Chapter 1 – A Future to Build

Glimmers of sunlight were trying to cut through the morning smog that had blown in from the bay and cast a slight glow around V as he stood on the side of the road. Misty's taxi made a turn and disappeared out of sight. With the little strength that V could muster, he forced himself to turn and start walking.

The cacophony of Night City's usual morning chorus of car horns, shouting or even some distant gun shots felt distant and muffled. V shoved his fists into the threadbare pockets of the denim vest that hung loose on his frame. Two years of coma had left him a lot leaner than he used to be. The atrophy had consumed his body in the same way the loss of his friends and everything he had worked for as a solo had consumed his soul. He took a deep, frustrated breath and continued to walk aimlessly.

With his head down, he allowed his barely augmented eyes to flicker and settle on the lives of those he walked by. A street vendor was arguing with a customer over the price of some synth steak. A young boy sat on a low wall slapping his broken holo-screen to get it to play advertisements that were barely disguised as funny videos, the only form of entertainment available to him. A pair of joytoys helped each other walk while dragging on cheap cigarettes; looks like they had a rough night. V turned to look across the street in time to see an old man get shoved into a wall by some random gonks as they shook him down for his last ennie.

"Misty was right to leave…" V muttered to himself bringing his gaze back to his feet as he walked and instinctively turned up streets he'd run a thousand times. "Why try to make it in a city that eats people alive and shits out their chrome? It's always been this way…"

He paused waiting for a crosswalk light to turn green and watched as a homeless man, one of thousands in this city crouched and sat down by a corner where trash had collected. He was fishing for the crumbs inside a discarded meal pack when a couple stepped over him with barely curse to acknowledge his existence.

She's got the right idea… V continued to himself in his head. At least she got out before this city ground her down too. V closed his eyes and clenched his fists. But me? Pfft, where would I even go? What do I even have left?

Absentmindedly, he scrolled through the messages that everyone he had ever cared about had left while he was too dead to answer them for two years – Judy's distant sounding voice, River's protective worrying, Panam's angry pleas turned to cold silence. He could hear the words of the few that had taken his calls earlier this week and a sharp pang hit his chest.

They all moved on, changed, gave up. And why wouldn't they? Two years is like a lifetime here. Honestly it's good that they cut me loose and didn't let me drag them down…

V opened his eyes and looked up as the morning mist was already changing into rain. They did right by them, can't fault'm for that.

V stepped off the curb and started crossing the street. Rain felt cold on his buzzed head. His hair hadn't grown back enough to shield him yet. A couple of shouts and shots rang out from several blocks away. V's hand instinctively dropped to where one of his guns would have rested but touched only air this time. Another sharp reminder of how defenseless he was now.

No chrome, no eddies, no crew… Just this broken body held together with spit and stitches.

As he reached another street corner, he was able to look up and see the bridge that would be the one that Misty's cab would take to get to the orbital space doc, airport and away from this godforsaken place. Traffic had already started to back it up, as if the city was trying to claw all those people back into its open maw.

How many times did I walk these streets? Thinking I was going to be different, that I could make something out of myself? What did it get me? Two years in a bed and leaving everyone that ever cared about me to pick up the pieces.

V leaned up again a lamp post that immediately started flickering. His fingers grazed over the rough surface of the pole. Misty… 'I hope you find your joy' she said… What joy exists in a place like this? What could she have even meant there?

At that moment, V saw a small child across the street. He let his gaze linger there for a minute. She was laughing as she stomped in the dirty puddles. Her little boots were filthy at this point but that did nothing to stop that grin plastered across her face. A woman, probably the girl's mother appeared from behind a small food stall. Instead of yelling or smacking the kid for getting dirty, she just put her hands on her hips and smiled watching the girl play. After a few seconds she called her over, hugged her and pointed towards a bowl of what looked like some kind of soup. The little girl nodded and ran up to grab the bowl. She then walked alongside her mother over towards where V had seen the homeless man digging for crumbs earlier. The old man held up his hands in defense, a time learned reflex, but the girl offered him the soup instead. With a surprised grin he took the bowl and nodded his thanks to the girl and her mother who kept walking.

V watched and tried to remember the last time he had given something to someone he didn't even know; he couldn't. It always felt a little pointless. Too small to make a difference.

He straightened up off the lamp post and looked up to neon lit sky, the advertisements reflecting in the clouds of rain and smog.

The thought of a small child and poor mother giving what little they had to someone they never knew and would probably never see ever again stuck with him. In a city built on nothing more than the growth of wealth on human suffering, it was so out of the ordinary. Somewhere in a corner of V's heart he felt something that he hadn't felt in so long it might as well have been a totally new sensation.

This city is a monster. But it's not an invincible one. Not unchangeable. The people here… People find a way to scrape by, take whatever scraps they can get. What if they didn't have to? What if there was something better? For all of us?

As the rain picked up, V tried to pull his rag of a jacket closer around him, but somehow, he felt warmer than before, as if something was cutting through the cold. I got a second chance once before. I spent it in the same, mad grind that every other solo merc in this city has spent themselves up on. I can't just start over at that like some kind of third-time's-a-charm bullshit. Jackie lost it all in that grind. Johnny lost it all too fighting this city too.

V started walking again, this time with more purpose than before. He felt determined and walked steady for the first time since the surgery. He had no plan, no money and no choombas but slowly growing in his mind, a vision was starting to take form.

"Night City's not ready for this… but it's coming."