Heywood, March 2077
Honestly, V just had a rough day today. Gigs were slow for the past week, Jackie was helping some old chooms of his from the Valentinos, and then he got conned by some BD seller who was in league with Scavs (the events of which he was taking with him to his grave). He could at least be satisfied with the fact that his favorite t-shirt didn't get shredded or something or he wouldn't have waited for that truck to give that bastard what was due.
Regardless, V needed to blow off steam and he knew an old place where he could do just that. An old gym in Heywood he hasn't been to in a while… and to the merc's surprise, he had already been hearing someone go at it from in the hallway. He then walked down the stairs to find a tall, burly blonde woman who probably could've surpassed Jackie in height slamming blows on a punching bag over in the corner. And just as V caught sight of something the woman launched a punch that severed the chain holding it up and knocking it to the floor, groaning afterwards before she muttered to herself "Gotta be shitting me…" and that was when V chose to speak up "Was about to say the chain was rusted but you found out the hard way first." Prompting the woman to turn towards him, a slightly provoked expression on her face before she just sighed and started unstrapping a pair of boxing gloves she was wearing.
V then walked over as he said "Haven't seen anybody in here in a while, how'd you know about it?" To which she responded with a neutral tone in her voice "Old choom of mine used to bring me here back in the day, needed someplace quiet… What about you? Why are you here?"
V gave off a little "Heh" before he turned towards a damaged boxing ring in the center "Same as you… could say I have a little history here, and it seemed like a good spot to be alone." To which she just nodded before putting the gloves away, a tense silence beginning to form in the air.
V then went over to the bag and inspected the chain, sighing upon its condition "Damn… seen better days - "
"What do you want?" The woman had said to cut him off, a little frustration in her voice. V then just shrugged and inspected a chair on the side to see how stable it was before sitting down "Like I said, came here to be alone, but it sounds to me like you got somethin' gnawing at ya. Not askin' you to spill, but I won't slip it around if you decide to tell me." Watching as the woman turned towards him, a stone-cold expression on her face.
After a moment of them just trading looks she just sighs and reaches for a chair "You got a name?" To which V responded "Call me V." Which seemed to throw the woman off a little as she set the chair down across from him, muttering after a short pause "David's mysterious choom… kid speaks pretty well of ya." Leading V to nod before saying "Guessin' that means you're with that crew of Edgerunners he's talked about, heard good things about you too." To which she nodded in return "Mhm. I'm Dorio."
Another moment of silence passed before Dorio sighed and spoke up "Haven't exactly been running with 'em in a while though, had to step back from the crew a few months ago. Pretty sure David's been runnin' things since I stepped off." To which V said "Take it that means somethin' happened to his mentor?" Having been told about Maine a few times but he never got the full story, as the young Edgerunner hasn't talked about them much for a while now. Dorio then nodded solemnly before she spoke, her voice a little quieter but not so quiet that V couldn't understand her "There was a job we ran last May… a target we were after had info we needed. A corpo… he almost died, Trauma Team showed up, fired at us…" and as she continued she started looking down at the floor "Maine was slipping into cyberpsychosis, collapsed before TT showed up, was trying to shield him… and he turned me over, took a bullet in the back for me. Things were goin' to hell fast… rest of it's just a blur, but by the time it slowed… felt hot lead in my shoulder and Maine was nowhere to be found."
V took a moment to process this as Dorio put a hand over her eyes, the merc being pretty sure he heard a sniffle at some point. By the time she seemed to come back into her composure she looks at him "Nothin' to say?" To which he responded "Don't think you need to hear 'hang on to hope' right now, or get condolences if there's a chance he's not dead." But after a pause he then followed up with "You tried to carry on I'm guessin'? Decided you needed time instead?" To which she slowly nodded "Yeah… tried to keep everyone going, but I just… couldn't let go, not when there's nothing settled. Decided to step away back in December, get my shit together."
V then nodded in response "I can understand that much… closure's rare in Night City. Rarer still when it involves someone important." Seeming to catch Dorio perk up to look him in the eye as she said "That sounds like experience to me V." Prompting V to glance away for a bit before looking back and saying "Lost a friend of mine 3 years back, choom was like a brother to me… it was a gang shootout, his killer died with the rest of the enemy. Got no room to hate whoever shot 'im though, was there to watch them drop. Whoever pulled the trigger is just another body in the streets, no closure to really get out of it." To which Dorio nodded in response "Mhm…" and after a moment she stood up "Know what? You seem alright V, if this city wants to zero you it better be with a fight." Which prompted V to stand up as he said "Wouldn't have it any other way." Which pulled a smirk onto Dorio's face. V then proceeded to say "So what now?" Before Dorio crossed her arms, saying after a moment "We'll find out… think I'll check in on the crew at least, see what's up." To which V nodded before Dorio headed out.
Author's note: So, as anyone who's been reading this for a while (or at least a day or two) has probably noticed, I removed the latest chapter I inserted. Was I excited for what I had planned for that oc at one point? Yes, but then as I thought about it... I confess that I had imagined what it could've been like if Maine, Dorio and Pilar had some sort of unknown savior when they would've died originally.
But the more I thought about how far I'd go with him, the more I started thinking that using him just felt like giving the Edgerunners plot armor, from both those moments and potentially also with going forward.
I do want to give a second chance to the Cyberpunk characters who got fates they didn't deserve, which is of course the intention behind this story, but I don't want to go about it that way or I'm just going to feel like the story has been made hollow.
Bottom line is I decided to scrap that particular oc at least for now, I can't be sure whether or not I may add him in again later. But for now the story will go on as is, hope to see you all next time.