Jackie was trucking down the highway as fast as he could without drawing the NCPD's attention. With the midday traffic, it was gonna take 30 minute to drive to Little China. And his new friend didn't look like she would make it. V started out the emergency trip looking fine enough, but now she was woozy and couldn't stop shivering. When she started to cough up green blood, Jackie decided it was time for more meds.
"Get the first-aid kit, V", he said, pointing to bag of supplies. It took the woman a second to figure out what he wanted. She pulled out a bottle of water, but when Jackie shook his head no she was able to guess that he meant the kit. Once she had it open, he pointed to one of the MaxDoc inhalers.
"Take off the cap. Good. Now put the opening in your mouth," Jackie guided V through the process, being sure to talk slow and point with each new instruction. It was more difficult than he was used to, considering he was also trying to drive his hunk of junk car down the main express way. "Awesome, tìo. Now press down on the top." He made a pinching motion, and V followed suit. There was the expected hiss, and V let out a small sigh. Even though she didn't inhale much of the MaxDoc, Jackie was satisfied that she would last the rest of the trip.
It was quiet in the car for about a minute before V started to gag. Jackie thought she was coughing and tried to hand her the water bottle, but she pushed it away. Unsure what to do, Jackie was beginning to panic. His first thought was to get off the highway and pull over, but he didn't get the chance. V reached for the door handle and opened it.
"The fuck you doing?! We're going 80!" Jackie's adrenaline spiked as he divided his attention between driving and pulling V back into the car. But he backed off V once she had her head out the door and began to violently vomit. The extreme heaving continued for several seconds as Jackie dodged around cars so V wouldn't lose her head. Once she stopped, Jackie pulled her in, the door coming with them as V had not let go of the handle.
"Feeling better there, choom?" Jackie asked, trying to joke with the girl. She didn't respond, or even acknowledge his question. She instead took the water bottle that Jackie had dropped in his panic, and took a large gulp. Jackie grimaced at the bile and green blood her mouth left on the lip. "I guess that's officially your water bottle."
Again, V didn't respond. After capping the bottle and placing it in the cup holder next to Jackie's phone, she closed her eyes. Her gangster friend was still worried about her shivers, as he half watched her hug herself for warmth. Everything was quiet again, the only noticeable sounds being the engine and V's steady breathing. Jackie assumed she dosed off and didn't dare wake her till they were at Vik's.
"Welcome to Misty's Esoterica. I'll be with you in- oh god," Misty said as she looked up from the client she was helping. Her kinda boyfriend had just walked in, but her attention was drawn to the severely injured woman he was with.
"Hey Misty," Jackie said, half dragging the woman into his girlfriend's shop. "Could you let Vik know we're here? We got an appointment."
"Uh, yea. Yea." Stepping over to the counter top, Misty typed a short message for Vik on her computer. Within a couple seconds, she received the ripperdoc's response. "Vik's all set for you. Is she going to be alright?" she asked. Despite being Viktor's impromptu receptionist for nearly a year, Misty couldn't stop worrying about the more injured clients. And this woman was struggling to stand up, let alone walk.
"No worries, cariño. Vik is the best there is," Jackie said. He dragged his companion out the back door and down the alley stairs to Viktor's Clinic.
"I like your synth skin!" Misty called out to the green woman, but she was ignored.
"Get her in the chair," Vik commanded. He had just finished setting up the necessary supplies for an emergency operation. Only thing left was to inject his arms with stability meds, as to help make everything flow smoother. "Outside of multiple stab and bullet wounds, anything I should know?"
"She stuck her head out of a moving vehicle and puked all over the highway," Jackie said, his voice lacking the usual carefree tone Vik was used to.
"When was this?"
"Right after I gave her some MaxDoc. V was shivering and seemed to be in pain, so I thought…" Jackie trailed off, a slight fear that he screwed up rising in him.
"It was the right call," Vik reassured him. "Might have been an allergic reaction to the inhalant. Rare, but not unheard of." Turning to his new patient, Vik handed her a neural jack.
