Seven To The Head
Book One "Snowglobes"
A month ago V barely knew anything about Lizzies or its functions.
Now she's fixing the generator and power couplings throughout the entire building.
And she's just met a Braindance tech.
"Oh, is that a EBM 2066 coupling you've got linked up to the power grid?"
"Yeah I uh, the 2073 stuff could handle more but wasn't as certified for rapid loads so I figured the reliability was a preem pick."
"Actually you could probably link up some Militech receivers to your net cables so you could transfer info to that braindance chair without having to rely on floor stuff."
"Seriously? I was under the impression that it always had to be hard-wired."
"No, the new Militech ,tech allows for it. It's expensive but gets rid of floor space and'll cut down on hazards and stuff - if - if you wanted to do that anyway heh."
It's been around six or maybe nine months of living in Night City, although she can't really remember much of it since the day to day life is boring and monotonous as a engineer, too much fuzziness even trying to figure out the details and besides, construction work from newly certified buildings to simply ripping out insulation to add in new wires for a braindance chair all folds into one eventually.
So it's no real surprise that V can't recall much, even if she has tried her best so hard it physically hurts.
But today?
This is new, and interesting. V's definitely sure she'll remember this.
V's enjoying herself too, she hasn't had a good tech talk with anyone in months. When she got the job to go to the city's resident nightclub/gaybar/stripper joint, the only real information she'd heard was either from street talk and extremely sexualised advertisements -the place being full of psych'd up strippers and joy toys with baseball balls. A den of sin according to preachers where the whores within would tempt the innocent citizens of Night City for a good time and rob them of their money, and that they're also assholes.
Turns out, neither. Even with her anxiety at large spaces full of people and crowds and having to ask for directions acting up, V as a civilian contractors was welcomed, even her unpreem drab boiler suit and it's huge backpack, beanie covering a bald head and a very…androgynous appearance wasn't a cause of issue of concern at Lizzie's.
Infact, no problems raised - just shrugs and being pointed to Judy's den, even if V stuttered her way through awkward conversations with half naked cybergirls with gorilla arms while she flapped her own with a blush.
Also being around so many dildos is kind of weird,her experience in Militech (also a little fuzzy) as a chipped upped engineer has made Lizzie's a…eye opening experience.
So naturally V was glad when she bumped into Judy's den, a place much more suited to her talents and likening - plenty of wires and power circuits, constructed well too and she can appreciate the physical engineering challenges involved too - it also feels like a home too though, for one person in particular.
Called Judy's den for a reason, dozens of personalized items strewn about, server cables and electronics with a hundred different serial numbers and corporate manufacturer all packed into a basement.
And of course, Judy - the woman herself.
Green haired with pink at the ends, half worn overalls fitting her appearance much better than V's and of course brown eyes with a twinkle in them.
A pretty person that V had some trouble initially talking to and kind of fumbled her first impression with.
Initially skeptical about letting someone about letting someone else tinker around with her stuff even if the boss, Suzie had given the go ahead - and partially because V's pretty shit at conversation, Judy refused to let the engineer poke around and was only convinced when V luckily pointed out with a sharp eye and her knowledge about Judy's braindance chair needing a refit that a stunned Judy agreed to talk with V about with the power supply (and the job she'd been hired to do).
But after five - ten - twenty - forty minutes of animated conversation regarding the building, upgrading and even discussion of Judy's massive supply of machinery and computers (there is also a number of flashing lights!), the two had at least something in common to discuss. V leaning against a nearby wall with her hand idly playing with a wrench while Judy sat on her desk with a mug of coffee titled "BD#1'.
Judy gestures to one of the larger machines tucked away in the corner, one that's decked with enough switches and buttons to give V endless joyful hours of rigging to use. "That's the power grid - thingy. It's actually pretty new."
"But the actual power cables are not? I spotted a few sparkies on the way here, room above to down the stairs, should get those checked out if you're looking to upgrade so you don't uh-"
V realizes she's been talking too much and interrupts herself, scratching the back of her hand and fumbling an apology so she doesnt come off too hard, most people who tried to talk tech usually end up being talked to death and Judy is a…nice person.
"-sorry, you uh probably realized that."
Judy shrugs and taps her coffee mug. "-did suspect that the cables aint always preem choom, still always good to have a second opinion but it might be simple wear and tear use cuz' we get quite a few BD enthusiasts down here and I think Suzie thinks that we need to replace the whole thing anyway."
