Welles residence, August 2076
Well, V could appreciate how things seemed to go pretty well when he first started settling into the role of a full-time merc alongside Jackie in the past 4 months.
A quick and easy gig for the Padre was able to land V a new set of wheels, then there was that dumb gangoon that Regina Jones was after who was sending around false info to most of NC's brokers for eddies that the two mercs chased down. It was a pretty weird gig given that half of it was just chasing the guy down, but it gave V and Jackie a little bit of a rep that Night City's fixers caught wind of, which was an absolute win. V even found an in on a minor brawling tourney or two to help score some extra eddies on the side, which was certainly good practice for properly managing the strength of his Gorilla Arms to avoid accidentally flatlining somebody.
But it seemed that somewhere down the line V and Jackie got someone pissed off who had some tough friends, that is if their night partying at that club in Downtown turning into a brawl with a group of brutish men who seriously knew how to fight was any indication.
Plan A for V was to save up with the cut he got from the gigs he and Jackie did together for his own place, but that night was a surefire wake-up call for the two mercs, prompting them to get their hands on some extra gear. After their latest gig a couple of days ago they went out to upgrade their arsenals, V adding a newly acquired Nakota D5 Copperhead assault rifle alongside his Unity pistol, and Jackie getting a pair of gold-plated Tsunami Nues he decided to call La Chingona Dorada.
Yet somehow as V looked at his newly acquired weapon while sitting on the sofa, he still felt like he could up his game. Guns, chrome, combat training and street smarts did make for a damn nice foundation as a mercenary, but everything he had now in terms of skills is something he's already spent years working with. And he just had this nagging feeling he could take it one step further, but the question was how.
He was decent enough with sneaking around but a fighter like him couldn't rely on that. There was no talking his way out of every single situation he landed in as much as he prided himself on his ability to keep a level head in a tense situation. And as for melee experience… Well, he did consider a blade a while ago, but he's got zero experience with one nor does he know anybody who could teach him. Jackie had a machete sure, but V had a different sort of blade in mind. He's also not really interested in knives given that they always felt small in his hands, not to mention V always considered them to be shoddy. He was definitely not going to be lugging around a bat or something everywhere he went. And swapping out his Gorilla Arms for Mantis Blades was just completely out of the question.
V could've gone on for another hour mentally debating with himself about this, but it was then interrupted by his holo buzzing, a green "ER" separated by a line appearing from a number V recognized before he picked up, his eyes glowing blue as he did, the caller then speaking "Hey V." V then responded to the young man on the other end "David, you're not usually one to call first, you need something choom?" And David then chuckled before he spoke to the mercenary "Yeah, uh… I'm stopping by Vik's clinic real quick with Lucy, I got some ideas on how I might be able to keep up without chippin' in too much." V saying in response "Nice to know you've been playing it safe. Why do you need me though? Between Vik and Luce you've got 2 extra opinions on this." And David then dragged out the silence for a few seconds before he just said "Lucy is actually just there to keep an eye on me… we agreed that she'd sign off on any implants I go for." Which prompted V to chuckle a little "You really have it bad for her don't you." The mercenary then proceeded to stifle a laugh when the young Edgerunner started stammering a little "Relax choom. You two take a look at your options and I'll drop by, be there in 10." To which David responded "Uh, yeah, right." Before hanging up. V then proceeded to set his rifle aside and get up, heading over to his car parked outside.
V had a lot of reasons for liking that he now had his own ride. One that was at the top of the list was that he cut down his time getting to Vik's from 30 to 40 minutes that he spent finding and taking an NCart into Watson all the way down to 15 minutes tops. He then stepped out of his car and headed to the clinic, walking in on the four as David was examining what seemed to be Vik's stock of monowires. He overheard David saying while examining one particular type "… Think maybe it could still be modified? I had some ideas about trying it out with some kind of electric emitter." To which Vik replied "Heh, I think I like where you're going with this kid. I'll see what I can do." While Gloria just watched as they were doing their business. V then approaches them "Getting crafty with the arsenal prospects? Make a damn fine merc out of you yet." Which prompted the three to turn and face the new arrival, Lucy speaking up first "Long time no see V, noticed your partner was over in the Esoterica when we showed up." To which he responded "Jackie had a little somethin' to give to Misty, he's been thinkin' about it for a while now." Thinking back on all the times Jackie brought up to him how he wanted to give Misty a stack of tarot cards, finally being satisfied with a particular set he found the other day. It's not like V was complaining, he was happy Jackie had someone he could stick with, especially when that someone was probably the gentlest soul V had ever met in NC. Gloria then proceeded to say from nearby "Still don't really get how Señora Welles isn't alright with Misty. Sure, us mothers can have our favorites if we want to, but if it were me I'd just be fine with the fact that he's happy. I can definitely say that I am right now." Giving a sly half-smirk over at David and Lucy, the former blushing from the knowing look on his mother's face. V then said "The funny-looking grin is kind of a dead giveaway, not much different from a deep look in the eye…" and the young couple in the room both needed a few seconds to realize who they were talking about, even Lucy looking a little flushed at the realization "Wait, hang on a second… How long?" V chuckled a little in response before saying "Since I caught how you were looking at his jacket when you two showed up here to get his Sandi checked." And Lucy just mumbled in response "Oh…"
After a moment of silence Vik then said "Are those arms still working alright V?" In response to which V flexed the fingers of his right Gorilla Arm before saying "Handling like a dream Vik." And David then proceeded to look at them "Huh, did you have those before?" In response to which V just shook his head "Got a couple extra touches in the past few months David… though if I'm gonna be honest, I've been feeling like I'm missing something lately. The arms come in handy and all but nothing I've got is something I haven't done some work in already, hell I chose these because of how much training I've got in old fashioned fist-fighting… wanna try adding another angle, something to expand from, kinda like what you're doing by giving those monowires a shot. 'Cept there's nothing that I think will work for me that I can get my hands on."
To their surprise it was Gloria was the one who spoke up in response "If hands-on won't work, why not try something that's not a hands-on weapon." Giving a knowing look over to Lucy who says "You think V should try his hand at netrunning?" And the merc himself then responded "Netrunning… actually that might not be a bad idea. 'Cept I've never tried my hand at it before… think you could show me the ropes Luce?" The netrunner then said in response "I know I'm damn good, but I'm not that good V." Which preceded David speaking up "What about Kiwi?" Which prompted Lucy to seem contemplative for a moment before speaking up "Worth a try I guess. I'll send you her number V, but you'll have to see what happens before you go all-in with this." V nodding in response "'Preciate the heads up Luce."
Epilogue: "Can't say it's not intriguing, but I'll have to pass, you seem like a difficult student where I'm concerned." V then sighs in response to Kiwi's answer before asking "Ok, fine. But what's your take on knowing someone who would be interested in showing me the ropes?" Which actually prompted Kiwi to say "Well if you're that open-minded about all this, I know a 'runner who's been looking for work. Old contact who goes by T-Bug, I can send you her detes and you two can discuss biz." To which V responded "Appreciate it, thanks Kiwi."
Author's note: Yep, first Becca gets her introduction and now the lovebirds get their own with a side of V first delving into netrunning. This one I actually had to reconsider how I was setting up a couple of times before I really settled on a final result. And just an fyi on the epilogues, they're not always going to pop up in chapters but in the last couple I felt they were relevant just to help fill in some events when I didn't know how else to bring up the details. And here's a little thing to keep anyone who's already reading this story or just starting to check this out on their toes. Remember how I mentioned the prologues weren't going to be left unfinished? Prepare to expect a little something soon ;)