"Alright, Miss V was it? Let's get you jacked in so I can see the full extent of the damage." He tried to carry a friendly smile, but that didn't help with V's hesitation. With extreme caution, she took the jack from his hand. She stared at it, her face scrunched in confusion.
"Take the jack," Vik said, tapping the wire, "and plug it into your port." He tapped the side of his neck, hoping to get the point across. It didn't work. Her confusion grew, as she raised a thin eyebrow at him as if he was an idiot. "Jackie, please tell your friend to plug in the jack."
V moved her gaze to the gangster in a desperate act for reassurance. Jackie made eye contact with her and was about explain. He taught her how to use a Bounce Back. A neural jack should be easy. But something in his gut made him hesitate. That feeling that made him save a complete stranger was back but different somehow.
"Uh… Vik," Jackie turned to the ripperdoc. "I-uh… don't think she has a neural port."
"No neural port," Vik laughed. "Jackie, you don't get eye implants without a neural port."
"I don't think she has any chrome, either."
"For the love of-," Vik sighed. "Fine, I'll do it myself." He took the jack from V and gently moved her head away from him. When he didn't see a neural port, he moved her head in the opposite direction. "Don't tell me you got one of those outdated, netrunner ports." Vik sat the girl up as to check the back of her head and neck for a port, but still found nothing.
V growled in frustration, not understanding and clearly not enjoying Vik's prodding. She slapped his arm away before griping in a language the ripperdoc didn't recognize.
"Whoa, easy there V," Jackie said, rushing to the woman's side. "Viktor's just trying to help."
"Jackie," V said, pointing to the stairwell. She tried to get out of the operating chair, but Jackie pushed her back down.
"Can't leave, choom. Not till you're patched up." Jackie tapped her stomach before she could yell at him, and she relented.
"I need to check something," Vik said. Stepping away from the patient, he walked back to his usual spot and opened one of the desk drawers. Inside was an assortment of old medical tools, from which he chose an ophthalmoscope. Going back to the operating chair, he moved Jackie out of the way and sat down on his stool.
"Eyes on me, V." Vik pointed back and forth between his eyes and hers as to best convey his instructions. He turned on the ophthalmoscope, lighting up its LED, and held it to V's eye. He looked through the tool and almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. The basic structure of V's eye appeared normal, but the coloring was all off. The veins took on a dark green and stood out against the bright red retina. And most striking of all was the complete lack of cybernetics. V's eyes were 100% organic. He checked the other eye just to be sure, but still no implants.
"Well, I'll be damned," Vik whispered.
"Was I right?" Jackie asked, sounding a little too proud of himself.
Vik didn't answer, instead walking away again. This time he went into a dimly lit back area, and came back pushing a small cart with a computer and a mechanical arm attached to it.
"A CT scan? You're patching her up, not installing a cyberdeck."
"Jackie, you're a smart guy," Vik said. "You were right about V not having any cybernetics. But last time I checked, humans don't have red eyes and green skin."
"Just because she's a little weird doesn't mean she's not human," Jackie defended. "I just saw the green blood and assumed some corpo scientist tried fucking with her genes."
"Here's hoping you're wrong," Vik said, setting up the computer. "Cause if your right, the two of us are dead men walking."
Once the program was ready, Vik positioned the mechanical arm. On the end was a slightly curved apparatus two feet in length. Vik moved it over V's midsection then started the program, causing a series of lights along apparatus to illuminate a soft purple.
"We are good to go," Vik stated. "Jackie, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. V, do your best to not move." Again, Vik made sure V got the message. He positioned her arms by her sides and did his best to gesture for stillness, his hands slowly patting the air above her. The scowl she gave the ripperdoc made him a bit concerned, but V still seemed to understand his instructions as she relaxed into the reclined position. Whoever she was, Vik could tell she was beyond intelligent.
Once Jackie was gone, Vik started the count down before going into the back area, safely out of sight. The light apparatus began to rotate, taking a scan of V's body. First it went up to her head before rotating down to her feet. Once complete, the computer let out three soft beeps before scanning her whole body again. After the second scan, the apparatus shut off and the computer let out a single loud beep.
