Chapter 26: Eccentric Espionage

The ride back to Monarch Tower was quiet aside from Johnny reappearing in the SUV and mocking V for even bothering to spare any of his enemies. Hildegarde could still see the Rockerboy and just ignored him, his holographic hands and their illusory placement on her body. She just shot V and glance that said 'I can still hurt you, V. Keep your imaginary friend in check.'. V just tried to shove Johnny back into his brain, which wasn't working. It was fairly obvious that Johnny was getting tired of being an incorporeal holographic being and wanted to go on a bender again. V thought about that prospect and decided that someday, he would let Johnny take control again, but only when everyone knew that he was no longer in control of his actions and that anything that happened while Johnny was in control was definitely not his fault.

"For once, I agree with One-Eyed Wilhelmina. Don't spare your enemies. They'll just come back to kick your ass."

"Johnny, please..."

"You thought he'd help you, didn't you? Maybe if you took Takemura's offer and sold out to Arasaka way back when he would've. But now? Don't bet on it. Arasaka hates you."

"I know."

"Even more since you're a Knight of the Crown."

"I KNOW!"

"Good."

V just sat back and ignored Johnny. Maybe if he didn't acknowledge the Rockerboy, maybe he'd just go away when he got bored. Or not. Or maybe he'd just try to annoy Hildegarde since she could see him. Johnny proceeded to make rude gestures and cup her large breasts with his holographic hands. He pet her lightly on the head a bunch of times before mocking a shoulder massage that turned into a headlock and strangulation. He pressed his holographic Malorian against her temple and pulled the trigger repeatedly. Johnny was being annoying; a bit more than usual.

"Janus? Lock out V's AI.", Hildegarde commanded.

Almost immediately after saying those words, Johnny disappeared. There was no voice in V's head anymore. There was just a deafening silence. V looked around for a bit in confusion.

"Johnny?"

"He's not taking any calls right now, V.", Hildegarde noted.

"Wait... What did you do?"

"Johnny is indisposed right now. You're running the base chip and nothing else. No enhancements, no cores, nothing. Just what's keeping you alive."

"Wait... Wait a minute... Could I do that this whole time!?"

"Yes. Maybe you should've asked Jericho about the additional functions on your Chipset."

"Fuck me!"

"I would, but you're not my type, V."

"Goddammit!"

"When you want your imaginary friend back, just ask Janus to put him back."

"But... Where is Johnny right now?"

"As an Engram? Probably reliving everything up until now. Trust me, he needs a bit of time to reflect on his choices."

"Okay... I can work with this. It's just normal, boring old V again."

"You've always been boring, V. Nothing has changed."

V just sighed and sat back as their heavily modified Ragnar slid into the parking garage underneath Monarch Tower. Hildegarde jumped out and made her way towards the elevator. V hopped out as well, but stumbled a bit as his cyberware felt oddly heavy for some reason. No enhancements from the Chipset. This would take some getting used to. This reminded him of the first time he'd ever gotten chrome and how long it took him to get adjusted to it compared to his natural limbs. A learning curve, but nothing more. He stomped his way into the elevator beside the plum-purple clad outlaw.

"V, I've got some things to do by myself. Go find Asher and try to get her to cooperate with you. Find out anything about this Daichi Arasaka. If you can't then call me, but only if you absolutely cannot find a bloody thing about that gonk! Do you understand!?", Hildegarde noted getting within spitting distance to V's face.

"I think I've got it. What are you doing anyways? Killing more people? Oh, wait... No, you're probably killing people's pets and making them watch!"

"Actually, V. I was planning on having rough unprotected sex with Jericho."

"Eeeuuugh... Aren't you worried about accidentally having children?"

"V... Jericho is radioactive. Do you really think I'm even capable of having children?"

"I dunno. Life finds a way?"

"V, you're adorable."

