Hi there again everyone, this would be the second half of what would've been last chapter had I not decided to divide them into two to help with the algorithm. Just needed to finish this one up and touch up a few details and, now that I've explored much more of the lore, made some corrections and retcons here and there, which I'll apply to some previous chapters. Not much needs changing, the only thing I can think of off the top of my head being V's main car before being fired- in Chapter 4 I said it was a Mizutani Shion MZS, as in the version of the Shion you see commonly in the game, but it turns out there's a convertible version called the Targa MZT, which I much prefer and I think fits him much better. Anyway, enjoy this new chapter, City of Gang!
V's perspective, 14th of November 2076
"He's tryna delta! Go after 'im, I'll handle the others!" Yelled Jackie to me as I watched the Jack the Rippers (or Jack's Rippers?) gang member run off under the bridge.
The Jack the Ri- you know what, fuck it. Jack's Rippers sounds better. Anyway, Jack's Rippers were one of the older, declining gangs of Night City. As you can probably guess, they're very inspired by Jack the Ripper, and target Joygirls all over the city. They're identified by their long, 18th century style overcoats and silk top hats. They're a posergang. Big fans of Steampunk, which is a shame because I too have an appreciation for Steampunk. These guys ruin it for me. In the same way that each member probably gets no action, they also don't have any turf, and only attack at night, when their victim is alone. As you can guess, they're a huge enemy of the Mox, and although they're now mostly old losers and incels and are greatly declining in numbers, they're still a big deal to Joytoys, and this one Ripper, who has to have adopted this as a nickname: Boesepheus Trembly, was identified by Mox girls who saw him try to kill a sex worker in Wellsprings, and through one of Jackie's other Fixers, Wakako Okada, they hired us to track this little shit down.
Boesepheus (seriously, that cannot be his real name) made a break for it as soon as we turned up, seeming to forget that he had several fellow gang members with him, who Jackie was now handling. I bolted after him, my Unity Pistol in hand, though I didn't want to kill him. Wakako told us the Mox wanted this creep alive.
I suppose it never occurred to these guys that their long overcoats would make chases very difficult for them, but Trembly caught on pretty quick that I was gonna catch him, so he dropped the coat on the floor as he ran, and to his credit, I was dashing so fast that I didn't really pick up on it and found myself tripping over it. When I tumbled to the floor, he just kept running, pushing past two people walking in the opposite direction.
When I caught up with him, he was trying to run through the back of one of these fast food places I couldn't name, and he punched a cook, causing her to fall over and drop whatever it was she was about to deep fry. I apologised for running through after him, but kept on chasing him. Eventually, the guy jumped through a window and into one of these run-down apartment buildings, sliding on the floor into the elevator which he just managed to shut before I could get to him.
I ran upstairs, scanning the elevator's destination with my Kiroshi- 3rd floor. Suppose he thought I'd just keep running up and lose him. But when I reached that floor I noticed how he just duped me- he actually jumped through the top of the elevator and was probably on the 4th floor. I dashed up there, finding him and causing him to panic and jump out the window again, landing, to his luck, on an old sofa before continuing his run.
I was just about to jump myself when Jackie spoke to me over the holo-call we put ourselves on to communicate, and told me that he was coming and tracking the guy's position, that I should chase him to the nearby bus stop- Jackie'd handle it from there.
I followed Jackie's instructions, jumping after him and keeping the heat on the guy. As much as the sofa broke his fall, he clearly didn't know it was there and he was still hit hard by the fall, slowing him down. I gained on him, pulling out the pistol and shooting a couple of times in the directions I wanted him to avoid, hoping to guide him to the bus stop. It worked, and when he finally reached the gate leading to the street where it was located, he found himself tackled by my big ex-Valentino merc choom, his body slamming into the dumpster next to him.
"Gotcha, puto!" Jackie exclaimed as he kept his grip firm on the man, who Jackie then hit with a System Reset quickhack, a quickhack I always loved because it basically meant you could literally turn off a person. It's quite funny actually.
"Nice one, you learn that from Viktor?" I asked him, holstering my pistol.
"Nah. Football." Well that caught me off guard.
"Thought you and your boys just shot hoops." I replied, not expecting Jackie, or heck, anyone from Heywood to really have played Football, at least on proper, real grass.
"Oh no. Was quite the star player back in high school, 'course I was equally suited to the court as I was to the field but, it just wasn't the same. What about you?" He then corrected himself. "Oh yeah, sorry, you only do the rich people games and the big dangerous sports don't ya?" He grinned at me, lifting Trembly's body up over his massive shoulder.
"Rich people games?" I questioned, temporarily forgetting there was such a thing. "Oh you mean like fencing? Cricket? Polo?" I asked, giving him a 'really?' look.
