Author's Notes
For some context, this story will be split between two points of view. V's and Lynn's. When V is in the drivers seat, the chapter will be noted as "Side A" in the chapter name. For Lynn, it will be noted as "Side B." Chapters that switch mid-chapter will be noted as "Mix Tape."
Sweat drenched V's forehead. Her breathing had been ragged for a while now, but the adrenaline overdrive had kept her going for the most part. With a click, she loaded a fresh magazine into her weapon and risked a glance down the hallway. Alarms blared, lights flashed and guards yelled.
"Why did I agree to this again…?"
"Because you finally grew a pair. Fuck, V, I honestly didn't expect us to make it past the lobby. Why start questioning it now?" The usual static and dull ache that accompanied Johnny's appearance rang through V's mind. By now, she was used to it, but given the circumstances the added strain wasn't doing any good.
"Thanks for… ugh… the vote of confidence." V sprang from her cover and broke for a doorway, dipping inside just in time to avoid a group of Arasaka guards charging past. "Alt better come through for us."
"She'll come through."
V grunted in amusement. Somehow, Johnny's affirmation brought little comfort.
Still, she had to keep moving.
Breaking from cover once more, she opened fire on an approaching force, dropping them before they could even react. The "ka-thunk" of her shotgun kickstarted the adrenaline once more. She could practically feel her heart attempting to escape her chest.
A shot narrowly missed her head, planting itself in the wall behind her. Boots hammered the ground, at least a few pairs at a guess. The Sandevistan whirred to life. Time grinded to a standstill. V charged once again.
Monowire cut flesh, barely dropping the guards in time. Without the Sandevistan, she would have been lit up like Corpo Plaza.
"V, move!" Johnny bellowed. Exerting all his will, he forced V's body to drop to the floor. Just in time to avoid another volley of rapid fire. "You're taking to fucking long! Get up and get fucking moving!"
"I'm fucking trying, asshole!" The solo snarled, crawling into cover. It took a magnanimous effort to return fire.
The guards were quickly beginning to box her in. She was growing frantic. "Sandy, don't fuck me now…" she muttered before throwing a grenade down the hall. She then set off the spinal implant once again, lined up a shot and fired.
The explosion shook the corridor.
It was a heavy blow, and just enough to force an opening. But it would close soon enough. Almost dragging herself up, V - with quite a lot of help from her resident Rockerboy - lurched forward.
She staggered into a server room, hacking up a globule of blood. "Access Point. Jack our nuke in, V."
Alt had indeed come through after V uploaded the AI. It wasn't even a minute before the entire building had been plunged into silence thanks to Alt's interference. All that was left was to finally reach Mikoshi.
As V stumbled through what looked like a netrunner hub, something began to rumble above her.
As if to personally spit in the face of her efforts, a literal walking tank crashed through the ceiling, crushing a block of machinery upon landing. The sheer force was enough to send her reeling onto the floor.
"Adam fuckin' Smasher." She breathed. Mikoshi was literally just beyond the next door. She was so close!
[Interesting.]
The hulking behemoth of what was once a man glared down at V. It almost seemed like his gaze had weight to press down on her very soul. His general demeanour was obvious. V meant nothing to him. She was just another worm to crush underfoot.
Instincts screamed and she threw herself sideways before her mind caught up. She avoided the initial hit, but the sheer air pressure was still enough to slice at her skin.
She wasn't so lucky in avoiding the following strike.
The air in her lungs wasn't forced out so much as it was sledgehammered. Blood and spittle flying as everything became white noise and pain. A dozen different readouts flickered in and out of reality from the impact. Her spine screamed. Ribs creaked and groaned - a couple probably broken.
Her subdermal armour was probably the only thing keeping her insides inside.
She had been hit once before on a job. Centre-mass by a Grad. Some Cyberpsycho ex-soldier in the Badlands. Reggie still owed her for that one.
A Grad had nothing on Smasher's followthrough uppercut. Her back met a pillar moments later, readouts - or Johnny, it didn't really matter - it was all dully drowned out as she crumpled to the floor, the boogeyman of Night City looming closer.
You can't die here V.