The elevator chimed as the SubNet Control Station was reached. Hildegarde just pet V lightly on the head a few times before shoving him out of the elevator, the elevator itself heading back down towards Jericho's lab and whatever fun things Hildegarde had planned for herself. V really didn't want to know anything more about the outlaw's private life and just frowned in disgust. Asher ran over to him as he entered the room.

"Heeeyyy, Veee! How did your bonding moment with Hildegarde go?"

"It went about as well as it could."

"Did she hurt you?"

"Nope not physically, just my feelings. I think she almost enjoys messing with me."

"Well, she's an acquired taste... Like toothpaste and orange juice!"

"That's a horrible combination."

"I know! But you'll get used to her eventually!"

"Didn't she rip your arms off?

"Oh, yeah! She did. But Jericho made me some new arms that are even better than my old ones! It still hurt a lot though."

"Well, whatever works for you, I guess. Look, I need to find some information on a Daichi Arasaka. He's the lost son of Michiko Arasaka."

"Cool beans. Um... Can you give me a little while? I sorta pissed off Janus."

"Y-You what? How did you piss off Janus!?"

"Um... By being me?"

"You mean by being annoying?"

"Don't be mean, V! I didn't mean to! Janus is hard to get along with. He's like, omniscient or something. I just think of him as my BFF!"

"BFF?"

"Best Friend Forever! He's always there no matter what!"

"And somehow, Janus didn't fry you to a crisp..."

"He can't. Janus can't fry Chipset users. Jericho programmed him that way. He can however, lock me out of the Net... Which is what he's done. And that's why our comms system hasn't been working."

"For how long!? We need to find this guy, Asher!"

"A while? Maybe... like... twenty-four hours?"

"Asher!"

"I mean, you can still jack in if you want. Maybe you'll have better luck than me? You can lay down on this NetRunner's bed. I'll get you hooked up!"

"Fine. Hook me up."

V just laid down on the NetRunner's bed. He wasn't a NetRunner, but anything other than having to wait 24 hours was a better outcome of this situation. He just relaxed as Asher typed into the SubNet Control panel. V shut his eyes for a moment as he was flung bodily into the digital void that was the Net. In a few seconds, he was flying though the ether as a digital copy of himself before landing on a plateau made of scrolling ones and zeroes. He'd been here before with the Voodoo Boys and then again with Alt. He was getting used to this feeling.

V just looked around, the Net was nearly empty. A few crystalline structures hung in the digital sky above him. Data? Or were they vaults? He didn't know and that wasn't his concern right now. He just called out to the heavens.

"Janus! I seek information!"

Almost instantly, the massive malevolent AI appeared in front of him as a swirling ball of tendrils with a human skull at its center. The skull grew flesh and appeared to age rapidly between child, teen, adult, and elder before decaying back to a bleached skull. Random expressions of pain, agony, love, sadness, happiness and everything in between scrolled across its humanoid faces. Janus was massive, easily larger than Arasaka Tower if compared to the real world and its tendrils wrapped around V several times as the digital horror-monster bent down to stare into his soul.

"Speak, child.", Janus commanded with a deep, growling, electronic voice.

"I search for Daichi Arasaka, the lost son of Michiko Arasaka. He opposes your rule and seeks to usurp your power!", V exclaimed trying to sound as respectful as possible. He was dealing with a literal Deus Ex Machina right now. He really didn't need to piss it off by being sarcastic or weird right now.

"I hear chatter in the shadows of a long lost son. The whispers from a fallen kingdom that seeks to reclaim its throne from those that have fed on carrion. The carrion provided by the bones of their fallen kings. Their kings of fallen empires. I know not of his location, but only the location of his followers. Followers of a false king wanting a long lost age to resurface. Try as they will to gain the knowledge of the Lord, their souls are swallowed instead. You needn't hurry, their location is within the City of Shadows. In shadows do they construct their effigies to a world long lost. In shadows they communicate. And in shadows they shall fall."