"Are you seriously gonna tell me you haven't played any of those?" Jackie questioned.
"Oh I have. Don't like any of 'em. 'Part from fencing. Not too bad a golfer too." I told him, wearing a somewhat proud smile, though that was probably just me reminiscing.
"Christ. I gotta get you on the court one day."
"Tell you what Jack, if you somehow trick me into getting on the basketball court with you and your chooms, I'll cover all your shifts at the bar for a week." I offered to him, knowing he'd never get me on that court.
"Deal. If I don't in the next two months, I'll do all yours for the same amount of time." And so, we shook on it, and I could practically hear myself laughing two months from now.
We then started to walk back to where we ambushed the guy and his buddies, realising we'd have to get both our cars to deliver all four of them to the Mox. Whilst we loaded Boesepheus into the passenger seat of Jackie's Archer Quartz EC-L R275, thing him up of course, we waited for my Archer Hella to arrive after I called it. Yeah that's right, we wasted no time getting my Hella chipped with Driveware. It was actually much, much cheaper than I ever thought it could be, but then again I had always bought the highest end versions that can more or less street race for you in the most narrow and intricate courses you could design. This was still a downgrade.
As the Hella showed up, we loaded the rest of the Jack's Rippers into my car, and although I didn't like having three guys who were probably so edgy and disillusioned with women that they decided to dedicate themselves to killing prostitutes in my car, it wasn't like I was gonna leave any of them to continue their rampages. So I sucked it up, and drove with Jackie to Lizzie's where we were to deliver these bastards.
"Another job done, V. So, how you finding it?" Jackie asked as we walked back to our cars.
"Shitty. I hate everything about doing this." I admitted with no shame whatsoever. "No offense Jack, but I just don't get it, how do you guys do this day in, day out?"
"How did you punch papers and sign reports on a desk day in, day out eh?" He countered.
"You know my job's alot more active than that right?" I interrogated.
"Sí, 'course, when Jenkins called you up for another business trip where you could punch more papers." I didn't even bother to correct him that half the point of conferences and trips wasn't really to do business, at least from my persepctive, it was 90% a emplpyee and employer-agreed excuse to have raunchy fun on a company card, 10% actually doing business. Okay maybe it was a little more, especially if I was accompanying Jenkins to a conference or something but- you know what, it's not important.
"First off, we don't do it every day, or at least I don't. You think mercs who do nothing but merc work stay sane? No mano, they get consumed by their work, a little like you Corpos." He explained. "But you want how it works for me? It works for me because I take jobs that let me know that when I'm out here, I'm making a difference in a place where life sucks everything out of you."
"Yeah, well I guess I'm just used to making differences through my words and more...clandestine, actions. Which reminds me, you're sure nobody's gonna find out about what I'm doing?" I quickly changed the subject.
"Don't worry V, I promise, any security camera we encounter I'll shut off, or I'll tell you so you can shut 'em off. The memory wipe quickhack's worked for you so far too hasn't it?"
"I suppose. Need that implant that obscures your face on cameras though. That'd be preem."
"Mmm. Anyway, I was thinkin', we should go clubbing tonight." Jackie began. "You've been workin' hard, should let off some steam at Rainbow Nights." I'd been to Rainbow Nights before. It was a casino and dance club I frequented for a time back in college.
"Rainbow Nights? Hmm. I don't know. Kinda out of it after this job." I said to him, but I was certain he wouldn't take that for an answer.
"V, come on, you know what you said on Crazy Train night. You're not a boring suit. You think the thrill of the hunt is all that keeps me excited? A man's gotta cut loose every once in a while." Jackie tried to persuade me.
"I'll be happy to go with you tomorrow Jack, it's just I was kinda hoping to chill at home for the rest of the evening." I would've left it at that, but then I heard myself refer to his place, no, Mama Welles' place, as home. But that wasn't right. It wasn't home. This was temporary shelter. I'd be out of there in no time. But would I? This is the kind of thing I wondered to myself alot, and now that I was growing accustomed to this new scheme of things, I wasn't going to have it.
"Come on...hey if it's not still too raw, maybe you can even find a señorita to-"
"Actually, I'll do it Jack. You're right. Enough of the boring suit attitude, yada yada yada." I cut him off.
"Oh-okay. Didn't think it'd be that easy." He said.
"Yeah well let's just head back h-" I quickly altered what I was going to say. "-to your place, wanna get changed. Can't be seen like this in a club now can I?" And I really couldn't. This quilted Samurai album jacket may have worked for me as mercenary streetwear, but there's no way I, V, globetrotting ex-Arasaka Counter-Intel soon to be Militech employee was going to be seen in anything but my sharpest threads at a casino.