Vik stepped out from his hiding spot. As he expected, the computer display numerous error messages. The computer couldn't understand what it was seeing and did a second scan, only to receive the same results. The error that stood out the most to Vik was V's exceptionally high body temperature: 51.4°C or about 124.6°F. That was far above what would kill a human. So why didn't she feel like a furnace? Checking the other error messages, Vik found the smoking gun he was looking for.
His mobile scanner could never compare to the equipment used in hospitals, or even what Trauma Team used. Their scanners could show concentrations of individual elements and substances down to 10 cubic micrometers, or just larger than the size of a red blood cell. Such technology, however, was reserved for the top 0.1% of society. His scanner could only give general measurements of commonly found elements. Thankfully, that was plenty enough for examining V.
V had extremely high traces of copper and sulfur in her body. These are elements the body needed to function, but they would become deadly toxic at the levels the computer was displaying. While he was no biologist, Vik couldn't think of a single creature that functioned with such unusual chemical compositions, with the possible exception of some extremophile bacteria. To top it off, the computer was registering anomalous materials. These chemicals where unlabeled because it wasn't programed to identify them.
Lastly, he checked V's anatomy. To Vik's surprise, everything looked somewhat normal. The only thing that jumped out at him was how unusual some of the organs were shaped. In anyone else, he would call these deformities. But it was all too uniform for that. This was less like a genetic mutation, and more like looking at the insides of a bona fide alien. Vik was starting to feel like he was in a poorly written movie about Area 51 and lizard people.
"You wouldn't happen to be a space alien, would you V?" he asked. She didn't answer and he wasn't expecting one. "Your right. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Maybe I'll take a day off and scout the Badlands for a crashed UFO." V turned her head to him, probably wondering what he was babbling on about.
Deciding to leave the weirdness alone for the time being, Vik focused in on the wounds. Thanks to V's somewhat ordinary anatomy, repairing the internal damage would be a simple job. The part that made things difficult was her green blood. If he had to guess, the blood was what caused the sulfur and copper readings to spike. That meant he couldn't give her synthetic blood after the operation as it would most likely kill her. Vik would have to operate fast, because if V lost too much blood then he wouldn't be able to save her.
"Alright, V. Here's the plan," Vik said, reaching for the anesthetic gun. "The easiest way to do this is to put you under. You're gonna feel light headed for a minute, then it's lights out." He placed the proper medicine into the gun, twisting the canister into place. Vik felt a bit off giving a play-by-play to a patient that didn't understand English, but the habit was good bedside manner.
"Once you are asleep, I'll get to work repairing your insides. Should be a quick operation. When you are awake, I'll have Misty help you wash up. Sound good?"
"Jackie?" V's shivering and nerves making her sound scared. Vik could empathize. Far from home in the big city where no one could talk to you? He figured she must be terrified, even if she didn't want to show it.
"Jackie is waiting outside. He'll be here when you wake up," he smiled. "Let's get started." Vik pressed the gun hypo against V's neck and squeezed. There was a soft hiss, and V slowly dozed off.
"Charla loca! How 'bout you stop shittin' me and give it to me straight?"
"I'm telling you, V isn't human," Vik said. He stood inside Misty's shop with her and Jackie. V was going to be unconscious for about another hour, giving him time to figure out the best course of action with Jackie. But Jackie didn't want to listen.
"Because space alien make so much more sense," Jackie huffed, rolling his eyes.
"I'll show you the scans if I must. There it not a single thing on this Earth built like she is. I know it sounds crazy, but when you eliminate every other possible answer…" Vik trailed off, struggling to make his argument. Jackie was right to be doubtful, but he couldn't think of another possibility.
"And what if she's an Arasaka experiment?"
"I considered that, but the technology just doesn't exist. The best anyone can do is modifying an existing organism, preferably while still in utero. And those modifications are usually to the organism's own detriment. To create a human like V would mean starting from scratch. Not even Biotechnica could pull that one off."
Jackie scratched his chin and turned to Misty.
"Do you believe him?" he asked.
