocking a bit of her body's natural limiter so she can run faster. 

She was originally against the gun but took it since she would be crazy to deny a free gun. But she never used it until a few weeks ago when the crew had a small random encounter with tiger Claws [3]. She wasn't originally part of the crew but he still gave her the gun, afterall, she is always there like in that moment to save her brother.

She got a lucky shot with the pistol and got super happy when his head exploded, so she went crazy and started popping heads like melons thanks to Axel enhancing the gun to be more ... .explosive. 

The other members of the crew caught the audio of Becca nearly wetting herself in joy from killing so fast. It took a few weeks for her to lose the high and become humble again. Due to this, the others try to keep Rebecca away from Axel lest she do something to a minor. Yet the truth is plain to see that nothing happened between them as Rebecca has essentially adopted Axel as her little brother. Not that he accepted or anything but with only Pilar, her actual brother who walks out of the same room with a bump on his head that he is massaging with his long finger hands (he has a hand obsession). 

Pilar is a frankly tall man with his most notable feature definitely being his arms which are seemingly unnaturally long as he can easily put his hands behind his back and up under his crotch by the elbow. He typically sports a variety of different arms that he can take off and on with crazy ease. Axel has long noticed that his arms were naturally longer by default but he most definitely elongated them further with cyberware and implants.

He is bald with the exception of a punk styled mohawk and a single black red visor/goggles over his face that he essentially never takes off. He leaves his chest exposed with only a black leather vest over him and standard black pants. 

Looking around, Axel doesnt spot Falco and the newbie around, "Car got shot? Rough exit?" 

Dorio pitches in to answer his question, "Bumped into another car on the freeway, getting away." 

"Ah, Falco is definitely buffing the car until it shines like the sun if he cant help it. At least no bullets this time, he nearly cried himself drunk over it last time around if I didn't sport some eddies to him for repairs." 

The others nod while Maine is still watching his movie. Rebecca and Pilar soon spot Axel's new 'implants' and a brand new conversation about that is pitched up with Pilar definitely recommending some new hands with various model types that he has arranged on a poster board in his room. 

His own holy grail for the future. A pair of solid golden hands with super high tech joints in the fingers, making them exceptional for fast typing and other technical stuff Pilar does. 

Their disappointment is relatively high when he mentioned he only got basic stuff just to be a functioning person in today's society as well as a monowire. 

"Dude, thats for chicks who get drunk at bars everyday. " Pilar says dismissively but then Axel pulls out the wire from his right hand, before a clicking sound is heard and the wire begins to spark like a live electric cable. Pilar's eyes go wide as he starts laughing maniacally over how nova [4]. Axel then explains how he doesnt really need gorilla arms or anything like that since he considers them too bulky and a bit weird, especially with his current small frame.

Pilar at least has the urgency to remind him that he is still growing and not oversaturate his system but is somewhat calmed down when Axel explains that he doesnt feel all that different except for some tingling from the implants. With that out of the way, he continues giving a false explanation about how the right arm has a special battery inside it that should act as an auxiliary support for any other future mods he gets, letting them recover faster. 

He then writes down some of his future plans while Pilar continues to advise him, though not without a few harsh words from Rebecca, telling him to knock it off and let him do what he wants. 

Pilar mopes in the corner for a bit, crying about the unfairness of treatment before returning to his regular warnings to ensure Axel doesnt go CyberPsycho[5] and all that jazz. 

While they are talking, the other new member of the crew finally arrives.

(pic of crew here as well as sasha)

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Alt Title: New Tech, More Work, and More Crew

Drop a comment if you wanna judge my writing or the story. Ill try to respond, especially if you're confused or anything. 

[1] Fixer = broker. A mediator between a team or person doing a job and one who wants a job done. Fixers are the ones who pay mercenaries, bounty hunters and Netrunners. The ones you encounter in the game of 2077 are mostly the big name fixers of their area with Rogue and her Afterlife bar being the top of it all.

[2] Heywood is one of many sublocations that is then divided into 2 more sub locations called Wellsprings and The Glen. Heywood is just South of the city center.

[3] Tiger claws is one of the many gangs within Night City, they are typically associated with the large Japanese Corporation, Arasaka which means their standard gear is japanese stylized or to be more specific Katanas with submachine guns

[4] Nova = Cool, awesome, stuff of legends.

[5] CyberPsycho = a mental disorder when a person gets lost in the feeling of cyberware, essentially no longer considering themselves human and they go crazy. Typically involves alot of shootouts due to their implants going into overdrive mod, making them super durable/fast but not very accurate. It's essentially the stuff of nightmares since there is a whole personality shift from normal to murder mode as any person nearby can be a target for killing.