When Johnny Silverhand regained consciousness once again, all he could see was a cold, stark white place like a surgical room.
"What is this? Dammit, why does my voice sound like this..." As Silverhand spoke, the only sound that came out was a cold, robotic male voice produced by a speech synthesizer.
"Go fix it with the tuning software later. Don't tell me a rock star like you can't even manage to adjust the tone."
Mercer's voice came through, and Silverhand turned his head to see a circle of men and women gathered around him.
The members of Spark Team were all there, even Mann and Dolio had come for the fun—after all, this was a resurrection from the dead, the revival of an old Night City legend like Silverhand!
"...Jesus, this is incredible." Johnny Silverhand sat up with a complicated expression, still finding it unbelievable.
It was only then that he noticed he had completely become a robot, with an unknown logo printed on his chest. After squinting at it for a while, he realized it bore the name 'Giant God', whatever that meant.
"Mercer, this tech is really something... bringing a dead man back on his feet with a robot's body?" Jack clicked his tongue in wonder.
V raised her chin slightly, her features taking on a slightly cold and glamorous look, striking a very cool pose: "Well, it feels about average."
Rebecca glanced at her—what's she showing off for?
"Damn, give me a cigarette... I suddenly regret this a bit."
Silverhand, trying hard to adapt to the new body, sat up and irritably patted his steel figure: "What's the point of living like this if I can't smoke or drink... don't you have any cyberware or something?
It's already 2076, why are the robots still like this."
"First of all, because that fool Bartmos blew up the old net, which caused technology to stagnate for a long time. Secondly... it's already not bad that I managed to bring you back to life, so don't be picky. Should I just turn your power off until your body is updated?"
After Mercer finished, Silverhand stood up and said without hesitation: "Let's forget about that... where am I now? Night City? You guys still haven't told me who you are, mercenaries?
What's Rogue up to now?
And how are Ultraman, Murphy, and Black Hand doing?"
"Night City, Taiping Prefecture, Dog Town, a lawless place, and we are the bosses here. We used to be in the mercenary business, but now we've graduated from that path.
Rogue is currently the famous Rebirth Queen, Ultraman has become a renowned super AI, Black Hand and Adam's Hammer blew up, most likely dead, and as for Murphy, she uploaded her consciousness and is an AI online."
Mercer paused, then continued: "You can look up the specifics online yourself, don't tell me you don't even know how to surf the web anymore."
"...Taiping Prefecture, Dog Town?"
On the robotic face of Silverhand, his prosthetic eye revealed both confusion and reflection, but Mercer just clapped his hands: "Alright, the resurrection show is temporarily over, sort out dinner yourself at home, and let's gather at Rebirth at seven tonight, how about it?"
"Alright!" Rebecca immediately responded excitedly: "Mercer, don't think you can just pass it off with cola today!"
"Sure, let's celebrate a bit, since all the previous troubles are finally settled."
Mercer agreed with a laugh, while Jack eagerly said: "It's been a while since we've been there. I wonder if they still have drinks named after us."
"Why suddenly think of going to Rebirth? Isn't it simpler to celebrate at Gem Cyan? Or go straight to Hans' Heavy Heart Club." V looked curiously at Mercer.
Mercer just smiled: "We've invited quite a few people along, too, like Pan'an and Sol..."
"You're just going there to talk business! Even called Sol over, planning some deal with Adcardo again?" V rolled her eyes: "I knew you wouldn't just leave without a reason."
"It's a side thing, the most important..."
Mercer showed a smile, looking at V and everyone else, gently reflecting in a warm tone: "Let's make it official, shall we? Draw a line under our past, and from now on, embrace a brand new chapter of stories."
"Tsk... alright then, if you want to go, let's go again." V didn't quite understand Mercer's current sentiment but considerately didn't ask too much.
But Lucy, to some extent, did understand Mercer's thoughts. She looked at Mercer, and after a while, smiled slightly: "Yeah... let's celebrate, all those past troubles have finally been resolved."
Saving Silverhand and eliminating the threats from Arasaka had been burdens they had carried since escaping the Arasaka Base.
But now, Arasaka Saburo is dead, with only potential consciousness data backups remaining, and Arasaka, under Yoshinobu's lead, promptly rescinded the bounties on Mercer's team.
Silverhand's resurrection also meant Mercer had fulfilled his promises to Rogue and Ultraman.
Next, Mercer's work focus would shift from the small Dog Town to a larger yet harsher world, stepping into real corporate wars.
"Alright, the show is over, the infamous Johnny Silverhand can decide his own path now, but before you get a complete body replacement, I suggest you don't just leave Dog Town casually.
Otherwise, if you're captured as a rogue AI robot, you'll have nowhere to cry. I'm not planning on saving you again."