V ran the electric clippers along her scalp, cutting her hair short. She had yet to shape up her hair in the two months since she arrived on Earth, and her mohawk was starting to disappear into the mess on her head. She wasn't going to shave her scalp clean like she used to, but she did want a well-defined punk look. Within a few minutes, her experienced hands had buzzed down the hair on the sides of her head. Grabbing a pair a scissors, she started to shape up her mohawk. Trimming it back to her shoulder, V did her best to make it appear neat and full once again. The bits of hair that she lost in The World Eater explosion were starting to grow back, but it would be awhile before she could replicate her old look.
Once she was done with her hair, she painted black tears under her left eye. She didn't bother with the right eye, as she always wore a bandage over the empty socket. Instead, she decided to drape her mohawk over the eye, obscuring the bandage. With a nod to her reflection, she turned away from the sink and suited up.
V once again found herself without a bulletproof vest, but she didn't worry about it too much. She could move faster without one. She instead focused on making sure all her guns were loaded. A standard Militech 10AF Lexington pistol was holstered at her hip and a Malorian Overture double-action revolver rested under her jacket for when she needed something bigger. On her left side was her machete resting in its sheathe right next to her ECM loaded with the best ICE-breakers she could afford. And on her back was a messenger bag with all the spare ammo she and Jackie could ask for. Just for good measure, she also threw a couple shock grenades and flash bangs in there.
The job was supposed to be simple, but if V had learned anything in Night City, it's that things can go from simple to dangerously complicated in a millisecond. This was also Jackie's first edgerunner gig. Hell, it was his first job since getting shot three times in the chest. He went to the shooting range to shake off the rust, but V didn't want to chance it. Any signs of trouble and the grenades go flying.
Making her way done the stairs, she was stopped by Mama on her way out.
"Just a minute, V," Mama said, standing up from the couch.
"Hm?"
"I need you to promise me something."
"Promise?" V asked, unsure of where Mama was wanting.
"Please keep my Jackie safe," Mama pleaded. "I know I can't stop either of you from continuing down this path you have chosen, but I can't bear the thought of mi hijo dying. Not after what happened last time. Please, V. Don't let Jackie get himself killed."
V took a moment to process Mama's request. She responded with a soft smile and a nod.
"I promise, Mama," she said. V was about to leave, but was once again caught off guard by Mama hugging her. It was a bit awkward for the alien, as the height different essentially meant that Mama's head rested on her breast. But Mama didn't seem to notice, so V returned the hug.
"You be careful, too chica," Mama smiled as she let go of V. "Just because you're El Diablo, doesn't mean you are bulletproof."
"I know. I know," V chuckled before turning to the door. "Don't wait up."
"Hey," V greeted as she stepped into Jackie's garage.
"Hey, Hermana," Jackie said. "Give me a second. Almost done getting the new seat on."
V sat on Jackie's weight bench and waited for him to finish the minor modification to his bike. She still didn't have her own vehicle, despite trying to steal one on multiple occasions. She had been focusing most of her efforts on learning English and understanding Earth's unusual computer systems. Between that, running gigs, and helping Mama at the bar, she had yet to learn how to hotwire a car. Getting a ride from anyone else was becoming more difficult, so Jackie decided to change the seat on his motorcycle to a 2-up.
"And tighten that bolt," Jackie mumbled to himself. "Done!" He sat his tools down and turned to V. "You get the supplies?"
"Yep." V removed her bag and opened it for Jackie to see.
"Maldición. We're doing a stealth job, V. That's enough ammo to storm Fort Knox. "
"Eh," V shrugged. "Last long time."
"You still got eddies after buying all that?"
"Yes."
"Good, 'cause I'm officially broke," Jackie said.
"Ha! How much?"
"Between the seat and the bulletproof helmets?" Jackie had to pause to do some quick math, something he always struggled with. "About 1600 eddies. Plus, I picked up a second pistol at the range, so another 1000 for the gun and range time. I'm broke, Hermana."
"Good thing we got job," V grinned.
"Speaking of which, we better get our asses over to Arroyo." Jackie handed V the slightly larger of the two motorcycle helmets and started up his bike. "Hop on."
Arroyo was the industrial part of Santo Domingo, Night City's suburbia. Next to Arroyo was Rancho Coronado, which resembled many of the neighborhoods of 20th century USA. V had no real idea what that meant, as her only reference was the old movies Jackie liked to watch. The part she was interested in was the 6th Street Gang, who ran Santo Domingo.