A snarl tore itself free as she spat out a glob of blood and bile and god knew what.
V was barely given time to recover as another punch came hurtling towards her like a fully loaded freight train. She ducked just in time, the blow smashing into the pillar instead. The blow sent dust, stone and sparks flying.
There was now a large hole where he had struck.
Where V's head would have been.
Acting as quickly as she could, the monowire lashed out and coiled itself around the no-ganic behemoth's ankle. Then, kicking off from the pillar, V slid through his legs and pulled with all the might she could muster. He barely moved a millimetre.
"V, base of the neck! Rip his fuckin' brain stem out!"
[Pathetic human meat! Where is Rogue, the old cunt!? Too scared to fight? Ha!]
Smasher began to turn. Though something stopped him dead in his tracks.
V gave a grunt as she channelled a current of electricity down the wire. Even if it was barely enough to register any notion of "pain" for the behemoth, it was still enough for the briefest of short circuits. It gave V the time to at least push an offensive of her own.
One that was almost immediately halted as a shoulder mounted missile launcher swivelled on its mounting and pointed straight down at her. The next sound she heard was the arming of an explosive payload.
A gunshot rang through an empty street.
Its thunderous boom would have been heard for miles around. Someone had likely been murdered for something stupid. A missed debt. A poorly timed insult. Perhaps the poor sap simply made the mistake of looking at someone a little funny. Either way, the city moved on. The district's nightlife didn't even flinch.
V gave a frustrated sigh. Once again, the solo had woken up to find herself having a love affair with the floor. The cold tile - though familiar - didn't make for a comfy sleep. Bed sheets had tangled her up as only a single foot had managed to stay on the bed itself.
"Fuckin' gangers…" she moaned.
Sitting up, she glanced out of the open window. The midnight smog was thick tonight. The merc spent a good few minutes watching as the occasional night wanderer ambled aimlessly down the street outside. A woman holding a burlap sack like her life depended on it. A man drunkenly stumbling into every object he came across. A corpo suit hastily walking, looking over his shoulder at almost every opportunity.
Eventually, her people watching was interrupted by a sudden realisation.
Looking to her side, the bed was empty. That wasn't right. "Jude?" She called out into the swanky, high-luxury apartment. A lazy reply called back. The tech wizard was probably in her little den tinkering with god knows what. Something Judy did whenever sleep evaded her.
Though, in this case, V was likely the reason for Judy's insomnia.
V slid on an oversized hoodie and wandered out and into the apartment proper. Last night's takeout was still left on the kitchen counter, accompanied by an empty bottle of liquor. Date night always involved hard liquor. Still, V moved on and wandered into the depths of Judy's tech cave. What she found was pretty standard.
Judy sat slouched on her chair, tapping away at her terminal. Meanwhile, Nibbles the cat lay curled up on the edge of the desk, fast asleep. Not even the passing affectionate scratches roused the Sphynx Cat from its slumber.
V wasn't exactly a tech master like Judy was, but she knew enough to know that this wasn't BD tuning. At least, not conventional BD tuning. Judy gave a smirk as V came into sight. "Honestly, the amount of shit you keep in the wardrobe, I'd suspect you of hoardin'."
V feigned offence. "I like my options!" The two shared a laugh as V leaned on the back of Judy's chair. "I woke you up, didn't I?"
"Nah, nothin' like that. Had an idea buzzin' around in my head since yesterday." She resumed her keyboard tapping, prompting lines of code to spring up on one monitor and technical gibberish on another. Specifications, schematics, jargon, all the juicy stuff Judy loved.
The Merc gave the top of Judy's head a quick kiss. Something on one monitor did stand out, at least. Stills taken from a Duet BD the couple had made not too long ago. "Oh! Our little road trip to Seattle. Climbing Mount Rainier nearly killed you."
V smirked as Judy lightly smacked her arm. "I'm a diver, not a climber! Two totally different workouts."
"Riiight." The unchanging smirk earned a very exaggerated eye roll.
"Anyway, yeah, I'm not really tunin' anythin', just tinkerin' with the DBD code. Our last scroll session felt a little laggy."
The two fell into a comfortable silence. V watched her work and let her mind wander over the past year or so.
