A/N : Hello everyone ! This one-shot is a direct sequel of my Cyberpunk 2077 x Arcane fanfic, "even in these chains you can't break me", to celebrate V's birthday! I really like that story, I wanted to get back to it a little. used Phantom Liberty as inspiration too :) Enjoy !
Flatlined
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V stared at the flatline on the monitor for a second before realizing how much that screeching alarm sound was bothering her.
Then, only then, did she wonder if she was dead. Finally. It took her several seconds to remember that she had just yanked out the cables from her body and that the probe monitoring her heart rate was not picking up anything anymore.
She looked around, her panic controlled just like she had learned. Keep calm, cool-headed, examine your environment, and evaluate your options.
It was not a hospital room, that much she could tell. It could look the part, with all the machines blinking and beeping, and the respirator and monitors next to the bed she had been lying on a few seconds before. But it was not. The ceiling was too clean, the camera in the south corner of the room too new and too high-tech for a hospital. The walls were not white but dark grey, and the paint looked fresh.
There were no windows.
She remembered to access her cyberdeck, that microchip embedded in her brain that allowed her to run the net and hack pretty much anything she could lay her eyes on, before she even remembered her own name. But she was only rewarded by a sharp pain through her skull that ripped a grunt from her lungs. The world spun around her, and her knees buckled, forcing her to use the bed as a crutch.
"Come on," she tried to whisper to herself as encouragement. But the only sound her throat allowed her to make was a painful rasp that brought tears to her eyes.
"Hang on," she thought to herself instead. "Give yourself a second. Take your time. No immediate threat."
She looked around again, instinctively searching for Johnny Silverhand, but the long-dead rockstar was nowhere to be seen.
"Ah," she thought. "Right. Johnny's gone. Johnny's gone."
Memories started to flood back with this thought. Johnny. The Relic. Night City. The Nomads. Panam. Judy!
Everything came back all at once and only made her vertigo worse. Her vision started to blur, and she felt herself go.
The door opened, bringing her back to reality, and unveiled a small, scrawny man with deep brown eyes. He looked somewhere between thirty and sixty, considering how tired and sick he seemed to be. He wore his brown hair down to his ears, and the white lab coat on his shoulders definitely pegged him as a scientist, but the absence of the traditional stethoscope ruled him out as a doctor.
He stared at the empty table, then at V, then back at the table, eyes wide as if he were trying to solve a very complex equation.
"Miss V," he finally said, his voice marked by a heavy accent the Night City merc couldn't place at first. "I do believe you would feel a lot better if you lay back down. Or at the very least sat down. There is a chair in the corner behind you, if you wish."
At least he looked neither panicked nor threatening.
"I am glad," he added, "to see that this was a false alarm. You gave us quite the scare here, Miss V."
He pointed toward the flatline on the heart monitor with the tip of his cane, before he simply walked to the monitor to make it stop. Silence returned, long awaited. Still, V didn't let much of her guard down.
"Who are you?" croaked the young woman. Or at least she thought she did; she was not sure her voice was intelligible.
She wanted to ask more. Where am I? Why am I here? What's going on? Where's Judy?
But she just couldn't. Her tongue felt like paper, her throat covered with sand.
The man seemed to read all this on her face and smiled, while gesturing toward the bed as an invitation.
"My name is Viktor. I am the head of Research and Development here at Hextech. We are currently in an underground facility near Birmingham, in Great Britain."
"I'm in Europe?" whispered the neon-red-haired merc.
She felt the weight of her hair on her skull and shoulders and thought, "longer?" This man Viktor raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, concerned.
"Yes, you are. I take it you don't remember?"
V shook her head and answered.
"You're not Viktor."
The scientist chuckled, a sound that almost hurt V's ears. It felt like the last breath of a dying man.
"I am not your Viktor, no. We simply share the same namesake, and, it seems, the same passion for cybernetics. That is, if you're referring to Viktor Vector, the ripperdoc of Night City who handled your implants until now?"
V only nodded.