"Hehe, of course not V. Can never get you to dress casually for anything." He said, with the sole exception of mercenary work, that is.
I was dressed in my red and black desert cross strong-weave button up, my black suit pants, and the one real leather belt I insisted on keeping which had a brass buckle. I also wore my brown leather slip-ons, polished with neatly applied carnauba wax to mask the few scuffs they had accrued since working in El Coyote Cojo. Along with my trademark black trilby and my sepia-vision aviators, I looked just like my old self. How I was supposed to look. Had a fresh shave of the ol' circle beard too, had to be as sharp and on point as possible, which is why I also spent a good amount of time washing and treating my hair so you could run your fingers through it smoothly without undoing the dreadlocks.
I mean, this doesn't just happen...
Just 30 minutes after we entered Rainbow Nights, I was playing Roulette with two redheaded bombshells to my left and my right, who I made my mission to get hanging off my arms in the next 20 minutes. Didn't know where Jackie was, and to be honest, I wasn't even thinking of him. In my head, I was still a trust fund millionaire only pursuing a career because it gave me something to do, and outside, there was a classic blue Takaya Daimyo with racing stripes, or a carbernet-red Mizutani Shion Targa MZT Convertible waiting for me to return with whichever lady (or ladies) I had chosen to bring home so I could continue my night with them in total debauchery.
"15 Red." The dealer declared as the ball landed in its final place. I had gambled five Green chips each worth 25 Eurodollars on black, and one of the ladies, Zatanna, who had streaks of black hair along with her natural colour, won yet again as she bet on odds.
"Come to momma!" She beamed as she began to collect more of mine and the other girl, Stella's chips.
"Ugh." I mock-groaned, then leaned over to Stella. "Hey, you wanna team up? Can't let her win it all." I whispered to her.
"Only if I get three quarters of the chips." Was her condition, and right now, I was more interested in putting Zatanna in her place...and maybe getting in Stella's good graces.
"Deal. I don't care how I take her down, I just want to take her down." I meant that in more ways than one if you know what I mean...I shook Stella's hand, though I lingered a little to send a message that I was interested, which I know she picked up on from her devilish smirk.
The next round would be different. The past four rolls had followed a pattern- 12 Red, 6 Black, 3 Red, 15 Black, and I know that's not how it works- it's random, or so the house wants you to think, but why would this unmistakable pattern break now?
"Yeah, sounds good." Stella whispered to me, placing the chips we were both betting on even and black. But then I figured: Nah, patterns always break when you spot 'em. When she wasn't looking, and just before the dealer could close all bets, I quickly took both stacks and moved them to the second 12 option. Then began the roll. It took a few moments for Stella to realise what I'd done, but then she made a face of discontent at me. "What the hell? We agreed even and black, why would you go change on me?"
"Pattern always breaks when you spot it. Your friend Zatanna's gambling on dumb luck. Let's try that for a change." I smiled, putting up my palms in front of me as if to tell her to chill. I was certain that this would work. Sometimes you gotta just forget thinking and jump into it.
The roulette ball began to fall into the pit, though still circling the numbers as if it was trying to decide which to land on. When it finally made up its mind, it came to a halt at 20 black, which fell right within the 2nd 12 option, causing Stella to go "Ahahahaha!" In Zatanna's face, rubbing in the fact that she had been cocky enough to gamble on just one pair of numbers. Half her chips, too. After making Zatanna taste defeat, Stella came over and threw her arms round me, and because she was standing and I had just sat back down in my seat I was quite close to another pair, one in particular that I was willing to gamble on.
After removing herself from me, Stella and I played a few more rounds against Zatanna, and we began to win a little more as we gambled on more dumb luck. Eventually, Zatanna had lost enough of her chips and expressed her frustration.
"Ugh! Not fair, you guys are teaming up, isn't this against the rules?" She directed her question to the Dealer.
"It's never really been a winning strategy, especially because they're only pooling chips, so it's perfectly fine. What you're seeing is luck at play." The Dealer shrugged.
"Whatever. I'm going home." Zatanna rolled her eyes, but then a bearded man dressed in a black suit with gold patterns, a red bowtie, blue pants and a green shirt arrived to play with us. He carried a smirk on his face that screamed cocky asshole, which now I think about it wasn't so different from my own, and he was armed with more chips than each of us combined.
"Hey hot stuff, care to stay for another game? Sure you'll find it much better with me." He grinned at Zatanna, trying to flirt with her. I could tell immediately that he was of the Corpo cut, just like me. Only this guy clearly wasn't as...smooth, had no finesse. First off, you never open like that. Way too self-important. Nah, you gotta flirt early sure, the first conversation, even, but the first sentence? This kind of thing isn't the immediate turn-on. Not in my experience, not unless you're really clever. You're supposed to make the other feel wanted, not necessarily like you 'should be' wanted. This guy probably experienced a pick up artist BD and suddenly thinks he's an expert.