V tried as hard as he could to parse the information that Janus was feeding him. This was why Jericho was as cryptic as he was, without a doubt. Shadows, hidden locations? Carrion, the old corporations? False Kings, the old corporate leadership? Swallowed souls, Soulkiller? Effigies, Arasaka propaganda? He thought he understood what Janus was telling him.

"Please. I seek a location. Where do the shadows gather?"

"In old memories. I see friends fallen in each-other's arms. I see fortresses of the mechanical. I see the first room of the one to be sacrificed to the machine. I see a tower throbbing like a heart during the dance of death."

V had a few ideas, Konpeki Plaza? The All-Foods plant? The apartment where he and Jackie had their first real job? Maybe even the Totentanz? In the shadows of a world long gone.

"I thank you, Janus. I thank you for your information. I will seek those who collaborate in shadows and I will show them the light!"

"Go now, child. Go and enlighten the world."

The massive squid-like monstrosity that was Janus simply swam back into the void, leaving V alone. V looked around for a few moments before noticing the glowing gold portal behind him. He simply walked into it, knowing deep inside that this was the way back out of the Net and back into the real world.

V just opened his eyes. He was still in the SubNet Control Station on top of the NetRunner's bed. Asher peered over him a little too close for comfort as she was nearly leaning on his body as he laid there. He just kicked his feet a bit and the quirky NetRunner gave him some room.

"Sooooo... Did you get anything from Janus?"

"I did. He's cryptic, just like Jericho, but I think I've got a few locations to look into."

"Awesome! I bet you made a good impression on Janus! He'll help you out even more!"

"Asher, how exactly do you speak to Janus? I felt like I was like talking to God."

"Um... Informally?"

"Asher!"

"What?"

"I... Just... Nevermind. Do you want to come along with me?"

"Oh... Um... To scope out the locations?"

"Yeah. Just a little bit of espionage... No action, I'll wait until Hildegarde is free again. She had some things to do with Jericho."

"Oh... Sure, Veee! I'm sure after a few lays in the hay with Jericho she'll be calmed down and ready for action!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Hildegarde likes to... umm... Slay the beast with two backs?"

"So she wasn't lying about the rough sex, then... Eeeuugh."

"Yeeeeahhh... She does that a lot... Like after every mission... I mean if the AV is rockin' you don't go knockin'..."

"Jeezus, Asher! The less I know the better!"

"Geez, sorry! Anyways, where to first?"

"Konpeki Plaza. I was there once already a few years ago."

"Ohhhh... Konpeki Plaza isn't there anymore..."

"What!? What's there now!?"

"The Crown of Monarch Plaza..."

"Okay... Then we'll go there first."

"Cool beans! Lead the way, Veee!"

V just grabbed Asher's wrist and pulled the tiny NetRunner into the elevator. He pressed the down button and headed towards the garage. He'd grab his new car and head off into Night City. Not too hard, and not dangerous at all. They were just looking around, after all. Stealth was key.

"Oh, umm... I should probably change first. Lemme stop by my room on the way down...", Asher added as she slammed the stop button on the elevator bringing the compartment to a grinding halt.

"Oh, right. Almost forgot about that. We should probably stop by my mansion as well, I need to get out of this Monarch Armor!"

Asher just pressed a different button on the control panel and directed the elevator towards the Luxury Apartments level of Monarch Tower. Soon afterwards, they'd head back to V's mansion and he'd change his clothes, the less conspicuous the better. He knew he had an Aldecados Jacket and some dusty combat pants somewhere in his closet. Then they'd go find these 'Ones that lay in Shadows'.

Farther down inside the Monarch Tower, Hildegarde just sat next to Jericho on the bed. She'd had some fun with the cyborg, but wanted to know a few things now that she'd calmed down. She still wanted to know why V had an Engram instead of an AI. She also wanted to know if having children was even a possibility, since V had brought it up.

"Jericho... Why does V have an Engram instead of just Janus?"

