Chapter 3: Last Second Aid

She was spreading her legs wide open, ready to receive the member of her lover. And as it entered, it was like a bliss of emotions.

'Well, well, well. In the end, I just received another smut virtu for tuning…' Judy thought cynically as she was looking and scanning the raw virtu she had received from this strange lady. 'At least, this will help with my experiment. Gosh, I hope this works.'

Adriana Oliveros being the one who had been recording, Judy witnessed everything from her point of view. As told by Miss Crown, the assassin, who was also her lover, was nothing more than a mash of discorded fragments. Even his voice was distorted.

'He knew about her recorder. This is some big-shit jamming-tech. You don't get that by some random street ripperdoc.'

She let the recording continue. Let the emotions flood her mind while the two digital lovers were going on, giving each other intense pleasure. Until the killer slowly pulled a Monowire from his wrist, put it around Adriana's neck and pulled.

After the sharp pain, the world was just spinning, before it came to a halt and the recording ended abruptly.

Judy exited the virtu. Her breathing was heavy and her neck hurting from the phantom pain of experiencing getting beheaded.

"Fuck!" she gasped, throwing the headset on the table. Normally, she had either virtus that were supposed to emit joy and pleasure, or thrill and adrenaline. But BDs like this one, you'd get on the black market as snuff. A sort of BD Judy was never fond of.

It was just unnatural that intense emotions of joy, pleasure and lust got twisted, turned and abominated into shock, anger and despair.

"Jude, you okay?" Evelyn asked with concern as she came into the techie's editing room with a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Do I look like I'm okay?" the young woman barked back, still edgy from the experience, ripping the cup of coffee from her friend's hand and taking a deep sip. "I just experienced how it is to get your fuckin' head cut off while being pounded like a Thanksgiving turkey, Eve. So, no. I'm not okay!"

Right away, the blue-haired woman took a chair and sat down beside her friend and embraced her tightly. But Judy wasn't good with cuddling or when it came to her personal emotions, so she wiggled out of her friend's embrace and harshly replied "I need a fuckin' shower."

As soon as Judy had reached the bathroom and shut the door, she peeled out of her clothes and went straight under the shower. The hot water relaxed her. Let her forget and calm down from the virtu. She was a professional, so she tried to not let the unpleasant experience get too close to her, though it was very hard. She closed her eyes and focused on the sound of the water and how it ran down her young, tattooed body.

But then she felt something more. Another naked body that was embracing her from behind. Swiftly, Judy spun around and realized that it was Evelyn, who was lacking any clothes as well and pressed tight against her.

"Ev, what the fu-...?!"

Their lips collided rapidly, silencing the young woman, who had her eyes wide open and seemed frozen.

How often had she dreamt about this? How many nights had Judy been awake, thinking about her best friend while masturbating?

She felt Evelyn's hands roaming over her body. Along her back and butt and then over her hips, until one dove between her legs and began to massage her vagina.

Evelyn was a professional. A doll, who knew how to induce pleasure by treating the right spots.

Judy's mind raced as her best friend cautiously brushed over her outer lips before letting her middle finger glide through her folds and over her clitoris. And she did it again and again, until she let one finger slide into her.

The young techie still couldn't believe it. Her best friend was fucking her under the shower. A wish had come true. But sadly, getting intimate with Evelyn was just one side of the medal. There was something more, Judy longed for. Something special that she wanted from persons who were more to her than a simple fuck.

"Ev…" she moaned between the kisses. "Ah, fuck! E-Ev… s-stop a sec!"

Evelyn stopped the kissing, yet kept on massaging her friend's intimacy, looking at her deeply.

"Ev," Judy eventually managed to say in a normal tone, grabbing the other woman's hand that was still busy by the wrist in order to make it stop. "When this job works out and we get that money, we leave, right?"

Giving her a soft smile and a peck on the lips, Evelyn answered "Of course. With that money, plus our savings, we could rent a flat in downtown and start anew. Away from Clouds."