The gang was established about 45 years prior by military veterans that were unsatisfied with the NCPD's efforts. Most of the founding members fought in the 4th Corporate War of 2021, a time period V had yet to learn much about. They recently had an influx of new members. Veterans of the Unification War that ended a year prior had been joining 6th Street. This put many local fixers and gangs on alert. No one knew how this influx would affect the gang's relations with other organizations. In the past, most were willing to leave 6th Street alone, but now there was a risk that 6th Street wouldn't leave them alone.
That's where Jackie and V came in. The 6th Street Gang was mostly decentralized, but they kept a large stash of their tech and data in Megabuilding 06. They had a hideout on the 19th floor, and had converted one of the apartments into a server room. Jackie and V's job was to sneak in and upload a virus onto the servers. It would allow Padre to keep an eye on their activity, and potentially sell that info to other gangs and fixers.
Jackie pulled into the Magabuilding's parking garage and flicked out the motorcycle's kickstand.
"Let's make this fast. Don't want to get towed for parking in someone's spot," Jackie joked.
The pair made their way over to the freight elevator and took it to the 3rd floor, the maintenance level. When the doors opened, V and Jackie immediately crouched low. There was a pair of 6th Street members standing guard in the corner. Fortunately, the thugs were having a conversation and not paying attention to the elevator. V tapped Jackie on the shoulder and held a finger up in a quieting gesture.
"Remember. Feel," V whispered as she tapped the side of her helmet. She turned away from Jackie and began to sneak her way around the large room. There were plenty of concrete pillars, server cabinets, and piping to hide behind. Soon, she was on the opposite side of their targets. V pulled out her machete.
As if on cue, the gang member further away turned his head to the sound of Jackie's sprint. He was tackled to the ground and V made her move. Placing her left hand over the second man's mouth, she forced her blade into his chest. The machete went through his body and out the front of his rib cage. His heart stopped at the sudden and extreme loss of blood.
Removing her blade, V let the fresh corpse fall. Turning to Jackie, she watched him try to subdue the other gang member. He had his hands around the man's neck, trying to strangling the thug. It was a slow method, and not guaranteed to be lethal. With a heavy sigh, V shoved Jackie aside with her foot. The 6th Street member was just barely able to take a gasp of air before V brought her machete down on his face.
"What the fuck, V?!" Jackie yelled as he picked himself up.
"Too slow. Kill faster," V said, calmly wiping off her blade.
"You didn't have to kill them."
"Yes. We did." V slid her machete back into its sheathe and unclipped her ECM. "Us or them, Jackie. No third option."
Not wanting to devolve into argument, V walked over to the service elevator panel and jacked in. She typed away for about a minute before the elevator came to life and opened. The idea was that 6th Street wouldn't have much security around the service elevator, as it required a Maintenance ID to access. Clipping her ECM back to her hip, she stepped on to the elevator and motioned for Jackie to follow.
The ride to the 19th floor was silent. V could sense that Jackie wanted to comment on her killing the guards, but he was choosing to focus on the job. With a soft ding, the service elevator opened to the 19th floor. Sure enough, there were not any 6th Street members nearby. V and Jackie crouched low again and moved over to the concrete banister.
They could see the whole interior of Megabuilding 06. V had yet to set foot inside any of the megablocks that were scattered around the city, and she couldn't help but take a moment to admire the simple design. She was essentially inside a hollow block that stood 60 stories high, with the perimeter made of housing units. It wasn't just apartments either. She could see various shops and restaurants scattered around the Megabuilding. It was essentially a miniature city contained within a single skyscraper. Part of her wanted to stick her head out and see if the top was open, but ignored the urge as she didn't want to be spotted.
Over the next several minutes, Jackie and V made their way into and through the 6th Street hideout. Progress was slow as their obstacles were numerous. On top of avoiding the gang members, they also had to avoid being spotted by cameras. To make thing even more complicated, several parts of the flooring were in disrepair and it forced the duo to find alternative routes. The one break they did get was how few and far apart the gang members were. Jackie and V had purposefully chosen to go in at mid-evening, when most people would be trying to find something for supper.