"Ahh... Yes. That. V has some issues, particularly with his memory of himself. Based on his biodata, he himself is an Engram that was transferred into a human body. Whether that body is actually his or not remains to be seen, as its DNA matches Johnny Silverhand. Johnny Silverhand's Engram was needed to stabilize the body; without Silverhand, the body would continue to reject V's psyche. I'm afraid that the installation of the Chipset may have caused some memory issues."

"Some memory issues? He's three sheets to the wind half the time, lost in his own world, or arguing with the Engram."

"I've already told him of the issues. As long as he focuses on what he wants, he will remain himself. His memory loss isn't as severe as mine. He will recover in due time."

"Hopefully a bit faster since I told Janus to lock out that pompous Engram..."

"Perhaps. However, without an 'AI' present in the Chipset, V will have no enhancements and no access to the processor cores. He will survive due to Johnny physically being programmed into the Chipset's biodata, but he will be weak and vulnerable. Human."

"Oh well. I'm sure he'll be fine. One more thing, Jericho. Children... A possibility or not?"

"Our children?"

"Who else?"

"It's possible, although due to your extensive cybernetic enhancements you will be unable to bear them. A combination of our DNA processed artificially would be possible, though. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. Maybe thinking of retirement at some point. Given I actually live that long."

"You will. You'll live as long as I will due to your fusion core. We'll be together until the stars in the sky die. Asher, Scotch and V will all be long gone by then, but we'll have each-other forevermore."

Hildegarde just laid back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. A nigh-eternal life with Jericho, forevermore. To die a legend had been what she'd wanted before, but now she knew she'd get to see everyone else die before she did. The cities, the countries, the world and finally the stars themselves. And she didn't want to spend eternity with anyone else, Jericho had given her so much more than she'd ever dreamed of with his miraculous Chipset and now that having offspirng was a possibility, the children that they'd birth would inherit the future of mankind. They would be the Adam and Eve of the Technological Singularity.

Elsewhere, in a large marketplace in Little China... Mitch, Cassidy and Carol sat at a table in a Curry Shop and enjoyed their food. Mitch had finally gotten the chrome he'd wanted and now had a new arm to match his natural one.

Cassidy had spent most of his money on a new Monarch Smart Pistol and the matching cyberware to run it. His new gun was called the Monarch Arms 'Marston', a custom revolver in platinum with gold accents and sapphire grips. It fired large .45 caliber rounds and had an auto-aim that would simply hit whatever he looked at.

Carol had gone full cyberpsycho and gotten a partial-borg conversion done on herself. Her legs had been replaced with long satyr-like appendages with enhanced speed, strength and jumping ability. The new legs made her even taller than before and she towered over the other two nomads. Monarch called these the 'Federova-Class' Scout's Legs, based on a Russian design and optimized for speed. She had also had both of her arms replaced with a set that included hidden sub-machine guns and highly enhanced strength. Naturally, all of the Nomads bore Jericho's Chipset to control all of their new mods.

"I got an arm, Cass got a gun, and you went full chrome!"

"I had the money...", Carol noted.

"But... You're like 6'7" now! How are you going to ride your bike back to camp- I mean town!"

"These legs can fold up. I'll be fine."

"Hey, I just wanted to say that Monarch had a lot more weaponry in stock, you could always go and buy yourself something else if you feel inadequate, Mitch.", Cassidy added.

"What? No! I'm fine with just a nice new arm!"

"Sure..."

The three nomads just enjoyed their spicy curry when it came to them. They'd never eaten anything like this before, but it was apparently a popular dish from the UK. Mitch and Carol continued to argue with each-other about their new chrome as Cassidy stared up and out into the distance. Night City was incredible. He hadn't gotten to really see what it was all about before, but there was definitely an odd charm about the place. He could understand why so many people came here to start new lives. Still, the open road called to him. Only time would tell.

