Pushka

## Background

A stone cold-badass from a stone-cold combat zone. Abandoned when he was 7 years old, he survived in the combat zone through fear and petty thievery, stealing what food he could to survive.

Eventually, (when Artem was 10) he was taken in by a mechanic, an older man, been around since you could walk down the street without getting zeroed by some psycho with a lace addiction. The man became Artem's mentor. Artem learned everything he could about engineering and technology and by the time he was 13, he could disassemble and reassemble a gun in 5 seconds flat, he could take someone's Cyberarm apart while they were using it to punch him, and loved working on projects in his spare time. Although he was clever, there wasn't much need for new technology. Either the tech was too expensive for the average combat zoner, or the people that could afford it just needed their gun cleaned. It was also around this time when his mentor died of complications from tuberculosis, leaving Artem without a family again.

Although his mentor did give him something else, a cyberarm, and cybereye designed for engineering work. He became a thief again, but with his talent and training in tech, he started doing things with more "stealth" (ensue montage of blowing shit up, sabotaging boostergang weapons, and pulling cyberware off corpses set to kazoo rendition of Outkast Hey-Ya!).

Eventually, Artem bit off more than he could chew, stealing a prototype AI developed specifically to help with quickly fixing things. Artem got the AI installed into his internal agent, and now has an AI girlfriend in his head. Unfortunately, someone else wanted a Waifu in their brain, a very powerful Exec wanted to sell the AI as licensed software and started sending wave after wave of borged out boostergangs to try and kill Artem. Eventually, the Exec stopped caring, the boostergangs did not, it was sort of a challenge "Hunt the mysterious Pushka", "Pushka must die". and "death to the Iron Hand" were popular slogans put on t-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, and posters with Artem's face/description.

Artem eventually fled to Night City as a stow away on a big 'ol boat, where his story continues.

## Connections

Artem has had to live with his head on a swivel every day for the past 24 years. Only friends he makes are made on the job. They either needed something from Artem, or Artem needed something from them.

Katyusha was a solo Artem met on a job. They got along very well, as both shared the same tragic backstory. They eventually got together (romantically), but Kat went to Night City to find work.

Mentor was Artems mentor

## Equipment

Artem treats tech like he treats strangers, he doesn't trust it until he's seen it work under pressure. He would never usually use a gun he hasn't put a few rounds through beforehand, and his armor has been burned, beaten, bayoneted, and otherwise battle-tested by him. His current equipment includes:

* A ballistic shield made out of lightweight bulletproof resin plates.
* A MP-443 Grach which has been modified with glowing sights and a hookup for a neural link. (Medium pistol increased quality from average to excellent)
* A combat knife, sharpened to cut through Kevlar© like cotton (Light melee weapon increased quality from average to excellent).
* A light armor jack sewn into thick faux leather jacket and worn under thick pants and made out of high-carbon steel for maximum protection (+1 SP).
* A Kevlar© fabric hood sewn into his jacket (+1 SP).

## Cyberware

Artem's Cyberware includes:

* A cyberarm with a tech-scanner and a tool hand in his left arm.
* A cybereye with Chyron and MicroOptics in his left eye.
* A cyberaudio suite with an internal agent linked to a biomonitor.

Artem has fasionware installed by his mentor, including:

* A skinwatch
* A biomonitor
* Shifttacts

* Centrifugal Extraction

1. ↑ MP-443 Grach - Wikipedia