Eventually, they made it into the server room. Jackie went in first to make sure the coast was clear. He did a quick sweep of the room before waving V in. The alien went to work, jacking into the main interface computer. She began typing away, but quickly ran into a problem. The system was looking for a neural signature. It wanted a live person to jack in, not an external module. The netrunners at the shop said it was a last ditch countermeasure meant to keep hostile AI out of systems. How 6th Street got their hands on something so sophisticated was anyone's guess.
"Jackie, problem," V said.
"Bad time for that, chica. What's the issue?"
"Need live cyberdeck. Module no good."
"Chingados," Jackie cursed under his breath. "You said that thing was reliable."
"It is. They have heavy ICE. Rejects ECM."
"Is that the only thing keeping you out?"
"Yes."
"If you jacked into a person, could you go through them to get into the servers?"
"Uh…" V looked down at her ECM as she thought through Jackie's idea. "Yes. Could work."
"Then let's get you a cyberdeck," Jackie said, smiling under his helmet.
V unplugged her module and followed her partner in crime. They left the servers behind and made their way to a more populated part of the hideout. It took a few minutes of waiting and hiding, but they eventually got lucky. A woman with clear cybernetic lines on her face and arms walked past them and towards the server room. They followed and Jackie moved in once they were out of ear shot of the rest of the gang.
"Don't move," Jackie commanded, pressing the barrel of his pistol against the woman's head. "Make a sound, and you die."
"If you shoot me, then everyone will know you are here," the woman retorted.
"V, if you would."
V quietly giggled as she pulled out her machete and held it against the woman's throat. The woman gulped, the irritation of the blade against her windpipe making her sweat.
"You want to live? Then do as we say," Jackie said. "Server room. Start walking."
The woman led them back to the servers with Jackie being sure to steer her away from any rooms that had a camera. Once they reached the interface computer, V jacked into the port on the woman's neck while Jackie tied her to the computer chair with some spare cables. V breached the gangster's firewall then pulled the personal jack from the woman's arm and plugged it into the computer.
"I'm in," V said.
"Good. Finish up so we can go," Jackie said.
"Organic edgerunners," the 6th Street woman spat. "That's a new one."
"Shut up," Jackie said. To emphasis his distaste, he punched the woman. She only responded with a spiteful glare.
"Done," V said. She unhooked the woman from the servers before removing the ECM from the thug's cyberdeck. After clipping her module to her hip, she pulled out her machete. "Time to die."
"V, no," Jackie stopped her, stepping between her and their hostage. "No unnecessary killing. We did our job, so let's just leave."
"Unnecessary?" V questioned. She stepped up to Jackie, using her minor height advantage to try and intimidate him. "She knows. She will talk. Job all for nothing."
For a short yet tense moment, V could feel the turmoil inside Jackie. Jackie was no saint, but he really didn't like the idea of killing someone defenseless. But he also knew she was right. If they left the woman alive, she would tell all of 6th Street about the hack as soon as possible. The virus would be discovered and removed from the system. Jackie turned to the 6th Street woman with pain in his heart.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. He wrapped his arms around the gangster's head and pulled in opposite directions. In one smooth motion, he twisted the woman's neck. With a loud crack, her neck snapped and she fell limp.
"Whoa," V blinked. "That's it? She dead?"
"I snapped her neck," Jackie said. "Clean and quick. Help me move her somewhere less obvious."
V and Jackie moved the body into another empty room. Fortune smiled on them once again, as there was an old sofa to lay the woman on. It would be a couple hours before anyone even realized she was dead.
After making their escape, V gave Padre a call to notify him the job was a success and that she would pick up her payment the next day. Jackie was paid immediately via his bank account. Despite this, V offered to buy dinner. The man looked like he could use a good meal.
V took another bite of her cheeseburger as she watched Jackie slowly sip on his milkshake. He hadn't even touched his own burger yet.
"Jackie, come on," V said. "You have killed before."
"Not as much as you," he responded, "and never anyone who wasn't shooting back."
"Really? Remember Becker?" V asked. She was having trouble believing the sorrow when they tortured an innocent man together shortly after meeting.
"We didn't kill him, but point taken," Jackie said. "I wanted to get away from that. To be better, like Mama asked." He took another sip of his milkshake before continuing. "Don't get me wrong, V. I'm under no illusions about this job. Killing is part of being an edgerunner. I was just hoping I could leave the brutality behind."