"Might I check your vitals, Miss V? I did not expect to see you up and standing today, so I would like to make sure you are not about to collapse on the floor, if you don't mind."
But the merc did not budge. If anything, the slight movement of her hands and shoulders was defensive, a silent threat warning Viktor not to come any closer.
Viktor stared for a second.
"Very well. In that case, what do you remember?"
V took a breath and opened her mouth, only to whisper:
"Water."
Viktor looked horrified.
"Oh yes! My apologies, where are my manners? I suppose your throat must be pretty dry. Here, a minute if you don't mind."
He went to the opposite side of the room where a sink popped out of the wall at the press of a button. He reached out for a plastic glass in a compartment V had not noticed and filled it.
Noticing the wary gaze of his patient, the man in the white coat took a quick sip of the glass himself, as proof that it was not dangerous, before offering it to the young woman.
She took it eagerly and drank as if it was the first time in years.
"Is it helping?" he asked.
"Preem," she groaned.
Yes, it felt better. That water felt like the sweetest thing she had ever had.
"I suggest you sit down, Miss V," he repeated.
"I can stand on my own, alright."
His accent was starting to get on her nerves. Or maybe it was his manners. Too mild. Too fake. Not trustworthy.
"I can see that, but I think the discussion we're about to have would go better if you didn't have to focus on keeping your balance."
There was a hint of a threat in his voice, or maybe more like... empathy. She couldn't say for sure. Still, she obeyed, and felt a growing concern when she realized how long it took her to take those few steps, and the pain in her joints when she let herself down into the chair.
"What do you remember?" he asked again.
V scrambled through the memories she managed to summon. She remembered Johnny Silverhand and the Relic, having the construct, this soul embedded in her own skull, and slowly but surely killing her.
She remembered Arasaka Tower and the desperate attempt to access their underground base where she could access the tech necessary to save herself.
She remembered the death of the Aldecaldos and their leader Saul, and the sacrifice of Johnny.
She remembered Judy. The green dye in her hair, the red lipstick that would leave a mark on her neck, the scent of her soap, the taste of her skin.
She remembered the lights of Night City and leaving all of this behind to live in the desert with the Aldecaldos, her new family, and the love of her life by her side, for t—
She remembered coming back. Misty! Saving Misty!
She remembered the two British mercs from Hextech. Vi and, and… Caitlyn! The prototype!
"That's correct," confirmed Viktor. "You were brought here by space shuttle with Caitlyn, alongside this young man Deckard, right after you managed to retrieve him and your friend."
"So she's fine?"
For the first time, her voice felt almost normal.
"As far as I know, yes, she is."
A heavy silence settled. Viktor looked at her, expecting maybe another question, or for her to understand all by herself.
"So I guess I'm not dead then. This ain't looking like paradise nor hell."
"Astute observation."
"So that means that the prototype worked. You're the guy Caitlyn talked about. Said you had all her trust. That you could save me."
"I appreciate the faith she has in me."
"You're dodging the topic, doc. What you hiding?"
Viktor sighed, and for a second, she saw in him her own friend, the way her Viktor had sighed when he was about to give her bad news.
"I'm still dying, aren't I?"
"No, you are not, Miss V. Jayce and I, we managed to extract our prototype from this man and adapt it for you, just in the nick of time, if I might add."
V choked. She thought she had heard wrong.
"Wait, wait. That worked? Did I get this right? You're actually saying I'm cured?"
Viktor leaned back against the wall, easing the weight on his cane.
"You are indeed. Sadly, we lost Mr. Deckard in the process. I'm afraid he did not survive the operation, or rather the fractured skull you gave him, when we retrieved our property. But, considering your situation and your history, I suppose this is not what you would consider a problem."
V barely heard him. She was cured! She'd live! After all this, all those battles, all the blood, the deaths, the hopes—fuck, she made it! She could go back to Judy without spitting blood or passing out every day! Viktor was right, she was better seated because this was heavy news to digest, even if it was good.
"Why the long face, doc?" she finally asked, realizing he was not sharing her enthusiasm. "Your little gadget ain't working the way you wanted it to?"