After V's mad solo assault on Arasaka Tower, things grew somewhat strained between the two of them. Judy wasn't all too pleased about discovering that her girlfriend had launched what was essentially a murder-suicide. V had done so fully intending on never leaving the tower alive.
The fact that she had was a miracle.
She dragged herself back to the present. Judy had seemingly finished whatever she was doing and was now staring up at V. An expectant expression plastered on her face. Wait, did Judy ask a question?
"You gonna tell me what's up or am I gonna have to get Abuela to interrogate you?" Judy's lips curled into a smirk as colour visibly drained from V's face. Frantically, the merc shook her head.
"Please don't!" Judy burst out laughing at that. "I was just… ugh. Nightmares. Y'know, about back then." Judy's laughter stopped abruptly. Her expression stiffened. For a moment, Judy looked as though she was about to say something, though she caught herself. She softened, her shoulders letting the tension escape.
"I suppose I can imagine."
A moment of silence - far less comfortable than before - filled the room.
Eventually, V broke it. "I got a job lined up for tomorrow. Could use your help."
Judy raised an eyebrow as she casually swivelled in her chair. Nibbles had since roused from her sleep and had softly leapt onto Judy's lap, purring as the techie scratched behind the ears. "Oh? No rest for the wicked?" Thankfully, it seemed Judy had gotten over the little bump in her mood.
"Yeah. Some weird Braindance has turned up on the street. Apparently the client's linked them to a bunch of recent disappearances." V paused for a moment. "Didn't give much detail. Said they'll provide their own BD specialist but…"
"Don't trust them?"
V shrugged. "I'd rather not risk getting some gonk who doesn't know shit about jack. Plus I heard there's a good sushi place not far from the meet. Would be a waste to not treat a lovely lady to a meal." At that, Judy stood up - much to Nibbles' chagrin - and curled her slender arms around V's waist. She let a soft smile free.
"Well, if you put it that way, I suppose I could swing it into my very full and totally not made up schedule." The two giggled and shared a kiss. "C'mon, V. Back to bed. Eyes are gettin' heavy."
"Nice place. Really sets up a rustic vibe, y'know." Judy quipped as she could barely hold in a gagging cough.
V groaned. From the outside, the meeting place was nothing but a roach infested, abandoned old warehouse. Judging by the stench and metallic taste in the air, it was probably once used by Scavs. Something that really didn't sit well in the merc's stomach. Whoever the client was, really knew how to pick 'em.
It was way too early for such repulsive assaults on the senses.
"V? What are you doing here?"
The familiar voice perked V's ears up as she turned. "River? Huh, long time no see. Wait, you here for this meet too?"
The ex-cop strode up with the bearing of a man who hadn't had his morning coffee yet. Stopping in front of the two girls he gave a nod and a sigh.
"Got a call late last night. Job paid well and… well, Joss could use the scratch. I was told to expect a solo, but I didn't think it'd be you."
The two shared a fistbump and a greeting hug. "How's Randy doing? Still working as your assistant?" River nodded, a fond smile spreading over his lips. The two then began to catch up about recent events. It had been far too long since they had gotten a drink together.
"Uh, gonna tell me who your choomba is, V?" Judy folded her arms and let an eyebrow perk up. She inspected River with interest and a very small hint of suspicion. V silently chuckled to herself as the rarely seen jealous side of Judy began to appear.
"This is River. River Ward. Remember that gig you recommended me for ages ago? The one involving the Paralez's?" Judy nodded. "Met him through that. We worked the case together. River, this is Judy, my better half."
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Didn't think anyone capable of keeping this one on a leash." River grinned, gesturing to V with a thumb. V was about ready to throw hands at that remark, but Judy's laugh quelled that notion.
"Trust me, the 'leash' I have her on is about as effective as wet toilet paper."
The two laughed and nodded in some weird sort of solidarity. V could only look on in dismay. "Why do I feel like I'm going to hate this gig…?" She muttered under her breath. If Judy and River heard, they didn't draw attention to it. "Anyway, client's late." The merc spoke up, louder.