"Wrong job, wrong planet," V said. Then she chuckled at her own love of brutality. "Wrong partner."
"Teaming up with El Diablo was probably a mistake," Jackie smiled.
"We did it, right?" V pointed out. "The gig?"
"Sì. That was a smooth job. And I guess those three deaths were unavoidable."
"To Jackie and V. Night City Legends," V smiled. She picked up her own milkshake and held it out as if proposing a toast.
"To us," Jackie laughed. "Two legends in the making." He tapped the edge of his cup against V's and they both took a large gulp of chocolaty goodness.
"You know what the funniest part it?" Jackie asked.
"What?"
"You bought all that ammo, and we didn't fire a single shot."
V desperately tried to type away on her laptop, but there were too many things working against her today. She was still trying to make sense of Earth computers, which slowed down her work flow substantially. They appeared to be based on a synthetic neural system, as opposed to the much more common binary system. Neural systems were not unheard of, as that's what most sentient AI races ran on. What was weird was how the Earthlings made the jump from binary to neural so quickly. From her understanding, they went from binary to neural in under 50 Earth years.
Normally, she would slog her way through the code, but that dork Andy decided to visit. Why Jackie had taken such an interest in the kid was beyond V. It wasn't usually an issue, but the boys were being loud today. She tried to escape to her and Jackie's room, but it was no use. There was no door, so their voices easily traveled up the stairs. Her one quiet sanctuary was rendered useless.
"Hey, V," Jackie said, snapping the green woman out of her thoughts. She turned to find her friend had entered the room.
"What?" V sighed.
"Mind if we borrow your knife? I'm helping Andy with an art project."
"Sure. Big bag. Front left pocket." V turned back to her work, wanting to get back to her own project.
"Gracias, chica," Jackie thanked. He located the large backpack next to V's cot and went to grab it. He failed to notice that the old bag had a strap stuck under the cot. When he picked it up, part of the bottom tore open with a loud rip.
"Seriously?" V groaned. She turned back to Jackie, her eyebrows low in annoyance.
"Uh… It's a small hole," Jackie insisted. "I can fix it later." He yanked on the backpack in attempt to unsnag it, but only managed to completely rip the bottom open. All of V's personal belongings spilled out onto the floor.
V froze. Her eye went straight to the dildo box she kept buried at the bottom of her belongings bag. The same box that was clearly labeled Mr. Stud and currently laid on the floor between her and Jackie. She hesitantly raised her head and saw that Jackie was staring at that same box.
"Heh… hehehe… HAHAHAHA!" Jackie burst into a fit of laughter. His arm went to his midsection as he started to double over and gasp for air.
His reaction broke V from her trance. Feeling an emerald blush on her cheeks, V stood up and marched over to Jackie. With an almost animalistic growl, she wrenched the bag from his hand and began to pick up her things.
"Hahaha… of- of all the people… hahaha… to own… one of those… Hahaha… I- I never thought…" Jackie struggled to get the words out. His speech was constantly interrupted by his near roaring laughter and need to breathe.
"Flarpin'... ASSHOLE!" V screamed. She found herself getting extremely upset, to the point of needing to fight back tears.
"Hahaha… ha… heh" Jackie's laughter slowed. His previous demeanor seemed to vanish. As his grin disappeared, it was replaced by confusion and a hint of sadness. "Oh."
"What?" V asked, wiping her watery eye.
"I uh…" Jackie paused. "I don't know. It's like a… a wave of emotions came over me. Except it felt like they were coming from someone else."
"Yea," V said. "The bond. I feel your mind all the time."
"It's so… weird."
"Yea. I know."
"Lamento que. I'm sorry, V."
"You guys ok up there?" Andy called from down stairs.
"STAY OUT!" V yelled.
"We're good, Andy," Jackie reassured. "Just having a moment. I'll be right there."
V let out another long sigh. She unzipped the front left pocket of her bag and handed Jackie the knife from inside.
"Gracias," Jackie said, "and again, I'm sorry."
V met Jackie's gaze for a moment before giving him a small smile. Then she punched him in the arm as hard as she could while hugging her bag.
"OOOOOW! The hell?!"
"I forgive you," V sang before returning to the desk and sitting down.
"Everything appears normal," Vik said, as he looked over V's blood test. "Well, normal for you. I'll get you hooked up and take 8oz of blood, just like last time."
"Any progress?" V asked.