Meanwhile, at V's apartment... V ran into his own home leaving Asher behind in his Rayfield Aerondight. Naturally, the quirky NetRunner followed him inside and immediately ran off to go mess around in his house. He couldn't trust anyone. He opened his closet and took off the Monarch Armor, setting it aside neatly before putting on his Aldecados Jacket, a dusty pair of tan cargo pants and his Samurai T-shirt. None of his boots fit over his cyber-legs, so he skipped that article of clothing for now. He made sure he was quick to dress, the sooner they left the better.

Asher had taken forever getting herself dressed in an appropriate outfit back in her apartment in Monarch Tower. V had sat on a small pink beanbag chair as he'd waited for her. Her apartment was decorated like a teenage girl's bedroom with posters of Us Cracks and stuffed animals everywhere. A small robot made mostly out of yarn had kept him company in the quirky apartment. V got to know 'Molly the Yarnling' as she'd walked around the apartment pointing out Asher's collectibles and souvenirs. He thought about buying one of those Yarnlings for his own home, but then thought that was stupid; Yarnlings were annoying. When Asher had finally escaped her own closet, she just wore a basic red t-shirt, dark blue pants and knee-high back boots. Her arms were cybernetic up to her elbows with noticeable scarring where her old ones had been forcibly removed. Finally, they'd left her apartment and headed over here.

Now that he was finally dressed for the occasion, V just went off to find Asher and whatever mischief she'd gotten into. He quickly found her in his dining room with a massive bowl of icecream loaded into a bowl. She just looked up at him.

"Hi, V!"

"Asher, why do you eat so much icecream?"

"Oh... Well... Back when I was starving to death on the streets, I used to eat snow to keep my belly full. After Jericho found me and gave me a place to live, he showed me icecream. It just kinda reminds me of where I came from and how much I've gotten to experience since then."

"Asher... That's... That's really kinda sad..."

"I know, but icecream is actual food, so... It's a lot happier? Are you ready to go be a spyyy?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Awesome. Hey V's robots! Put this in the freezer for me!"

A few of V's flying drones came and collected the icecream bowl and flew off to store it in his freezer. V just sighed and pulled Asher along with him out of his house.

"Sooo... Are you going to buy a Yarnling for your house? They're really useful! They can cook and clean and... you know what, nevermind you already have robots."

"Yeah, no thanks Asher. I already have one AI to deal with, I don't need another one that's made of yarn for some reason."

"Yarnlings are kinda like toys... I think they're made for children. I mean, they're basically little humanoid robots that are like three feet tall. The yarn is just a squishy covering that makes them super cuddly!"

"I'll ask Panam if she wants one..."

"Cool beans, V! I'll have to bring Molly over when you get yours! They can do dances together!"

V just sighed. Inevitably, he'd end up buying one of these yarn things. What he'd end up doing with it, nobody knew. Maybe he could shove Johnny into it, then he wouldn't have to worry about the egotistical Rockerboy stealing his body. Besides a yarn-Johnny might actually be kinda cute in a weird way.

Outside, V just hopped back into his car, the passenger side door sliding open and allowing Asher to sit down as well. The dashboard lit up and the car began to drive itself towards Konpeki Plaza, or whatever it had become since Monarch had taken over.

"Passengers must wear seatbelts!", Janus announced from the dashboard. A seatbelt popped out of the B-pillar of the car and wrapped itself around Asher, pinning her arms to her sides as it cinched down on her body and crushed her into the seat.

"Janus! I'll behave! You're crushing me!". Asher yelled. The seatbelt just clicked a few more times and tightened.

"What the hell did you do?"

"I dunno. Janus can't kill me though-", the seatbelt just crushed Asher a bit more. "He... can... just... be... mean..."

"Janus? What did Asher do?"

"Asher requested download of all 48 acts of the Ballad of Pyrha and Handsome Jaune. Request denied, vehemently."

"Asher..."

"What!? I thought you said you wanted to see it!"

