ZIGGURATS [Official Lyric Video] - Mike Shinoda

Arriving at the basement, V is met with a grim scene. Bryce lies motionless, surrounded by the charred remains of equipment and flickering screens. It becomes apparent that Ziggurat's group had subjected Bryce to unimaginable torture. Despite Bryce's formidable training and expertise, the relentless task of serving as a data port to breach the formidable Blackwall had taken its toll. Even a skilled individual like Bryce, a Corpopig, was at constant risk of triggering Netwatch's attention, resulting in permanent disconnection or annihilation by rogue AI.

The ex-Ziggurats had exploited Bryce's unconscious state and his advanced cyberdeck, using his body as a vessel to infiltrate long-abandoned CitiNets. These CitiNets housed vital data pools, fiercely guarded by powerful AI systems that even Netwatch couldn't bring down. These data pools contained invaluable maps of the city's forgotten underground projects—critical pathways for smuggling operations, corporate raids, and clandestine hideouts.

With time running out and Bryce's life hanging in the balance, V's primary objective evolves from mere rescue to thwarting Ziggurat's plans and securing the data for their own purposes or for a potential buyer. Also data sequestering could serve as a form of safeguard if something were to go wrong.

https://www.cyberpunk2020.de/the-big-book-of-drugs-for-cyberpunk-2020/#TECHBooster

As the mission unfolds, V secures Bryce injecting him on a Airhypo a mix of Sixgun for self disconnecting the net and Black lace for the rush of waking up.

As V stands vigilantly over Bryce's charred and unconscious form, a surge of conflicting thoughts and emotions flood their mind:

Who would say a Corpopig like him, hasn’t a Trauma Team membership, truth to be told: even tech cops can’t afford a good life on NC… An old Netrunner as him can make E$6000 a month, if they discover some failures that can be patched maybe a plus of E$500 A Trauma Team patient also had to pay E$100 for every minute until arrival at the nearest corporate hospital.

V is looking to disconnect Bryce from the deck without frying his brain: But Netwatch isn’t a corporation here, they work for the government and night city is a “No one’s land” we’re not even part of NUSA, and that’s why they don’t give a fuck about us.

On rescue

-Bryce:

They took me to the street; I never am, but they took me unadvised. I was too tired from not sleeping for two days in a row. I was on my way home when it all just went black. I woke up on the deck, thinking it was a bad dream... They told me via a holo call that I should enter an old CitiNets to borrow some old city plans. They ended up there when NetWatch raised the Blackwall.

They took me to the damn street, V, which is a place I never am caught off guard. But this time, they caught me unadvised. I was exhausted, running on fumes after two sleepless nights in a row. Just when I thought I could finally make it home, everything went black. Next thing I knew, I was jolted awake, finding myself plugged into a cyberdeck, trapped in what felt like a twisted nightmare

They had the audacity to contact me through a goddamn holo call, telling me to delve into the depths of those ancient CitiNets and 'borrow' some outdated city plans. Can you believe that? As if it were some casual request. Little did I know, those plans were a gateway to hell. The moment I breached the Blackwall, NetWatch must have sensed it, and all hell broke loose.

The chaos that unfolded in those CitiNets... it was like being trapped in a waking nightmare. AI defenses swarmed, their digital claws tearing at my virtual flesh. I fought tooth and nail to survive, struggling to distinguish reality from the tangled webs of code. It was a descent into madness, V, a place where the boundary between life and death blurred.