"From the first sample? Yes." Vik gently pushed a needle into V's vein and watched to make sure the emerald blood was flowing into the medical bag. "You want the good news or the bad news first?"
"Good".
"Bad news," Jackie interjected. "Always ask for the bad news first."
"Ok?" V raised an eyebrow at him before turning back to Vik. "Bad news first."
"Your cells cannot survive the cold. All attempts to cryo-preserve your blood result in the cells dying in less than 10 days. Long term storage is not an option."
"Grob," V sighed. "Good news?"
"My friends at the medical lab say that a synth-blood variant could be made for you. Catch is that it would be expensive, but it's doable in an emergency."
"Then why are you still taking her blood?" Jackie asked, earning another look from V.
"For study," Vik said. "I might be able to find a way to cryo-preserve the blood. It also might tell us why V is so heat resistant."
"Evolution," V deadpanned. "Hot planet. Duh."
"Yes, I figured that much," Vik frowned at her. "I want to know how it works. Nothing on Earth comes close to what you can survive." He removed the needle from V's arm and quickly taped a bandage over the insertion point. "And as a man of science, you will have to forgive me for my sudden interest in your xenobiology."
"Oh, fine," V shrugged.
"Your turn, Jackie. Have a seat."
"Por fin, I thought you would never finish with your science mumbo jumbo," Jackie said.
"That's the kind of attitude that kept you from becoming a ripperdoc," Vik pointed out.
"Eh, I'm more suited for the streets anyways."
Vik rolled his CT scanner over to the patient chair and set it up for a cyberdeck installation. It would take a scan of just Jackie's brain. Given how each person's brain is just a little bit different, a neural map would show Vik exactly where in the Jackie's head to install all the necessary cybernetics.
Vik set the timer and led V into the back area of the clinic. He placed the bag of green blood in a shallow medical pan and labeled it with the date and time. Right as he was finishing the label, the CT scanner let out a beep to signal that the scan was complete.
"Let's see what we got," he said as he walked over to the scanner laptop. He hesitated, as the screen was displaying an error message. As he looked over the scan, he had to remove his glasses and rub his eyes. Nothing on the scan made sense. "What in the blazes?"
"Something wrong, doc?" Jackie asked.
"Jackie, do I have your consent to show these scans to V?" Vik asked.
"Sì, but I don't see how she will be much help."
Vik didn't respond. He waved V over to the scanner, and pointed to the screen.
"Look familiar?" He asked the green alien. V studied the scan for a second, before her eye went wide in shock.
"What the grob?" she mouthed, unable to fully form the words.
"You two are starting to scare me," Jackie said, sitting upright. "If there is something wrong, you better tell me right now, Vik."
"Just a second, Jackie. I need to pull up a file. Make sure I'm not going crazy." Vik went back to his main computer and began to transfer files to a shard. Once he had the three files he wanted, he ejected the shard and plugged it into the scanner.
"Jackie, remember six years ago, you got that concussion in a boxing match?" Vik asked.
"Yea, I remember. It was the Night City Devils' annual tournament," Jackie nodded. "You said I wasn't ready, I didn't listen, and one of the Animals knocked me on my ass in the third round."
"Here's the scan I took right after that." Vik let Jackie see the old CT scan. It was a 3D rendering of his brain. The image was mostly in gray scale, but a few areas were highlighted in red. "Those highlighted spots were the result of the hit you took. Other than that, it's a normal human brain. Everything would have long since healed. I would expect your brain today to look almost exactly the same, if slightly more mature as a result of six years passing."
"But…" Jackie said, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"Here's the scan I just took." Vik pulled up a side by side comparison. The new scan showed a brain that was only half human. You could still see the old wrinkles in his grey matter, but areas of the right half of his brain had greatly shifted, as if it was folding in on itself.
"Qué carajo," Jackie cursed. "This can't be right. I feel fine."
"It gets weirder," Vik spoke as he switched to V's scans. "This is V when you first brought her in. And this is V a little over a month ago, right after you got shot. The highlighted parts have extremely high levels of neural activity"
The first scan showed V's brain, that while definitely looked like a brain, it was obviously not human. The wrinkles were smaller and more numerous, and the brain as a whole was more circular. The second scan was the same, except parts of her right brain were lit up like a laser show. The parts that were highlighted lined up with the parts of Jackie's brain that were shifting.