"It's not that outlandish," Misty said, shuffling an old tarot deck. "Our solar system just reached Andromeda. Perhaps some other worldly beings sent a scout to check out the new star."
"The way she fights?" Jackie laughed. "V might be an intergalactic criminal in hiding."
"Regardless of where she came from," Vik interrupted, "we need to figure out what to do with her. She looks human enough, but it would still be best to keep her out of sight as much as possible."
"I just assumed she was gonna live with me and Mama," Jackie said. "At least until she heals."
"She does trust you, so that would probably be best. But how do we communicate with her?"
"We communicate just fine," Jackie smirked, shrugging off Vik's concern.
"Vik's right. If she says here, we need a long term solution," Misty interjected. "We need to teach her English, even if that means starting from scratch."
"And how do we do that?"
"One of my regulars is a netrunner…" Vik started, thinking out loud. "He likes to sell pirated software on the side. Normally, I wouldn't trust anything coming from his system, but I might be able to get some educational programs on the cheap. Until then, teaching her will have to fall on you." Vik nodded to Jackie.
"How? Mama and I speak Español at home. Half of Heywood only speaks Español!"
"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Vik whispered. Now it was his turn to smirk.
"Tienes que estar bromeando."
"Some clothes would probably be a good idea, too," Misty said.
"I'm not buying V clothes," Vik said. "I'll save her life a million times over if I have to, but my generosity ends there."
"V has eddies," Jackie stated, his tone so matter-of-fact it caught his two friends off guard.
"Care to expand on that little tid bit?" Misty asked.
"I got a big bag in my car that V was caring around. It's full of food, meds, and a fat wad of paper eddies. Most nomads carry some kind of emergency supplies. My guess is she klepped it off the Wraiths that were chasing her down."
"Okay then," Misty said. She felt a splash of uneasiness run through her. She didn't like that Jackie's idea of intergalactic criminal suddenly made a lot more sense.
"We have a game plan," Vik nodded. "Jackie, you grab that bag. I'll write down V's basic measurements, and Misty can use the eddies to buy her some fresh clothes. Once she wakes up, we can wash her and send her home with Jackie."
"Why am I buying the clothes?"
"Because it was your idea."
"What did your mother say?" Vik asked.
"She's happy to help a person in need; once I convinced her that V isn't a pandillero of course."
"Yeah, that sounds like Guadalupe."
Vik was in the process of transferring files from the CT scanner to his main computer. It was unlikely anyone would try to steal his equipment, but he didn't want to risk it. Once he had V's scans on his main computer, he could encrypt them.
Without much to do, Jackie did his best to patiently wait. After giving some of V's money to Misty to go shopping, he called Mama Welles to fill her in. He omitted the not-entirely-human part, as he didn't trust his mother to trust him with something so outrageous. That only took a few minutes, so then he set up a wheel chair and blanket for V. He figured she wouldn't want to stay in the operating chair when she woke up. With the wheel chair she could sit up more. After that, all he could do was sit and wait. He planted himself on Vik's weight bench, his right leg bouncing in tense anticipation.
"Would you please cut that out?" Vik asked. "Christ Jackie, you're acting like your mother just had a heart attack."
"Lo siento."
"It's going to be okay," Vik smiled at his young friend. "Give V a week, and she'll be as good as new. Better even."
"I know. Just… it's all so weird you know?" Jackie rubbed the back of his neck, doing his best to calm his nerves.
"You mean finding an alien wandering the Badlands and then saving her from Raffen Shiv?"
"Well, yeah there's that," Jackie nodded. "But I keep getting this feeling. Like some gut reaction pulling me towards her."
"Uh hu…" Vik was silent for a long second, not entirely sure how to respond. He wasn't known for giving out emotional advice. "This feeling… is it like an attraction? Maybe parental or sexual?"
"No, no. It's more like… someone is commanding me to go to her. Like… El Dios is up there telling me to protect V." Jackie pointed up to the ceiling before bringing his hands together.
"You know I've never been religious, Jackie." Vik looked over at V and scratched his chin. "But then again, if you want to make an argument for a higher power, a human-like alien would be a good starting point."
