Viktor felt as if the ground was slipping away from under his feet. For a moment no sounds reached him, V's words seemed to merge into one. He took off his glasses and rubbed a hand over his eyes. Vector got up, but cautiously leaned against the desk, and took a few deep breaths to calm down. Why the fuck did this happen to her? Why her?, he thought bitterly, staring at a point on the floor. He tried not to show his emotions so as not to overwhelm the girl. Why of all the people in Night City?, the same words kept appearing in his head. Then he looked at her.
V stood expectantly, unsure what to do. She was so petite, shorter than him, with beautiful golden hair. Dark, large eyes looked at him carefully, as if he were the person to be worried about. All he wanted to do now was get the fucking Silverhand out of her brain and make sure no harm was done to her. The mere realization that the girl must now be very afraid of this situation at hand hurt him.
He patted the piece of the desk next to him. V stepped closer under his watchful gaze, having been silent for some time.
"Kid, why didn't you tell me before?" There was no hint of accusation in his voice, just concern. "Is that why you haven't been coming lately?"
V nodded, feeling more tears welling up in her eyes. Viktor wrapped his arm awkwardly around her shoulder, keeping some distance between them. He didn't know what the girl needed now, what kind of reaction she wanted from him, and he didn't want to do something wrong. V sobbed, and as if answering his unspoken question, nestled against his chest, trying to catch her breath.
"Vik, I'm afraid, I don't know what to do." Viktor knew how much V disliked admitting powerlessness. He hesitantly stroked her head, trying to comfort her somehow. They stood like this for ten minutes, maybe fifteen. V seemed to calm down; she wiped her hand over her eyes, stopped crying, and began to breathe steadily. Despite everything, she still clung to Viktor, which surprised him a little. The girl was emotional, he noticed it already before, but she had never acted that way.
"We'll find a solution. Don't worry, sweetheart," he said reassuringly with a palpable determination. "Can I have a look at it?" Vector asked gently, stepping back slightly from her. He didn't quite know how to behave in the face of this narrowing of the distance. He was afraid the girl might take him the wrong way, and that was the last thing he wanted her to think of him. V is shaky, she needs support, and the last that we need in this situation would be to see me in her eyes as the old pervert who wants to take advantage of this situation. He flinched at the mere thought, though the rational part of him kept telling him in the back of his head that his fears were unfounded.
"Sure." V sat down in the armchair and watched Viktor look for something on the desk. "Takemura took me to some, hm, trusted Ripper from Japantown at first. He said there was not much that could be done about it and... the only thing to do was to delay the inevitable," V said, but Viktor didn't seem to have reached the meaning of these words at all.
Viktor began examining her from every angle, for at least an hour. It was as if the man would never finish. Every now and then he would say something under his breath, jot down something on the computer, throw a worried look at her, and V already knew that Ripperdoc from Japantown was right. Nevertheless, Viktor kept working. V looked at him closely as he typed into the computer. He had a serious, determined face as if he was just trying to figure out the most important medical project in his life. She felt something tighten in her heart. She wanted to hug him and say he didn't need to worry. V was, of course, still afraid of the situation, but deeply seemed to accept what had to come. Now she just wanted to spend time with someone who meant more to her than she had ever thought.
"It doesn't look good," he said finally, rubbing his forehead. "Would you give me the paperwork and notes from the previous Ripper?" V looked at him in surprise. She knew the man was not in the habit of using the work of other Ripperdocs and preferred to examine the problem himself, so the request was at least unusual. "I was supposed to close for today anyway. I will look at it and try to think of some possible search routes."
He was talking to her but seemed to ignore her presence. V didn't understand if it was because of the biochip or if she had offended him with her too close behavior. To be honest, she still didn't know how to act around Vik so as not to spoil their friendship, but she just wanted to be closer, in whatever sense. She had never felt like this with anyone before - calm, safe, as if all bloody Night City had no access to them.
"Oh yeah, it's already quite late," V said, returning in mind to the ground, but she didn't want to say goodbye now, she didn't want to be alone in an empty apartment also. "Maybe you'd like to drop by for a beer?" she said faster than she could think about it. "We haven't seen each other in ages, I have a lot of things to tell you. And you are off work tomorrow anyway if I remember correctly in the calendar," she added immediately, seeing his surprised gaze. "We can watch today's match and play cards!"
He considered the answer for a moment. Finally, he smiled gently and turned off the computer.
"Okay, kid, you got me."