River gave another sigh. "Skipped breakfast and everything…"
"I suppose it's a good thing I brought Buck-a-Slice. Wouldn't want you to start your work on an empty stomach." The unfamiliar voice startled the three of them. V's hand instinctively reached for her iron. She relaxed somewhat after taking in the positively disarming presence the mystery man had.
He stood at the entrance of the warehouse holding two square boxes smelling of pizza. His general frame was scrawny and gaunt which did not fit well into his suit. Where most corpo's took pride in their presentability, this man clearly gave little to no thought. His tie was loose, his jacket was roughed up and his shirt was only half tucked into his pants. Not to mention the huge dark bags under his sunken, bespectacled eyes and the scruffy peach-fuzz speckling his chin.
What did strike as notably different was the small, yet pristine enamel pin of a blue butterfly proudly fixed to the lapel of his jacket.
"You're our mystery client?" River asked, eyebrow raising. V was right there with him. She didn't know what to expect but it certainly wasn't this. Nevertheless, the man nodded and allowed a small, laid back smile to creep over his features.
"You can call me Felix."
"Alright, are you going to tell us the spec or…?"
Felix turned on his heel and headed back into the warehouse. V grunted, frustrated at the lack of response. "Guess we better follow." With a moment's hesitation, the trio stepped into the dark entryway.
Inside was a stark contrast to the building's exterior.
Machines whirred, computer screens flickered with scrolling information, netrunning chairs lay prepared for use and most oddly of all, a large coffee table surrounded by two comfortable looking couches stood near the centre of the room. Felix was already making himself comfortable, chowing down on a slice of pizza.
A black and white dog - likely a breed of Border Collie - lazily watched the trio as it lounged on the sofa next to Felix.
"Forgive the hush hush. Please, have a seat. Help yourself." Felix gestured to the sofa opposite him. The three sat, but only River took up the offer of free pizza.
"Cute little fucker." V nodded to the dog. "It got a name? I have a sphynx cat at home."
"Bandit." Felix replied fondly, giving the dog a quick pet. "Now, as I've already disclosed, I have a strong suspicion that a strange new BD is responsible for a string of mysterious disappearances." It seemed it was straight to biz. Not that the merc was complaining.
"What makes these disappearances different from the usual Night City incidents? People go missing in NC all the time." V enquired with a hint of apprehension. She gave a sidelong glance at River as he tried to eat as discreetly as possible. The stringy syn-cheese made that particular attempt fail.
Felix then slid a small container across the table. "Well, these instances involve people simply… vanishing. The only thing that remains is the BD Wreath they were using. All of them had this slotted. A pretty obvious correlation, no?"
Judy picked up the container - a shard box - and turned it over in her hands. "Mementos?" She read the name with confusion. The packaging had a rather eye-catching motif of red and black ripples covering the case. "Weird name."
"I've had some associates run analysis on its code but they can't find anything unusual. For all intents and purposes, this 'Mementos' is just a run of the mill BD. As for what it contains, that much I don't know."
"Do we know who scrolled it?" Judy asked, setting the box back down. Felix shook his head. She frowned. "Let me guess. You want us to take a dive and analyse it under supervision?" Felix nodded.
At that, V grunted. "What's your stake in this? Concerned citizen? Corp?" The solo eyed Felix, his general disposition didn't sit well with her. Far too laid back, far too nonchalant. He certainly was a unique character. "I want to know who I'm working for."
"For now, I'm merely a concerned citizen. Who wouldn't be, given the circumstances?" His smile faltered for a fraction of a second. "Braindances are quite dangerous already. Adding something like this to the mix is quite the time bomb."
"Mind if I take a peek at the specs?" Judy piped up. "Some fresh eyes might turn up somethin' new. I'd rather not take a dive blind." Felix waved his hand, gesturing his consent. Immediately Judy stood up and strode off to one of the work stations. Within a minute, the techie had all but made the space her own, typing and swiping as though it were the set up she had at home.
As Judy did her thing, River entered detective mode, straightening himself up and wiping the grease from his fingers. "Do you know how many victims there are?"
"My own little investigation has dug up ten cases, but the actual number? Who can say. There could be hundreds city wide."