V smiles at that, a pleasant feeling washing over her at the thought of a genuine camaraderie with Judy.
And honestly, she kind of likes listening to Judy speak.
"Are you thinking of a complete replacement? Might need to drill through the walls for that? It'll need some heavy duty wires for proper insulation and a foundational base too if you wanna go with the Militech option," V nods, glad she didn't put Judy off and offers her own thoughts.
"What's this about drilling through stuff? Pretty sure Rita'll be pissed again and come down here swingin' that baseball bat of hers if you try to compete with California's fault line by drilling into places."
The double doors to the outside world swing open making the two women snap to attention, a figure strutting through like a queen dressed in elegant clothing and equipped with a cigar..
"Hey Ev'. " Judy recovers first and crosses her arms, sliding her coffee mug out of the way.
"Hey Judy, found a friend to conspire with?" The figure, Ev' turns warm and smiles, hand on her lip and gesturing to V.
"Eh?"
"I'm just messing with you, Evelyn." Evenlyn turns and offered a small hand which V accepts with her significantly more muscled one. With Judy's bright hair , crop top and boots combined with Evelyn's rich appearance V's starting to feel somewhat left out considering her rather drab construction worker outfit.
V does her best to not be awkward.
"V, I uh, got hired by Suzie to fix the place?" V replies with an awkward finish.
"We have power issues?"
"Suzie's the one with power issues," Judy jokes, eliciting a snort and then a huff of amusement from Evelyn who takes it in stride, she turns back to V and points her cigarette at the braindance chair..
"Is it going to take long? I have a client who needs to use the brain dance chair Judy, it's important," Evelyn punctuates the end.
V takes a look at the connecting wires snaked literally everywhere, making a mental map of the ones that she could identify and sort as being necessary or not, thinking quickly V disregardes the power nodes and supply that the BD chair and Judy's equipment will take and focuses on the walls instead.
"A few hours but it won't interfere, Judy's stuff is fine for now - and the chair will be too , trust me! It won't take long," V does her best to answer with authority and confidence, rightly trusting her knowledge on the subject matter and Evelyn shrugs and pretty much says "alrighty then".
Victory.
Judy also offers a cup of coffee, double victory.
V likes to keep it a secret that she's formerly from and educated by Militech's engineering corps and the science division, although remembering all of it now can be difficult considering that they were all hooked on a behavior chip and V had lost hers…she thinks, thankfully she retains the know-how on mechanics and tech - in the practical sense since she's basically useless at net running and actually typing on computers
However despite being human, she does have an advantage.
One that's kept her in near constant employment and probably the reason she has some kind of home in Night City.
Part of it being that her body doesn't actually contain any active cyberware, rather the dermis layer has kevlar and rubber reinforcements, skeleton with synthetic muscle fibers instead of metal. All of this makes her perfectly suited to grab a sparking open wire that the electrical closet is filled with and simply turn it off with a few deft touches, being immune to electrocution certainly had its benefits.
It also makes people stand with gaping mouths and a puzzled expression.
She turns switches, adjusts cables and places them in the correct positions when she's done with them, humming to herself, manipulating surges and downsurges manually rather than on keyboard while the room next by is filled by an extra person, someone called Jackie whose "considerable bulk" fill the Braindance chair, V even watches the power readings slowly increase on the monitor.
Having fixed the issues in the closet which mostly involved minor adjustments and simple rewiring, now bored. V twiddles her thumbs absently before running down fingers to amuse herself at the lack of hair and electrostatic charge that builds up on everyone else but her.
Raised voices grabs her attention and she watches/listens as Judy refuses to have a hacker included in the braindance while Evelyn frantically paces back and forth and pleads that it would only be a one off, Jackie occasionally respond with answering or asking questions and eventually the three of them lower their voices and reach a settlement after five minutes or so.
Someone mutters something about a bio chip and it turns to hushed whispers between Evelyn and Jackie, V and Judy shar a glance between each other, one that pretty much says "I ain't getting into that".
And then a brief smile.
With flashing eyes.
Towards V.
That may have produced a very unengineering reaction.
"Hey" V walks up to Judy, taking her former position near the wall and taking up light conversation too with a small interest in how a simple braindance managed to spike the chairs power so high. "Anything interesting happen?"
"I guess so, but can't really talk about it, Ev's pretty paranoid about this kind of stuff to be honest."