"So, you believe me?"
"That your gut told you to do all this? Yes. Do I believe it was God's doing? Not in the slightest."
"Oh," Jackie pouted a little, but brushed off his disappointment.
"How about you do us both a favor and practice your boxing stances? We got a while, and I won't have you moping for the next hour."
"I'm back!" Misty opened the door to Viktor's Clinic, several retail bags in hand.
Things were quiet as usual. The only sound was Jackie's heavy breathing as he borrowed Vik's dumbbells. V sat in a wheelchair with a blanket, watching him. The woman was still half asleep from the anesthetics and probably wasn't even aware of the rest of the room. For once, Vik wasn't filling the silence by watching T.V boxing. He was hunched over his computer, going over the results of V's CT scan.
"Learn anything about your newest patient?"
"Hu? Oh, hey Misty," Vik said. "I was actually trying to figure out her shirt. I think the fabric is what registered the unknown materials. And is seems to have a structure similar to the mesh used in neural implants. What I'd give to have an electron microscope right now."
"Riiiight…," Misty paused, only understanding about half of what Vik said. "I think I'll stick to the spiritual and leave medical science to you."
"19… 20…" Jackie sat down the dumbbell and stretched. "Took you long enough. Get anything good from the shop?"
"I'll let V decide that. After I shower the poor woman."
"Jackie, go with 'em," Vik said. "At least until V knows what's going on. I don't want her panicking and reopening her wounds."
Jackie pushed V's wheelchair into the back area and to the steps leading to Vik's apartment, Misty following right behind. Normally, the ripperdoc wouldn't let anyone up there, but it was the only shower they had immediate access to.
"Alright amiga," Jackie said, removing V's blanket. "Put your weight on me. We'll take it slow." He helped the woman stand, and they worked their way up the steps. Despite her obvious dizziness, V kept trying to pull away from Jackie. Her independence streak was a point of amusement to the gangster, but Jackie easily overpowered her. "You can't win, V. Not when coming off a high."
Going up to the second level, the group made their way into Viktor's flat. It was a single room consisting of a bed, a T.V, a kitchenette, and a small bathroom off to the side. V did her best to take the place in while her companions led her over to the shower. Once she was the bathroom, the green woman quickly connected the dots. She sniffed her shirt and immediately blushed, her face turning a deep evergreen color.
"Alright, Jackie. You can go now," Misty said. She placed the retail bags on the bed.
"But Vik said to make sure V knew what was going on," Jackie protested, not realizing that the woman in question was already undressing.
"Which she clearly does. Now shoo, before I tell Mama Welles you were trying to sneak a peek."
"I'm just going to start the water, and then I'll- Aauh!" Jackie turned to see V had already dropped her pants and panties and was currently struggling to remove her black crop top. He quickly covered his eyes, his cheeks turning a deep red. "V!"
"Haaaa hahaha," V broke into a fit of laughter at Jackie's expense. Even Misty giggled a little when she copied the 'Aauh' Jackie had made.
"Perra loca," Jackie mumbled, rushing out of the flat.
"Okay goofball. Let's get the shirt off," Misty said as she approached V.
V stopped laughing and tried to turn away from Misty, which proved difficult as she was forced to lean against the sink for balance. She frowned at the girl, pointing at Misty and then to the door. Misty shook her head in response.
"You just got out of surgery," Misty pointed out. She gently traced the still visible marks on V's stomach, to make sure the woman understood. "I'm helping you. Now arms up."
Letting out a whimper, V let Misty guide her. She lifted her arms to let Misty remove her top and then sat on the sink so her shoes could come off. Once she was naked, she let Misty lead her into the shower.
To Misty's credit, she tried her best not to stare. It was clear that V was embarrassed and was probably not used to needing help for such simple things. But the temptation of curiosity was too great. Whether V was an alien or corpo experiment, Misty wanted to get a good look at her. So, she snuck her own peeks as she removed V's top and blood-caked shoed. And she was thoroughly disappointed. Outside of a few details, V looked just as human in the nude as she did with clothes on.