"Well, as is to be expected when testing something for the first time, things didn't really go as we had hoped. As you might recall, the damage to your body was rather extensive, and it was already a wonder you were still breathing. But the fact that your DNA was being rewritten—which was a rather incredible thing to study for a man like me, I might add—was not a case we had planned for. The Hexcore worked, but only for a moment, repairing your immediate damage. But after a day, when we thought you were saved... your body started rejecting you faster than before. Faster than the Hexcore could follow."
He paused and looked at her in the eyes. She noticed something strange at that moment. This man looked human, sounded human, but behind his eyes, she saw something else.
"Are you still with me, Miss V?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm here."
"Good. At least your cognitive capacities seem excellent, much better than what I was expecting. This is great news."
"Stop stalling, doc. I know you're hiding something. Just let the shoe drop."
"We had to improve our prototype, Miss V. Which, in a way, provided us with opportunities we had never dreamed of. Adapting our Hexcore to rewrite DNA? We hadn't thought of it, but it was a glorious possibility. Only... this work needed time. A lot of time, which you didn't have. So we... stalled."
"Stalled?"
He sighed again.
"Stalled. Bought you some time. We had to stop your body from changing so fast, and there we had to freeze you in time."
"You mean, cryogeny?"
"This is exactly what I mean, indeed."
V's stomach dropped. Her mind raced through the information and the possibilities, and dread took over.
"How long?"
"It bought us the time we needed, and this new version of the Hexcore is working wonderfully, you're—"
"HOW? LONG?"
Yelling hurt her. Hurt her throat, hurt her head, hurt her eyes.
"Six hundred and seventy-one days, Miss V."
"Two... two years?"
"Slightly less, but yes."
"I've been gone for two years?"
Viktor, his strange eyes fixed on hers, only nodded.
Two years.
V sat on the edge of the bed, her head still buzzing. Gazing at her fingers, she tried to feel the metal beneath the skin, in vain. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her heart down.
She wanted to contact Judy so badly, but she was scared now. Scared of what she might discover. Two years. Did Judy go back with the Aldecaldos? Did Panam make good on her promise? Did she find someone else?
She was also terrified of accessing her cyberdeck, even for something as trivial as calling someone.
V thought back on Viktor's explanation.
"We need to conduct more extensive checks, but we have been monitoring you very thoroughly since we took you off the ice, and I am rather confident you will make a full recovery."
"How long ago was that?"
"Thirty-one days. Minus a few hours. We kept you in an induced coma while we monitored the results of the new Hexcore, and have been waiting for you to naturally wake up for the past three days."
Two years. Six hundred and seventy-one days. She struggled to understand the meaning of it. She didn't want to. She was an incredible hacker, the best in the city. But two years in her line of work was a full generation, maybe two. A lifetime. Her clan, her family, could be anywhere in the Americas. Panam could be married. Judy could be dead. The world could have burnt. Maybe Night City didn't exist anymore.
"There's something else I need to tell you, Miss V."
"What? You got worse than me being dead for two years?"
He looked at her with harsh judgment in his strange golden-brown eyes.
"And now you are dead no longer. After the effort and time we put into making it so, I would be rather disappointed to hear that it was for nothing."
She grunted. Sighed. Wanted to cry. Something in between.
"You were very heavily modified, Miss V. I don't believe I am telling you anything new here. One of the best cyberdecks on the market, your custom legs, not to mention your optical camo... None of which could handle the cryogenic process, therefore..."
"You had to take them out."
"We had to, yes. Once we equipped you with the new Hexcore, all your tissues started to heal as expected, and it sort of... I guess we can say it filled the gap left by your augments."
"So you're saying... that I'm completely chromeless now? Like those monks."
"Not quite so. We did replace your former cyberdeck with something, dare I say, even greater. Same model as Miss Kiramman, as she insisted."
"Caitlyn?"
"Herself. But it will take some time for you to get used to it, I suppose. We also reinstalled the basic chips and connectors through your hands, excellent Hextech optic augments, but the rest, you are indeed, as you say, chromeless."