"No," Jackie breathed. "No, that's not possible."
"It's the bond," V blurted out.
"The what now?" Vik asked. He turned to her, but she quickly looked away in shame.
"V is telepathic. Well, kinda," Jackie answered. "She can feel my emotions and thoughts." He paused as a thought occurred to him. "A few days ago, I started to feel V's emotions. The strong ones."
"How did this happen?" Vik questioned.
"We had a small fight, and I felt this rush of emotions come over me, but I could tell they weren't my own."
"Good to know," Vik nodded, "but I mean this 'bond' thing. How the hell did it form? This shouldn't be possible."
"I don't know, Vik," V said. "Not normal."
"Is this bond common with your species?" Vik asked V. She nodded. "How does it work?"
"Warrior's bond. It's between partners. Brothers. Made us better fighters. I avoided it."
"Avoided it? So this is new for you, too." Vik rubbed his chin as V nodded again. "Was it only between members of your species?" Another nod. "Then how, V? How is this happening to Jackie?"
"I don't know!" V yelled, holding back the urge to hit the ripperdoc.
"Leave her alone, Vik," Jackie interrupted. "V, try to calm down. Deep breathes."
Vik stepped back and glanced between his two patients.
"You felt that just now, didn't you?" Vik accused. "V's frustration."
"Sì. What of it?"
"You need to understand how dangerous this could be," Vik said, going back to his usual calm tone. "This is uncharted territory. There could be drastic mental and physical ramification for you. The brain is a delicate thing."
"What are you suggesting?" Jackie asked.
"For starters, no cybernetics. Not until we know how this thing is going to affect you," Vik started. "I want to take regular scans. We can do them once a month, same time as V's blood work. And keep me updated on this 'warrior bond' thing. If you notice any drastic changes, either of you, let me know."
"Oh grob! Oh grob!" V cursed as she dashed up the stairs.
"You just had to use the shotgun! Couldn't keep it clean!" Jackie was right behind her, already removing his jacket.
"I saw gun. I used it!"
They had just finished a job hunting down a small band of Scavs, criminals known for kidnapping and harvesting people's cyberware and organs. The job was simple and they received a hefty bounty for taking out the group. Only problem was that both Jackie and V had promised to help Mama with El Coyote Cojo for the night, and they were both covered in blood.
The Scav job went smoothly for the most part. They went in quiet, got the jump on the gang, and started shooting. One Scav, however, managed to get close to V and went at her with a knife. She was able to grab the woman's arm and avoid getting stabbed, but the thug was persistent. In a moment of instinctive reaction, V grabbed a sawed-off shotgun sitting just within reach. She pressed it under the Scav woman's chin and pulled the trigger. The resulting shower of brains and blood rained on her and Jackie.
After receiving the bounty money from the NCPD, Jackie floored it home so the two edgerunners could clean up. It was going to be close, but if they rushed, they could make it to the bar in time and not piss off Mama. They both stripped down to their underwear and took turns washing up with their bedroom sink.
"Shampoo," V said, holding her hand out. Her head was down, her wet mohawk draping into the sink. Jackie handed her his spare bottle of shampoo, and she furiously scrubbed the blood out before rinsing. "All good?"
"Looks like you got it all," Jackie observed before handing her a towel. "My turn." He started to wash his own head, ever thankful his short hair was easy to clean.
"Note to self. Never forget the helmets," V joked as she dried her hair.
V changed into a fresh bra while Jackie was looking away. Normally, she wouldn't worry about modesty, but it was starting to become habit as a result of living with the Welles. By the time Jackie was done with the sink, she had already put on clean pants and was pulling on a t-shirt. While Jackie was putting on clothes, she took a moment to wrap fresh bandages over her right eye socket. Once they were both dressed, the mercs sprinted the short distance to El Coyote Cojo.
"Oh, there you are," Mama greeted, somewhat amused by Jackie and V's panting. "I was just about to call."
"On time, right?" V asked, shaking off the dizziness from their mad dash.
"Just about. You get your butt behind the bar. Jackie, come help me with inventory. The delivery truck should be here soon."
Being a Friday evening, it was busy at El Coyote. Anyone who was lucky enough to not work Saturday mornings or just didn't care if they worked went out on Friday nights. Most locals usually ended up at a night club or at Mama's bar to chill with friends.