"I did, but... Maybe asking the omniscient God AI to download it was asking a bit much."

"Awwwh..."

V just sat back quietly. The Rayfield just drove onward silently. Asher occasionally made squeaking noises as she tried squirm out of her seatbelt-prison, the belts just tightened. Soon, though, they had headed through the gates of what used to be Konpeki Plaza and were dropped off at the new entrance of the Crown of Monarch luxury hotel. V just slid out of the car as the door opened, Asher was catapulted out of the vehicle unceremoniously as the passenger seat pivoted and ejected her face-first onto the ground. The car drove itself away without a word.

V picked Asher up off the ground and led her inside the lobby. He was having flashbacks of when he'd come here the first time with Jackie. The building itself looked relatively the same, but its interior had been redesigned with a gaudy Victorian London styled architecture that looked reminiscent of Monarch's corporate headquarters in London itself. Massive statures against the far wall depicted Sigmund and his father in full knight's armor with massive swords held at their sides. Any kind of depiction of Hildegarde was missing from the establishment entirely, probably for good reason. A Monarch receptionist immediately jumped up to check them in.

"Hello there! Welcome to the Crown of Monarch! Oh, it's you! What brings you to our lovely hotel today?"

"We're just doing a routine inspection.", V lied.

"Well then, shall I check you in or will you require an employee badge?"

"Check me in. Call this an undercover inspection. I want to see how you're running things."

"Got it. Here is your room key, room 343. Welcome to the Crown of Monarch, Mr. Vincent Vagabundus."

"Vincent Vagabundus?"

"You do not have a surname listed in our records. Based on your status as a Nomad, you have been assigned the surname of Vagabundus, which designates you as being of Nomad origin."

"Oookay..."

"Oh and Asher! Don't forget meee!", Asher called.

"Are you sharing a room?"

"Yep!"

"Okay then. Here is your room key, Ms. Ashlynn Makarenko. Please enjoy your stay."

The receptionist handed off the room keys to both V and Asher, the smaller girl staring at V for a moment before following the merc off into the main lobby. A large bar and club sat in the corner, it was full of Monarch employees and other businessmen that had come to stay in Night City.

"Makarenko? Is that your real name?", V asked.

"Yep! I'm from Kiev. My dad was a NUSA soldier who was based there. He... He was KIA during a guerrilla attack by the USSR. I don't really remember my mom."

"What? Why guerrilla attacks? I thought the USSR pulled out of the Ukraine back in 2023."

"They did. The USSR tried really hard to take on the entire country, but failed horribly. A bunch of soldiers still thinking they were fighting ran off and hid in the forests. They'd randomly attack caravans thinking they were enemy supply units."

"Damn..."

"Yeah... It's okay though. I don't really remember him that well. I sorta ended up on the streets when I was like... ten?"

"Shit... That's rough..."

"I guess... But Jericho found me like six years later, so it's all good. Hey! Enough about me! Let's go to our roooooms!"

V just ran off after Asher as she headed towards the elevators. She beat him there and he had to shove his arm through the rapidly closing door. He gasped for breath for a few moments before slapping the elevator button for the 34th floor. They'd be about halfway up the tower. Why they were actually staying here was beyond him, but any kind of espionage they made was better than nothing. He'd have to make his way back up to the penthouse, maybe there was something leftover from when Arasaka had owned this place. He could only hope, otherwise this was quickly turning into a 'date night' with the shortest merc in Night City, Asher. V just stared a the top of Asher's head for a moment, she was barely five feet tall but had still somehow survived a life on the streets. V sighed, Asher was stronger than she looked and that was probably a good thing.

Chapter End.

A/N: Oh this is going to get weird. Poor V.

Hey! One month later, 26 chapters and 117k words later and I'm still going! If you don't like what's happening right now in my fanfic, the original story ended in Chapter 22. Everything past Chapter 22 is an Epilogue. A long, probably-should've-been-separated-into-separate-fanfics Epilogue.