"On second thought V, let's team up." Zatanna turned, then huddled up closer to me, basically hanging off my left arm as Stella basically did my right. See? One thing I know how to do is meet targets.
If there was one mistake I made that night, it was underestimating this guy. In spite of his terrible fashion sense in wildly contradicting colours miserably trying to imitate Neokitsch style, his failure to figure out what the ladies wanna hear and just the general gonk vibe he gave off, he was exceedingly lucky. Stella's chips, Zatanna's chips and my chips were easily gobbled up in the next few rounds, and this guy found himself stacked with so many he could build a mini-castle with them.
"I'm out." Stella announced. "Let's go home Zat." Stella said to her...friend?
"Hold up, you two are friends?" I asked. All this time I was going on the impression that nobody at the table knew each other.
"Oh yeah, we share an apartment Stella and I." Zatanna chimed in, swinging her handbag over her shoulder as the fashion-backward black hole of roulette luck left for the bar.
"Huh. So, can either of you girls tell me why you were playing against one another?" I queried. I didn't actually care that much, but the more I talked, the more I made it clear that I wanted to get invited round.
"We can't always be a team, V, sometimes you have to compete with your friends..." Said Zatanna.
"Okay, follow up question: is roulette all you've been competing on?" I think you can probably guess what I was hinting at.
They then huddled close together and whispered to one another for a little, with Stella giggling at whatever Zatanna said.
"There's...something or..someone else we've been competing on tonight." Began Stella, and Zatanna then followed up.
"But we're having a hard time deciding who won so...we could use some help deciding a winner, maybe somewhere, neutral like...at your place..." Zatanna offered, lowering her voice into a sensual tone at that last part, and a sinister grin simultaneously appeared over all our faces.
"Hmm, now that sounds like a nova idea..." I then caught Jackie in the corner of my eye, sitting at a table with a drink in one hand, giving me a thumbs up with the other. "I'd be happy to host the...award ceremony, at my place." I confirmed, delivering 'award ceremony' with my own hushed, sensual and debonair tone.
Unfortunately, it then occurred to me that despite my current fantasy, I was not the loaded, satin sheet-covered and sports car-driving uptowner I once was. All this time with Stella and Zatanna, I had let the truth about my life slip away from me. It came so easily. I had done this dance a hundred times before, it was such a familiar process-flirting with and getting women was basically muscle memory to me, if muscles both of the 'ganic and cyber kind could remember something like that. I didn't even realise that everything I was saying was a lie, despite me genuinely believing it for the whole time we were playing. But maybe that didn't matter, after all, confidence is the majority of the battle right?
Oh who am I kidding? My entire adult life I've ran on the fact that I can very well hop into first class on a plane to wherever I want in the world, that I have Italian silk shirts hung up in a walk-in closet, fast cars and a large bathtub I once filled with Eurodollars so I could literally bathe in my money. And that's exactly what my game ran on tonight too. I was so good at it I probably convinced them that I'm the CEO of a company, not merely just a Counterintel agent. Imagine their disappointment when they learn that I'm just a temporary, small time merc worker who punches in hours at his friend's Mom's bar for a living. Oh, not to mention I live at said friend's Mom's house attached to that same bar, that I sleep in a bed where there's barely enough space for me to toss and turn freely, that I'm constantly close to Valentino gangers every time I walk the streets, and I haven't eaten real, non-synth meat from a five-star restaurant in the best part of a month. They wouldn't wanna come to my place, they wouldn't even wanna see me again. And honestly, I wouldn't blame them.
Zatanna then said something that pulled me out of my mini-trance of realisation. "V, you ready to go? Just waiting to get my hands on MY trophy..." She suggestively expressed, mimicking the action of gripping and stroking the...trophy in mind with her hands, causing me to prematurely regret what I was about to do.
I looked over to Jackie, waving to him. "On second thought ladies, and I'm sorry to delay the show but...I came here with a friend and-ah, I've neglected him all night. I'm gonna go drink with him. Wouldn't be fair if I left 'im now." I half-admitted. I had indeed neglected Jackie tonight, even if he was trying to get me out here so I could get myself into some outputs. At least by saying this to them, I could maybe win some 'aww he's thoughtful' brownie points whilst avoiding the immeasurable disappointment they'd undoubtedly feel if I took them...home.