"That's not what I meant, Eve. You know very well that I wanne leave this fuck-hole of a city. No lookin' back, no regrets. Burnin' down all bridges. The big question is, are you with me? Is this here's gonna be the beginning of somethin' beautiful or just a fuck to cheer me up?"

Letting out a deep sigh, Evelyn stepped a bit back. "Why can't we just have some fun for once instead of discussing this again? I know you've wanted this for years, so…"

"Don't play that doll-crap with me, Ev. You know exactly what I want and it's definitely not a fuckin' one-night-stand with my best friend. I wanna leave once and for all. No delay anymore. You're the only reason I stayed and if you're not with me, then…then there's no sense in starting something that'll hurt us later. So, are you coming with me or not?"

Evelyn stayed silent, and it was clear for Judy that she was fighting an inner struggle. A struggle that had always ended in that nothing changed for the better. So, the Hispanic woman eventually took another step back to sign that the fun was over.

"Sorry, Ev. But as long as you can't make up your mind, we'll be nothing more than friends. And no, I don't wanna stick around any longer in this fuckhole and watch how you become an asshole or get off-ed by one."

Letting her friend literally stand in the rain, Judy went to her bedroom and took some new clothes before heading back to her workspace to continue the work on the virtu.

Maybe her words towards Evelyn had been true, but also harsh and hurtful. So, no wonder that her friend left the apartment a bit later without another word. They would see each other again tomorrow, and after the job was done, they would talk about tonight. But until then, Judy needed to focus on her work at hand.

Hours and hours of work and no sleep at all. By the time Judy had managed to edit the virtu and find out who the supposed murderer was, it was already 6 am. The young techie then immediately fell into bed and slept until 3 pm.

So far, she hadn't received any message from Evelyn or Miss Crown, so she took things into her own hand and called them. The latter sounded pretty pleased to hear that Judy had been successful, whereas Evelyn remained silent.

After quickly eating something and putting on her clothes, she jumped into her van and headed towards the meeting point.

She once more tried to reach Evelyn, but again her friend didn't take the call.

"Hey Ev, it's me, Jude. I'm on my way to meet this corpo-cunt and give her that BD," she said onto the voice-mail. "Listen, I know I said some really gonk things yesterday, but… Please, Evey, pick up. I wanna talk about this. About…us. So…let's meet at the coordinates I sent you, okay? And Ev… Please, take care!"

She ended the call, followed by a big sigh. She was mad about herself upon what she had said last night. How she had abruptly ended things.

Pondering about how to save the friendship with Evelyn, Judy eventually reached the given coordinates. She parked her van at the next possibility and walked the rest of the way, ending up in an alley. There, she leaned against a wall and waited.

In the meantime, Miss Crown had already arrived, while Evelyn still hadn't shown up yet.

This time, the fancy lady was clad in some rather casual black clothes, consisting of some black pants, sneakers and a black hoodie over a black top, whereas her head was partially covered by the hood.

"Miss Álvarez!" the Asian woman greeted her. "I was more than astonished to hear that you solved the mystery. How in the world did you do that?"

"Honestly, it wasn't that hard. I simply filtered and intensified Miss Oliveros' emotions, cross-reference them with the list of her associates and included the image of the person into the Virtu. Voila, BD complete. And you'll be shocked to hear that the murderer is your driver. So, you should keep your distance from him."

"I must say, I'm very impressed, Miss Álvarez," Miss Crown commented nonchalantly, clapping cautiously with her hands. "Nobody else could do this, except you. Congratulations! Now, let's get to biz. You hand me over the shard and I'll give you your money. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good," Judy replied, looking the alley up and down. "Though I'd have loved to wait for Evelyn since she initiated the deal."

"Hmm…" Miss Crown hummed, also letting her gaze wander over her surroundings. "Say, Miss Álvarez, does Miss Parker know about your results?"