"Have you noticed any links? Patterns between each victim?"
Felix took a data shard from his personal link and held it out over the table. "These are the ten I found. Take a look, Mr. Ward." The ex-detective took the shard, slotted it and leant back into the couch.
"Hmm…" For a few moments, River's eyes looked back and forth, reading the files projecting directly into his cornea. "Dominic Almirez, Valentino. Patricia Wright, unaffiliated. Matsuo Takanashi, Tyger Claw… hmm… Animal, unaffiliated, 6th Street… Valentino… Maelstrom… Scav?"
"Something caught your attention?" V had been patiently waiting until now. River nodded, taking the shard out of his personal link.
"My first thought was this was just another Scav hustle. You've fallen for something similar once, V." River gave a knowing, affectionately mocking smirk.
The merc growled. She had told him that story whilst drunk and in confidence. She didn't need him throwing it back at her so suddenly and so casually. River grinned but continued. "The fact a Scav is one of the victims throws that theory into question. Outlier? Maybe the gonk tried sampling the spiked goods out of curiosity. Or Scavs just aren't involved."
"This does seem a little high grade for Scavs. What about the others? You notice any patterns?"
"Only thing I can think of is… well… they don't seem all that high profile. Just a bunch of faceless nobodies. The Gangers are just street goons, most not even involved in anything illegal." River scratched his head, taking a deep breath. "That might be the key… but it's not a whole lot to go on."
"So the victims are people easily missed. Average joes."
"From first glance, seems like it."
"Maybe these cases are just trial runs? The perp - or perps - may just be working up to an actual target." It was V's turn to scratch her head. Although this wasn't her first time working such a mystery, it was still frustrating.
She doubted a certain Rockerboy's input would be all that useful either. Though he would certainly have something to say if he were here. No doubt another rant at Corps being behind everything.
"I doubt it. Too many cases to just be trial runs. Two or three, maybe… but ten? And apparently there may be even more than that."
The two fell silent as they thought.
While V and River theory crafted, Felix had taken to eating the remaining pizza, idly petting the dog that had - up to now - silently kept watch over the meeting. Though Bandit was a completely different species to Nibbles, she couldn't help but picture the two playing together. Granted, Nibbles wasn't the most social of creatures. Eventually, the silence was broken. Judy had apparently found something.
"Guys, this doesn't make much sense." Or maybe she hadn't found anything. "I was lookin' at the metadata. The stuff that notes who made the files, who scrolled the BD, that kind'a thing. Most of the time, that shit's encrypted or fabricated. Especially for porn and snuff. But there's always somethin' there."
Judy slumped back in her seat, a frown plastering over her features.
"This Mementos thing… well… it has nothin'. Zip. Nadda."
"Weird…" V murmured. She knew a bit about tech and its inner workings, but clearly not enough to fully understand just how odd that tidbit was. "Well… I guess the only thing left to do is actually take a dip. Did you find any nasty surprises?"
Judy shook her head. "Clean. No viruses."
With that reassurance, there was no real objection to giving the BD a look.
The trio each made their way to a netrunning chair, making themselves at least somewhat comfortable. Felix stood and strode over to a terminal. Immediately, he began to tap away. Deeper into the room, a large machine began to rumble to life.
Within a minute, the room became notably cooler. A gentle breeze tickled at V's skin. The smell had dispersed as well.
"Just a precaution. Some of the tech in here is ancient. I'd rather not have to put out a fire… she'd kill me."
V was about to speak up at that little slip of the tongue. Though Felix was quick to continue, cutting her off.
"Alright folks, I'll keep tabs on things here. We'll discuss any findings after the show." Felix then picked up a tablet. "Just a few more calibrations."
Giving the go ahead, Felix pressed the metaphorical big red button. V's Wreath whirred to life, its screens lighting up as usual. Then, something on the other side of the room sparked. Briefly, she saw Felix lunge for something, his voice growing completely muffled as her sensory system was completely overridden by the Wreath.
White consumed her vision. Then, the white began to warp into black, then red. V's head began to pound, feeling as though her brain was about to explode.
The pain grew unbearable for a moment longer. Then… it stopped.