This was V's first busy shift working at the bar. She spent pretty much the entire night behind the counter pouring and mixing drinks. Pepe was there too if she needed to ask him any questions, but the thought never occurred to her. She was still a little slow on mixing, but everyone agreed she was doing alright.
At one point, Jackie got behind the counter so Pepe could take a break, and the two edgerunners automatically fell into their flow. They were passing cups and bottles to each other on instinct, rarely using words to ask for what they needed. When one of the patrons noticed and spoke up, Jackie and V started showing off. They began tossing supplies to each other, slightly widening the gap with every toss. Mama made them stop when she witnessed Jackie throw a full shaker the entire length of the bar counter to V.
"That's enough," Mama commanded. "Ustedes dos idiotas. If you break something, I'm breaking both of you." Jackie and V nodded and ended their act, but couldn't help laughing anyways.
The night continued like this, with V smiling the entire time. She was actually having fun. For the first time in her life, she was around people that cared for her and she had no desire to hurt. She wanted to protect them, to help them and learn about their lives. Not just Jackie, but Mama, Pepe, Padre, Andy, and everyone else in Heywood. Even Isabel, even if she still hated V and Jackie.
The green merc's happy vibes were interrupted by Andy rushing into the bar.
"I knew it!" the teen shouted, his voice being heard by everyone despite the loud music and chatter. "I knew there was more to you! And now I have evidence!" He ran up to the bar, pointing at V with a toothy grin that could rival the woman's own.
"Andy, go home," Jackie said. "You're too young to be in here."
"No way! I bet you knew!" Andy accused. "Everyone knows you're the biggest comic nerd in Heywood. You wanted to keep this all to yourself."
"Go away!" V yelled. "WE! ARE! BUSY!"
"Everyone, may I have your attention please!" Andy climbed up onto the bar counter, drawing the attention of everyone in El Coyote.
"Maldito Cristo," Jackie mumbled. His patience was growing thin, and it didn't help that he could feel V's urge to shove Andy off the counter.
"V, the Heywood Devil, is not a demon! She is not a human! She is a space alien!" Andy received laughter and confused mummers at his announcement. No one believed him and a few patrons started to heckle him.
"There's no such thing!"
"Go home, kid! You're drunk!"
"Andy," Mama said, approaching the bar. "That's enough, sweetie. Let's get you home."
"Don't believe me?" He continued, ignoring the motherly figure. "A space ship landed in Tokyo yesterday, and WNS just released the story a few hours ago." All the laughter in the bar stopped, but the murmurs got louder. "Go ahead! Look it up! It's all over the Net!"
V felt herself pale at Andy's words. She immediately pulled out her holophone and looked up the video. She placed the phone on the counter so Mama and Jackie could watch as well.
"Hello, I'm Nellie Bly, and this is WNS News."
"'Are we alone in the universe? Is there life on other planets?' These age old questions finally received an answer yesterday evening. At 8:23 PM local time, an alien space craft landed near Tokyo, Japan. They called themselves the Ballzerians and quickly declared peace, claiming to be refugees from a planet destroyed by war. The Arasaka Corporation and Japanese Government have begun talks with the Ballzerians, in hopes to establish mutually beneficial relations. We here at WNS would like to welcome Earth's new extraterrestrial allies."
"Chooms of yours?" Jackie asked.
V slowly shook her head no. Her eye was stuck on the screen, or more specifically, the image of Beeza. The tiny girl looked the same as the last time V saw her. Same white robe, blue hair, and big, goofy eyes. She still had the gold circle on her forehead, marking her as the Ballzerian leader. Of course she would be the first to arrive. She had led her people away from many destroyed planets, from what little V understood of them.
"Grop," V sighed, hanging her head low.
"It's out in the world now," Mama said, trying to reassure V. "There was nothing we could have done to stop it. We need to accept it and move on."
"Wait," Andy asked. He was still standing on the counter, and had been watching the Welles for the last several seconds. "You knew?"
"Sì. I did," answered Mama.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because it was no one else's business. Now get out of my bar! I will give you 5 seconds before I let V have her way with you."
"Uhh…" Andy was dumbfounded by Mama Welles' sudden anger. The older woman almost never raised her voice unless she was ready to unleash her wrath on someone. He glanced at V, who pulled a large knife out from behind the counter and pointed it at him. "Yep. Ok. I was just leaving."