"Aww...it's nice you care about your friend." Stella said, then began to walk up to me and give me a little embrace, her head resting on my shoulder. "Call us, or-call me when you've chosen the winner." She requested, and in the corner of my eye, I received a text message from her containing both her and Zatanna's numbers, which I saved to my Agent before the two left.
'Still got it', I thought, chuckling to myself as I rose from my seat and went over to Jackie.
"'Ey bróder, where're they goin'? You send 'em to await you in your chariot?" He asked, referring to my car.
"Nah, told 'em I can't do anything tonight, they're goin' home."
"Why? Why would you send two fine señoritas like that home without you eh?" He scolded, a genuinely puzzled look on his face.
"Because, Jack, they wanted to head back to 'my place'. I don't have a 'my place' I have a 'your mother's place'. Can't turn up to Mama Welles' with them." I defended. "Besides I let myself forget that I'm now...poor. They were probably expecting me to take 'em to a mansion."
"Ah I'm sure they'da been fine with a hotel room. Even if it was Raito or Yamaguchi." Jackie said, clearly, I hadn't made it clear what I did.
"No you don't get it, I literally told them that I just got back from the Crystal Palace, that I've been there for months and...damnit. I just ran with it." I explained.
"Well, V, if you think they're only interested because of your money, then you shouldn't be interested in them. Like I've told you a billion times. Maybe now, what I say will actually matter." He told me.
"Oh give off Jack, you think anyone would be into me if it weren't for that? Number one lesson I learned from Christine Mannerva- first girlfriend in high school: never let who you're interested in think you're not what's hot and happening, and never get too attached." I claimed. As bleak as my view was, it got proven to me several times later- Rachael Zenith at MIT, Tamara Chromedome at Night City University, and then Gabriella Vanuera from my first trip to the Crystal Palace.
"V, you think that's all people look for in a partner?" He looked at me, clearly offended. "So you think Misty-"
"You and Misty are different." I cut him off. "You two clearly care about each other, and if an outsider like me can see that, it must be true, must be real. You're lucky Jackie, on the streets, all you got is real love to count on."
"So I guess Kimiko wasn't real love." Jackie countered. Damn, hadn't thought of her. "Even though she told you that she wanted you to forget about Corpo Plaza, the thing that's made you so much money, something she did for your own good, and she was willing to tell you that even if it did hurt her. Did she not care about you V?"
"I-I-" I really couldn't come back from that.
Luckily, Jackie spared me the continued embarrassment. "Now V, maybe those two girls want you for your nonexistent luxury apartment, but I know that somewhere on that dance floor, there's girls who couldn't give a damn how much money you got. They care about who you are. So go on, mingle." He ordered, pointing at the dance floor and then pushing me on my back toward it, displacing me from my seat and forcing me to stand up.
"Wha...just like that?" I asked him.
"Just like that. Be yourself V, not your selfish rich prick self, your kind, well-mannered good man self. I know its buried beneath that subdermal armour o' yours somewhere." He smiled.
Feeling that Jackie would seriously berate me if I didn't do this, I went ahead to the dance floor.
I'll be honest. I do most of my dancing alone, popping a vinyl record in my living room, or watching scenes from certain movies where the character is grooving to James Brown- free from judgement, free to do whatever old-man shuffle I like. This was a nightclub. The kind of dancing going on here is very different.
I started by bumping along to the beat of whatever Lizzy Wizzy record was playing. Delicate Weapon I think it was, but I was never one to really listen to her. Not to say I wasn't aroused by that sharp, shiny, full-chrome-bodied Neokitsch bombshell...oh, be steady my augmented heart. After bumping my hips back and forth with my right foot accounting for most of my limb movements, I began to shuffle my arms at my sides, nodding my head awkwardly while trying to avoid eye contact with anyone.
Is this really what's become of me? I can't even cut loose on a dance floor anymore? I used to not care, and as a kid I remember having quite the moves, and I didn't even care if people liked them or not. Too bad that soul-crushing apocalypse we commonly know as high school shattered alot of that confidence I had. Christine Mannerva- she was a ballet dancer, and when she cheated on me, I started to hate the mere concept of dancing because I tied it so closely to her. Then Rachael Zenith, who also hated dancing, told me she only dated me for my money, and caused me to like dancing again, but only the kind that a stripper would do. Now I only danced alone, or did just enough to keep to the rhythm so a date, or so a potential one-night stand didn't think I was made of immovable stone.
With nobody paying attention to my awkward non-dance, I decided to take things up a notch. Instead of remaining stationary, I started to slide a little to the left, a little to the right, moving forward, closer and closer to the bar, like I was weaving through the fellow dancers to the beat so I could grab myself a drink.