"So I'm back at square one then? Need to go through it all again?"
Viktor made a face.
Another deep breath, and she dove in. Just like before, don't overthink it, just do it. She triggered the command and braced for the pain. It was fainter than before, to her relief. Her old contact list appeared before her eyes. Amenadies, Rogue. Dino. El Capitan. Jackie. Judy.
"Come on," she breathed out. "Come on. Just call."
"I'm afraid that we cannot allow you to modify your body as heavily as you're used to. If you were a unique case before, with the damaged Relic in your brain, you are now twice so. The Hexcore is a massive augment in itself, which could be big enough to trigger cyberpsychosis on its own. It takes up a lot of space in your body, and due to both its secrecy and complexity, I cannot allow anyone to risk modifying it. Not even your own Viktor, though I believe him to be a skilled technician."
V refused to give up hope.
"But you could, right? I mean, if I wanted—if I needed—you could mod me back up?"
There was now a special kind of pity in Viktor's voice.
"You have to understand, Miss V, you are already a walking miracle. A unique piece of technology that literally brought you back from the dead. A second time! You are a glorious evolution! But the extent of what we can do—or should do—is currently in the realm of the unknown."
Dizziness rushed over V like a thunderstorm and took her by surprise, even while sitting.
"You should rest, Miss V. The records show that you're used to overdoing it, but I would appreciate it if you waited at least a couple of days. I must let Jayce know that you've woken up, and I believe Mrs. Kiramman and her wife would enjoy the news just as much."
V hadn't answered. She had barely noticed when he left the room, limping behind his cane. Strange, for a man who could probably replace his own leg with an augment while sleeping. She had been lost before, felt lost before, but never like this. Once, she had woken up from the dead with two personalities instead of one. Now she had none. This was a dark pit, one that kept swallowing her deeper and deeper. She survived. She did survive. And yet she felt she hadn't. She was gone—all that she was, all of herself was gone. Her reputation. Her life, her friends. Her own body, her weapons against the world. Ripped apart, torn in two, and thrown away into the void where Johnny had gone.
"You're alive," she repeated to herself. "You're alive."
It should matter. It should have mattered. Why didn't it? It was supposed to be enough to have hope, to try again. So where was the hope? Where was it?
She needed Judy. God, she needed her.
She called.
Nothing.
Freaking nothing. She tried again, in vain. She tried Panam, but her friend didn't pick up either. She tried Mitch. No answer.
She tried Viktor—her own Viktor, the man who had always been there, no matter what, since before she was born.
"I'm only gonna say this once! I'm in no mood for pranks!"
Her heart jumped into her chest, so hard it hurt.
"Hey there, Vik."
"V? Is it... really you?"
"You don't know how good it is to hear you..."
"It's good to hear you too, V. But, how? You... why?"
"Hextech. They saved me. Just took longer than expected."
"So it worked?"
"With a few quirks... but it seems so, yeah."
He asked questions. She answered. She shared her pain, her fears, without even realizing it. She just unloaded, two years of unconsciousness, right into his lap, and he listened.
"Say, Vik... Judy, I can't reach her. Do you maybe... know anything?"
The image froze in her digital pupil. She thought she'd lost him until he shook his head.
"Sorry, kid. After you... left for Europe, they stayed a bit, a few days, with this girl Vi. The one with the big hands. Then, Vi told us you had pulled through. We were so happy, V, believe me. We even threw a party. But then, Vi—she told us, what, three days later maybe—that things weren't going as planned and that they would need more time to bring you back. She left for London, and I never heard from Hextech again. Judy and Panam, they left soon after. I haven't heard from them either. I'm sorry."
"At least they're together..." she thought. Or maybe she said it. She wasn't sure. Her brain seemed to go its own way, and controlling her thoughts was a conscious, exhausting effort.
"What about Misty?" she added, trying to force her focus back on.
Another freeze.