V shrugs and quickly changes the conversation,mindful of how little time they'd get before Jackie or Evelyn comes back. "S'pose so. Anyway I fixed the circuit breakers and the wires are back where they should be."
Judy nods and flashes an appreciative smiles. "Glad to hear it V, and thanks, never expected a actual engineer to be here but today's full of surprises eh?"
"Uh, sure?"
V grabs her nearby backpack and makes to leave, her internal timer had clocking time spent at five hours and she'd have to catch the last bus home. "So I'll be going then?" She doesn't want to overstay her welcome of course, Judy's been lovely and V'd like to see her again to tell the truth.
She brushes past Judy on the way out but a hand on her shoulder stops V cold. Judy looks away and removes her hand, V detects a sigh and let out a "hmm?" back, skin flaring a little from where Judy touched but she's busy feeling…things to notice.
"Hey V? You stopping by tomorrow?" Judy half whispers then cleared her throat.
V nods quickly.
"Yeah? I'm here all week, extended contact remember?"
"Just checking, you can uh, go now?"
V leaves again, an odd feeling pooling at the pit of her stomach but pays no attention, she's to busy feeling a bit bland compared to Judy, no tats or fancy hair, basically hairless all over and with no real markings.
"V?"
V turns round again.
"See you tomorrow."
V gives an awkward wave in return.
"See you tomorrow."
When she sleeps for the needed three to five hours, V always comes back to that same place.
It's not a nightmare or even a dream.
Just flashes of one thing combined with an overlay of static that loops strings of memories together and combines them into a weird soup mush.
It's dark again, three twenty? Three thirty in the morning? A barren dirt track with mud that clings to the soles of even the hardiest of boots, V keeps running though no matter how fast she keeps sinking into the mud, she has to escape.
Her armo ris utterly shredded, a massive plasma blast designed to either utterly obliterate or EMP fry anyone who got in had wiped out her entire squad, people she'd known for years were suddenly erased and their synapses had basically ceased to exist. She has to go , the Utah border with Nevada and then California is close. If only she can get away from Arasaka's drones.
Her own drones, two Flathead combat models had already been wiped, they killed six of theirs though and her behavior chip rewarded a good kill rate with a steady dose of adrenaline and later serotonin.
V finds a fence at her height and she vaults over, her heavy armor pieces designed to withstand hits from vehicle mounted machine guns slowing her down and she almost falls face first into the ground. She recovers well for someone at below average height and carrying a shotgun, 30kilograms of shredded armor and a heavy backpack with destroyed mechanical support braces built underneath. Her helmet equipped night vision hud linked with the chip gives her ample vision and it's the only piece of her that's actually "online" and therefore trackable, apart from the chip.
She's already sweating beneath, not even the synthetically grafted skin can hold back the residual heat of the plasma and the short but terrifying sensation of being burned alive - regardless V keeps sprinting, the drones will find her and she has minutes at best or seconds at worst.
The worst comes, quickly.
The drones find her before she can reach the cover of a dense forest and a laser beam slices the ground infront, V dives and with a massive "thump" hist the deck, with deft hands she pulls out her shotgun loaded with slug rounds and kills the first drone, then the second, her heart is going nuts, beating faster than even when defusing bombs and she only has to reach a wild spot to escape, she can do it!
V's thundering footfalls gives her position away though and a sniper's bullet barks through the night sky, blasting a hole through a tree ahead and V tries to clumsily dodge a second one.
Which she doesn't - weighed down by useless armor and a backpack meant to hold drones, not even the chip can contain the screams as a heavy caliber bullet rips into her shoulder and dislodged the armor plate protecting it, and then without stopping burrows its way through synthetic flesh and kevlar hardened bone - sheer force of the impact toppling her to the ground.
V manages to get up though , her one good arm grasping at a rock while the other flails uselessly, dragging herself upright and the HUD shows just ten more meters to go.
She does her best to run again, to get away.
But not before the third shot pops her helmet off, the edge of it searing just past the outer layer of her neck, dislodging the behavior chip with the sudden disconnection immediately short circuiting the power feeds and with a mass of blood, some bone and Militech graded tech, V staggers around blinded and deaf.
She eventually falls into a hole, or is it a river? Memory loss and maybe a bit of brain damage never providing a solid conclusion on where she ends up.
Because it's all fuzzy.