Then, when I was just about to reach the bar, I turned on my heel, spinning 90 degrees in the other direction, and then, I tensed my leg muscles, getting ready to push myself into a momentous launch. When I did, I sped off the bar back into the inner borders of the dance floor; then, as if something inside awoke within me after years-no, over a decade of slumber, I angled my feet perfectly for a smooth and perfect slide into the middle of the dance floor, my arms out and free like a showman presenting his main event, and the very spectacle earned several looks from most of the dancers. The DJ took notice and immediately switched the track from Lizzy Wizzy to a jazz track- namely a 'clubby' remix of John Coltrane's impressions, which was more my jam, even if I did prefer the original and the jazz clubs that would play it.
My slide complete, I swung my arms down and began a powerful moonwalk, tipping my trilby down over my eyes as I did, as if to show that I wasn't looking at how people must've been looking at me, and I didn't care to.
By the time I sensed the edge of the dancefloor, I spun around and repeated the same action back to the middle, where I spotted a cute redhead (interesting how many were in the club tonight), and I began to lock eyes with her, striding like a tango dancer toward her, then holding my hand out to her, though by that point I was no longer making eye contact as if to say anyone could grab ahold and join me, I only hoped it would be her and not the Maelstromer standing nearby. I could see her blushing, and with some egging on by the other dancers, she took my hand and I lightly pulled her onto the floor with me, and she came close to my chest and into my grasp as I put my arm round her back, my hand resting at her hip.
She wore a pink crop sweater with blue plastic Kitsch shorts, plastic Kitsch tights with white pumps, a yellow choker on her neck and a beanie which had some cartoonish monster-thing printed on it. She was hardly the well-dressed, fashionable baddie that I was used to, but she was...well, cute, I guess.
We began to slow dance to the music as the track slowed, and we continued for about 15 seconds before she raised her left leg and wrapped it behind my waist, and I put both my arms at her back, guiding her backward in a dip, bending my left knee forward slightly as she gracefully leaned into the dip, and the crowd was, not gonna lie, quite amazed at this random outburst of jazz club dancing in a nightclub. As we returned to our original positions, then parted, the song ended and we received some claps from other dancers, before everyone went back to dancing to club tunes or drinking.
"Wow..." The woman opened, "I'm Amy and- that was amazing! Where'd that come from?" She asked, smiling and blushing at me.
"V." I replied. "Don't know what came over me there, uh, guess I just got bored of being invisible." I chuckled.
"Well I have to say, you were great!" It was easy to read that she was a very bubbly, upbeat and positive girl. "Are you a dancer? Like, professionally."
That made me think she was a little too bubbly. I know, maybe when you live the experience, it's hard not to think I'm truly amazing but come on, I'm not THAT good... "Oh no no no, was a pretty good dancer as a kid though, I haven't really danced in front of other people in years. Even longer since I danced with anyone like that."
"Well, I'm glad I was the first in a while." She smiled, and she began to groove to the currently playing track- again, one of those poppy things I couldn't really name. I started to move along with her to the music, and for a while, we just danced.
The whole time, Jackie had been smiling at me and giving me thumbs up, plus mouthing things I couldn't make out as he himself cut loose on the dance floor.
Amy's dance flow was visibly disrupted by something in her pocket- her phone, which I'm surprised could actually fit in those shorts of hers. "Oh, sorry V, gotta take this." She shouted over the music as she pulled it out and saw who was calling her. "It's my sister. She's at home right now, my friend's taking care of her 'cause she's been feeling under the weather." She explained. "I'll be right back." She told me as she excused herself to the restroom.
With that, I weaved my way to Jackie, who danced with me whilst I waited.
"See, mano? She sure seems nice!" He shouted. "You gonna ask her out?"
"Workin' on it." I said, and usually when I said that I was being unsuccessful, but this wasn't me being unsuccessful, this was me being...cautious?
"Since when do you 'work on it'? Ain't you always just 'doin' it'?" He questioned.
"Hey man, I'm trying something new. And that's all I-"
"Hey you! Jazz club!" I heard someone call out to me, seeing two big, tall and angry looking dudes in street combat chic stomping toward me and Jackie. "That girl, you're gonna leave her for our boss and get outta here." The blue-haired one told me. Not sure if it was him or the red-haired one who called out to me, but if it was the red, then at least their voices would match their appearances- almost exactly the same as one another.
I began to stop dancing and clapping my hands together. "And uh, why's that chooms?" I asked, not thinking that whoever sicced these two goons on us could possibly be doing this on her behalf.
The red-haired one started. "You had your fun with those two bitches at the roulette table, why don't you go have fun with them inst-"
"You boys been spyin' on my hermano here?" Jackie cut him off, stepping in and now standing very straight, getting all up in their faces as if he was my very own Chewbacca.