Once in the shower, Misty sat V down on the metal stool Vik used. After stripping herself naked, she reached over V's head to the shower knobs.
"This might be a bit cold at first, but I'll warm it up." Misty turned the flow knob, allowing the water to pour over her and V.
"Eek!" V squealed, immediately trying to avoid the icy spray. In her injured and drowsy state, Misty was able to hold her to the stool.
"Give it a second!"
As the water increased in temperature, V ceased her struggling and relaxed. Misty went to work cleaning the green woman, starting with her hair. Leaning V forward, Misty made sure her mohawk was wet before reaching for Vik's scentless shampoo. Once V's scalp was properly scrubbed, she leaned the woman forward again.
"Miss Tee," V stuttered, pointing up at the ceiling.
"Let's keep you sitting for right now," Misty said.
"Miss Tee." V pointed at the shower nobs and then up again.
"Ooooh, you want it warmer." Misty reached forward and turned the left knob. A few seconds later, the shower grew hotter and steamier. V leaned back into Misty with a satisfied sigh.
Misty continued to wash V in silence, both women enjoying the peaceful static of the running water. When washing the arms, Misty tried not to stare at V's lack of pinkies or over examine her light brown freckles. However, she did puzzle over the black soot that seemed to require extra scrubbing to come off. She didn't bother asking though, knowing the V wouldn't be able to answer.
She handed the brush to V, letting the woman scrub her own legs and midsection. V took her time savoring the bit of independence she had just been handed. She even started to quietly sing to herself.
Misty let herself smile at seeing V so happy. She had no clue what her new companion was singing. The language was unfamiliar to her ears. But that didn't subtract from how hypnotic V's voice was. Her song was only a couple minutes, at which point V stopped scrubbing.
"Miss Tee," V said, this time pointing to herself and then up.
"Oh, alright," Misty chuckled. Grabbing V by the arm, she helped the woman stand. Once on her feet, V was able to steady herself against the wall. "I'll get your back." Misty picked up the brush, allowing V to reach for the shower knobs unnoticed.
"Just need a bit more soa- AHH! TOO HOT!" Misty leaped back out of the flow of water to avoid being burned.
"Hehehe! Hehehe!" V giggled. She gazed at Misty with a renewed air of mischief.
"V! No! Not cool." Misty moved back into the water to turn down the temperature, but V blocked her.
"No. Not cool," said V. She placed her arms on opposite walls of the shower, allowing her to stand up straight. Looking down at Misty, V's eyes narrowed as her lips grew into a twisted grin.
"V…" Misty struggled to think of words. Up until that point, V had been forced to lean on another person to stand. Only now was Misty able to take in just how imposing V's figure was. She was thin but fit enough to show the faint outline of strong muscles. She was also unusually tall, a full head taller than Misty. That put her on par with many of the Animals gang members. Misty knew she was 6 feet and 5 inches thanks to the scans, but numbers alone didn't do justice.
"Miss Tee," V said before leaning in close and whispering, "Miss Tee." Her voice took on a sickeningly sensual tone, forcing Misty to back away again.
"Please stop," Misty said. She tried to sound strong, but her voice wouldn't allow it. She no longer felt like the spiritual young woman helping a new friend. Misty felt like a small helpless creature, and V was the predator who wanted to tear her to shreds.
Letting out a small laugh, V turned around and pointed at her back. Misty didn't say anything. With V's body blocking the water, she could safely approach without getting burned. She picked up the brush, added a small dab of soap, and began to cautiously scrub V's back. At one point, Misty tried to reach around and turn down the shower temperature, but V swatted her hand away.
"All done," she said. Misty backed up to allow V to turn around again.
The green woman kept her eyes closed, letting the water flow over her. Misty didn't let her guard down, but couldn't help but see the pain hiding underneath V's hard exterior. The way her face scrunched and her body bent seemed uncomfortable. It was like she was struggling to exist within her own mind. Even an amateur spiritualist would see that V's chakras were all out of whack.
Given what little she knew about V, Misty was sure the towering woman was capable of great evil. She could only hope V decided to do great good instead.