"She closed up shop a few months back. Things were dark. Jackie was gone, you were a ghost... Then her favorite herbal place burned down, and that was the last straw, out of everything. She closed the next day, told me goodbye, and left the city. She sends emails sometimes. I think she's okay."
All gone, V kept thinking. It's all fucking gone.
"V, I'm sorry, but I got a patient on the table... Please call me again later, okay? We'll talk more."
"Sure, Vik."
"It's so good to hear your voice, kid. It really is."
A young woman screamed in pain outside of the camera frame.
"Fuck," muttered Vik, and he cut the connection.
V stared at the wall, the dark gray wall in front of her, and felt the tears coming. All the way up to her eyes, in her throat too. It burnt everywhere.
"Fuck..." she whispered to the void. "Fuck..."
The dam broke, and the waters flooded. Hot, burning, painful, the tears wouldn't stop, no matter how choked up she became, to the point she almost threw up. She would have if she had anything in her stomach. There was nothing to stop it, no reason to either. She found herself calling for Johnny too, but he didn't answer. There was no remnant of the former rockstar, no trick of her mind anymore, no illusions. Just this room.
After some time—maybe two minutes, maybe three weeks—she finally calmed down. She started feeling cold, only covered by the patient robe Hextech had so generously provided their guinea pig with.
A knock on the door.
All her instincts flared up, and she immediately triggered all the analysis and control commands she was used to. Hextech's cyberdeck responded fairly well, but the instant headache she suffered confirmed Viktor's theories. She would need time to get used to it.
Another knock.
"Come in?" she finally answered.
A tall, slender, gorgeous woman with raven-blue hair stepped in. She didn't look a day older than the last time V had seen her.
"V! Oh my god, you're really up! Viktor told us, but I couldn't believe it! You're finally awake!"
The posh English accent made V wince, but she was so happy to hear it too.
"Caitlyn. It's good to see you. I guess I owe you a big thank you for saving my skin again."
"Nonsense, nonsense! We had promised. I'm just so sorry it took so long! Jayce and Viktor, they worked tirelessly but... Ah, what am I saying? This doesn't matter now! How are you feeling? May I... May I hug you?"
"I... I guess so?"
Carefully, gently, Caitlyn pulled the merc into a warm, tight hug.
"I didn't picture you for the hugging type... Did the world turn upside down while I was out?"
Caitlyn only chuckled.
"Maybe it did. A lot happened indeed, but we will tell you all about it later. For now, there are much more pressing matters. Wait here!"
She stepped back into the hallway, peeking her head through the door, as if she were expecting something—or someone.
Soon after, Vi entered. Her arm implants seemed smaller than before, thinner, but also more inhuman, more terrifying.
"V!" she exclaimed. "Took your sweet time, huh? One hell of a beauty sleep you needed there!"
V couldn't help but snicker too.
"It's good to see you, Vi. I see you haven't changed a bit, aside from your hands."
"Ah well, I was tired of Jinx calling me Fat Hands. Had to do something about it. How you feeling?"
"Tired. Exhausted, even. Who knew sleeping for two years could be so taxing?"
Vi's grin widened.
"Well, don't go back to bed right away, 'cause we got something for you. Sorry, we wanted to make sure you were up, presentable, and you know... you."
V's eyebrow arched.
"We brought them over from Texas when Jayce said they'd start waking you up."
"Come on, move aside, move!" V heard a familiar angry voice shout in the hallway outside. Her heart swell, almost to the point of bursting. "Move!"
An Aldecaldos jacket flew into the room like a bat out of hell.
"V! V! Oh my god, V, you scared us so much!"
The shape crashed into her with the force of a hurricane, with no regard for V's condition. Despite the pain, V felt her heart melt in her chest, and the arms tightening around her shoulders, the fingers gripping her back, like what heavens are supposed to feel like.
"Panam... you're here..."
"V."
Another voice rose from the door. Another woman was standing there, looking at the Night City legend like she wasn't real. She wore the same jacket as Panam, dusty and used. Her hair was long, bright red—the same color V used to dye her own, had replaced the green. A tear was dripping down to those lips she loved so much.
"Judy..."