"Get outta my face gonk, or-"
"'Else what? Huh? We'll throw hands? Cause if you don't back off, we'll throw hands." Jackie said, standing up for me and clenching his fists.
The two brutes wasted no time in beginning the inevitable brawl, with the red-haired one going to grapple with Jackie, and the blue one taking advantage of my much less flattering height and stature, tackling me on the dance floor. Whilst I tried to shake him off, his grip was strong as an ox, and he wasn't letting go. My synaptic accelerator kicked in, giving me 'time', or rather slowing my perception of time enough for me to notice that Amy had actually come back out of the restroom, and was trying to dance her way back to me, but I then saw some guy, who I assume was the man who hired these two idiots to kick me off her, was trying to mingle and dance with her and detract attention from the actions of his bodyguard.
Then I saw it- this was the same motherfucker from the roulette table- only he had ditched the suit and now adopted a white and gold street jacket, and now grey pants. Well, at least his fashion sense somewhat improved, maybe he dashed out real quick to modify his tastes a little. Still ugly though. Guess he wanted to get back at me for showing him up with the ladies and, no doubt, the dance floor.
When my perception of time returned to normal, I found myself being picked up by the goon as Jackie and the other struggled and wrestled with one another. Eventually, I managed to wriggle free a little, and with enough whacks from my freed right arm, the goon's grip faltered, but now he opted for the good old tactic of lobbing punches at me until I went down. Even though he didn't look like a member of that Animals gang, he certainly had hard hitting fists, and I reacted badly to his first blow to my gut, and then worse to the crash of his fist into the side of my jaw.
I fell to the floor with almost no protest, accepting that I was gonna be on the ground now. I quickly recovered and rested on my elbows, allowing me to get into position to kick the gonk in the waist before he could proceed to continue beating me. As I began to stand up, I saw that another goon, now black haired had joined in and punched Jackie down to the floor with a fist to the face, the red-haired idiot having kept Jackie restrained so he couldn't fight him off.
Unfortunately, as I watched, I wasted too much time and blue-hair was ready to tackle me again, his sheer size knocking me back to the floor. As he prepared to do whatever he was going to do, I instinctively tried to block with my arms in an X in front of my face, but he merely tore my right arm from the X and lifted his massive stomper of a leg to deliver a heavy kick to my face, and let's just say, they made sure Amy didn't see them as they carried us out of the club and tossed our asses to the curb.
"Fuuck!..." I bemoaned as I retrieved a tooth from my mouth that had been knocked out of its place by blue-hair, and tossed the bloodied thing into the sink, which already had some of the blood that I had spat up from that fight in it.
"Maldito..." Jackie cursed, just plucking up the strength to defy his pains and stand up from his bed, which he had been resting on ever since we came back to Mama Welles' in beaten messes, driven here by the Driveware in my Archer. Since then we'd been plastered and bandaged up by Guadalupe, but everything still hurt like a bitch.
I then took a look at myself in the mirror, cringing at the pain in my jaw, my gut, my ribs, my legs, my everything. I then observed Jackie as he, failing to stay up for much longer, fell back into his bed, now resting his head on his pillow.
After a few more moments of the two of us just huffing and grunting in pain, Jackie piped up. "V?"
"Y-ow..." I groaned, having just banged my foot on the nearby desk as I took off my shirt. "Yeah?"
"You ever been in a fight like that before?" He asked.
"You mean one where I-" I then grunted as my ass fell to my bed. "Where I get my ass beat like a 50s housewife?"
"Y-damn V, you went there huh?" He responded.
"Hehe, yeah. Been in fights with uh...ah, Soviet bodybuilders, Animals, Militech troopers, and my boss Arthur Jenkins, I swear that man cannot be taken down, which makes sense, he's a black belt." I elaborated. "Never been so unprepared though. Usually had some sorta gadget to get me outta trouble. Now-"
"Yeah well, that's the street for ya V." He laughed. "You get that girl's number?"
"Hmmm- ah shit, nah, didn't get it, never gave 'er mine either." I said.
"Too bad."
"Ah she was too happy clappy for me anyways." I said to him.
"Ey well you got the numbers o' two roulette mamacitas though eh?" He asked.
"Yeah, I got 'em." I said, not really lingering on it.
"You gonna call?" Jackie asked me.
"Maybe but uh, I'm...thinkin' about what you said Jack and...you have a point. Maybe not everyone cares about what lones your pockets, and if I think they're only interested in me for the eddies, it's probably not a good idea to obsess over them." I admitted. "But I reserve the right to contradict myself and choose a winner at any time."
"A winner?" He said confused. "Winner of what?" And now I realise that I just let it slip what kind of sexual teasing was going on at that table.