Shaking her head, the Hispanic woman answered "No, she wasn't around when I edited the Virtu. Haven't seen or heard from her since, so…"

"Good. Good for her…but still very bad for you."

A cold shiver ran down Judy's spine as she felt that something was off. This coldness and dreadful tone in the other woman's voice. How she wickedly smiled at her.

Being a citizen of Night City, the young woman was always carrying a pistol, which she now brought forth, ready to use it. But before Judy could even react, two Mantisblades emerged from Miss Crown's arms.

One inhumanly quick swing later, her hand was severed from her arm along with the pistol, both dropping to the ground, inducing one last shot that went somewhere down the alley. And not a second later, the two blades impaled her chest and she got lifted off the ground, only her rips preventing her from getting cut open.

Now being entirely in shock, Judy looked into the other woman's merciless eyes, unable to do anything else than to listen to her murderer's words.

"I'm sorry that it has to end like this, Miss Álvarez, but you're too smart for your own good. I know that you probably made some copies of that BD, but don't worry, we'll find 'em. And about your friend… She's already in our hands, but unlike you, she'll continue her pathetic life. Brainwashed and put to use, of course."

Judy wanted to say something. Wanted to scream at this woman and rip her eyes out. But everything she was able to do, were some gurgling sounds as blood was filling her mouth from inside.

This was the moment, when strength left her and she was about to let it all happen. Her life would end in this alley. There'd be no funeral and nobody to mourn her, except her grandparents, who might never know about her fate.

"Hey! You! Drop her!" a female voice suddenly chimed, drawing Miss Crown's attention away from her victim..

"Fuck off, assholes! This is none of your business!" she hissed back, her sight fixed on someone behind Judy's back.

"Ai, puta, I'd listen to her," another, way deeper voice sounded, this time male and with a Hispanic accent.

"Last chance," the unknown woman called out again. "Let her down or eat lead!"

But Miss Crown didn't answer the strangers, instead she gave Judy one last vicious grin, pulled her closer and hissed "If you survive, I'm gonna find you, and then, I'll gut you!" before she threw her into the arms of her saviors.

The strange woman groaned as she got hit by the body and went down. The Hispanic guy, however, exclaimed "Shit! V, are you okay? Should I follow her?"

"No. Maybe that's what she wants. Just cover my ass while I take care of her."

Judy got softly laid onto the ground, her sight was blurry and she could only see an indistinct figure above her.

"Vik, this is V. I've a girl here with two Mantisblade-wounds in her chest. Pulse is weak. What shall I do…? Alright, bringing her over."

For a short moment, her sight got clear as the person who treated her, gave her a med-shot. It wouldn't save her, but at least keep her alive for the time being.

The woman above Judy was about her age, maybe a few years older. Her face was beautiful and peppered with some freckles, while her scruffy, short hair was violet as well as her eyes.

"Don't die on me, okay! Jackie, pick up her hand!" this woman said, brushing over the young techies head.

Then, she felt how she got lifted up again and got moved. She could hear car doors and the low humming of a car engine, and this woman's voice.

"Jackie, punch it! She's gettin' weaker. Run over every fuckin' red light, if you have to!"

"Maldita sea todo, V! What do you think I'm doing here?"

Car horns and screeching tires could be heard until the car stopped and she got moved again. It was a bumpy ride and Judy could only partially see some fragments of her surroundings.

"Viktor?" the woman suddenly called out and got answered as soon as they entered some sort of basement by another male voice.

"Lay her down! Jackie, go and get Misty, I need her assistance. V, I need your help, too. Take off her clothes. Cut 'em open, if necessary. Misty, anesthetic!"

"Can you save her?" the woman asked with worry and got a grim answer.

"I don't know, kid. Both her lungs are pierced, one already collapsed. And I don't know if her body's gonna accept her hand again. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. Let's hope that she's a fighter."

And then, her world went dark.