"Oh uh, nothing just an-"
"Inside joke?" He said grinning.
"Hehe, shut up man." I laughed.
Minutes later, after the two of us had properly gotten ready for bed, Mama Welles knocked on the door, and we confirmed that the two of us were dressed. She came through the door with painkillers and leaned on it, looking upon us with sorrow.
"I've got some painkillers for you two, pour yourself some water." She ordered, and I stood up, taking a glass from the sink and filling it with water. She then handed me a tablet which I took with a swig of water. Jackie then did the same after I handed him the glass.
"Jaquito." Mama Welles addressed her son.
"Sí Mama?" He replied, expecting news.
"We're going to have to cut back on all our entertainment subscriptions." She opened. "Just got my last bill from Net 54, they've charged us even more this month."
"How much?" Jackie asked.
"200 Eurodollars." Mama Welles said with a-wait, what? 200? What the?
"Hold up." I butted in, the two looking at me as I stood straight and manfully. "How much have you been paying all this time?" I asked, genuinely puzzled at how they could let it get this high.
"I think it was around 180, or 185 per month, six months ago it was 170." Mama Welles admitted to me, and I was actually offended that she didn't even seem to take notice of it before.
"I'm sorry but, if you don't mind me asking, why are you letting N54 charge you so much?" I asked.
"Well, what else am I supposed to do, V? Only thing I can do is stop subscribing to some services, and by the way, Jaquito, we have to decide which ones to drop tomorrow." She said.
"No, why don't you go call 'em and tell 'em that you wanna cancel your subscription?" I pressed on.
"Because...then what would we watch in this house?" She asked, not understanding what I was getting at.
"Oh, no no no, Mama Welles," I almost laughed because I was so amazed she didn't know this, but I guess I was speaking from a place of more experience, having been surrounded by all the dealing strategies the rich and powerful use to get ahead. "N54, WNS, New Century, all these media providers have got teams of people working in offices day and night dedicated to keeping customers subscribed." I started.
"Okay..." She followed.
"If you call them, tell them that you're thinking of cancelling, they're job is to do whatever they can to keep you on the line. They'll offer you lower prices and better deals if it keeps your custom. They make money by banking on your loyalty."
"So what you're saying is, they'll give me offers to keep me if I threaten to cancel?" She asked.
"Exactly. Tell you what, tomorrow morning you and I'll give N54 a call, tell them that you wanna cancel, kindly tell them that WNS offered you a much, much better deal, and they'll be forced to compete with 'em."
"Can't they check that? Because I haven't got an offer from anybody." She queried.
"What're they gonna do? Peak around in WNS' backlog of offers for one customer? Nah, trust me, once you tell them a rival has given you a better offer, you've got 'em by the balls. We'll give em a call tomorrow, you'll see." I clarified.
"Hmm. Well alright V, maybe you really are worth more than a half-cleaned bar." She joked, commenting on my less-than-brilliant bar cleaning skills.
"Hey, I'm a blessing in disguise." I smiled before going over to my bed.
A few momets later, Mama Welles leaned back on the door as Jackie and I were about to get ready for bed. "Are you boys alright? Need anything else?" She asked.
"I'm good." Jackie said.
"I'm preem, Mama Welles." I said. "Preem." After she left, Jackie and I groaned into our nightwear before hitting against the cotton beds and covering ourself in the cotton sheets.
Hey, it could be worse. At least it isn't synthetic cotton.
Hoowee, these last two were a doozy to get out. And for good reason, it took over a month to get them out. Anyway, I've got a few more things to clear up, and that would be the whole deal with these pre-Sandra Dorsett chapters. I've decided to extend how many of these there's going to be as some feedback I've been getting has praised the effort to expand on this part of V's journey. Whilst I have everything more or less sorted in terms of me recording my second playthrough of this game for reference for the fanfic, I am also a little weary of CD Projekt RED's roadmap for DLCs for this game. I'd hate to write all this and complete it only for them to drop some more content our way that can potentially make the whole game different and add more details and nice quests to do. Of course, as this is a very long term project of mine, I don't expect to be done by that time, but I kind of want to wait for more details on any story/quest related addons coming in the future. After all, imagine if we got an extension on the Peralez storyline! That'd be great and I was really disappointed that we didn't get that finished properly. So yeah, that's another reason I'm being tentative. Now if you did come here just for the ship between V and Panam, that's probably not the best news but I do intend to have some more Panam POV's every now and then when something good comes to mind. I'm not exactly sure how mamy more of these chapters they'll be, but I don't expect it to be too many more. That said, as always feedback hells a ton both in motivation and plotting where I should go next with the story so by all means make your thoughts heard, it helps a million. That'll be all for now chooms, stay safe.