Location: Watson / Little China / Megabuilding H10 / V's Apartment – 11:20 AM

V groaned as he finally gave in to the urge to wake up. And at that moment, he really wished he hadn't. He rubbed his eyes futilely to get them working and to crank the brightness back down to single digits, not to mention turning off the damn bloom settings that threatened to scorch his retinas. The brightness was doing nothing to help his headache or the urge to vom the previous day's scop.

For once, coffee did not feel appetizing. Instead, he staggered over to the sink and cupped handfuls of water to drink. He felt a bit better, but everything still felt like shit.

After taking a shower, he holobuzz'd one of the most honest people in NC that he knew.

"V, it's been a while. How've you been?" Viktor Vektor asked.

Vik was a ripperdoc that Jackie had introduced at the start of their foray into merc work. And it was an introduction V hadn't regretted since. In almost every way that mattered, Vik had proven himself both skilled and trustworthy, which made him better than the best corpo ripperdocs V had ever visited. A former heavyweight boxer of Watson, Vik had almost claimed glory but left it all behind for reasons that he hadn't shared with V yet. Vik still mixed it up in the ring, though, which was how he and Jackie had met, when the ex-Valentino had knocked Vik out.

"Been better, Vik," V answered. He sagged onto his chair next to his personal terminal. "Last gig, had to jack into a client's neurosocket… Think I mighta gotten spiked."

"Experiencing migraines, nausea, hypersensitivity to bright lights?"

V chuckled mirthlessly. "Whole kit and kaboodle."

"All right, kid. Drop on by, and we'll sort you out in a flash… actually, now that you're calling, there's something I wanted to talk about," Vik said. He sounded like something was on his mind, but nothing that caused V to grip the edge of his seat.

"What's up?" V asked.

"Come by, and I'll show you," Vik answered.

"Right, be there shortly," V said.

After they hung up, V sighed, pulled himself back to his feet, and sought out some clean clothes to put on. After finding a pair of jeans, a T-shirt with a design of wolf complete with glowing red eyes, a leather jacket, boots, and shades, V was set to greet the day in his miserable state.

Upon stepping out, Megabuilding H10 was as active and crowded as it had always been. Vendors hawking wares, cheap food sold from scopstands, trash piled up everywhere, peeps either skezzed or hitting the community gym… everyday life.

The parking lot elevator was just around the corner from V's apartment. He was tempted to ride his hyperbike to Vik's, but given his current condition, he decided against it. However, Jackie still had his car, so that left either a taxi or walking. It was fortunate that Vik's clinic was so close by, so despite the annoying bright Sun and dizziness—V's shades helped with the former, and he hoped that he could handle the latter—he chose to hoof it to Urmland Street.

Elevators to the ground floor required meandering through the communal sections of the megabuilding, but V didn't mind. On the way, he greeted Fred, the building's gym/boxing trainer. The merc had spent the previous six months honing his ability to go bare-knuckled, adding to the repertoire of the skills Arasaka had already taught him. Today, though, he merely waved at Fred and continued on his way.

What he really wanted was to stop by the 2nd Amendment, a gun store franchise. This particular shop was run by one Robert Wilson.

Wilson caught sight of V approaching through the metal grate and waved. "V! Your sweet little forty-five's waiting for its daddy! Purrs after every shot now!"

V sauntered into the store and stood in front of the gun cage. "Let's see 'er."

Wilson slid the iron over proudly.

The reassuring weight of the Constitutional Arms—ConArms—semi-automatic, .45 caliber 'Unity' handgun rested comfortably in V's hand. He checked the mag before expertly pulling the slide back with just one hand to do a chamber check to see if there was one in the spout. The Kanetsugu sight looked to be zero'd in, too.

"Thanks, Wilson," V said. "Been missing this one something fierce."

"Yeah, I can tell," Wilson replied, grinning. He pointed at V's empty thigh holster. "Walkin' around like that? Practically naked, I tell ya."

V slipped the Unity back where it belonged and let the familiar weight settle in. "Better?"

Wilson grinned. "Gotta say, it's refreshing to see someone treat their gun with respect."

" 'Cause it's the difference between life and death," V said. He made sure his backup iron was secured in its holster at his back. "See ya around."

"Later, V."

The elevator to the ground floor was right across from Wilson's shop, so it didn't take long for him to finally be outside—for better or worse. Vik's clinic was a little to the southwest from V's megabuilding, and with his head reeling and his stomach churning, V put in a bit of extra speed to try to get to Vik's ASAP.

When he got to Urmland Street, he saw that Misty's shop was closed for the day, not that he was surprised. He slipped into the back alleys through the side gate instead and proceeded down into Vik's clinic. As V approached the stairs, though, a cat walked up and rubbed himself against V's legs.

"Hey, look at you," V said. He reached down to pet him briefly before continuing on. Sliding the gate open, V spotted Vik watching TV. "Viky, spry as ever, you old ripper. It's good to see you."

Vik grinned and turned the TV off. "Good to see you, too, V."

"So what did you want to talk about?" V asked.

"Jackie say anything to you?" Vik asked.

"Jackie? No… I mean, nothing out of the ordinary, if that's what you're lookin' for," V answered uncertainly.

Vik chuckled. "Right, best let him tell you. I'm sure he wants it to be a surprise."

"But he told you…?"

"Well, he needed to get some work done, so we got to talking," Vik said. "Also, he talked to Misty."

"Who talked to you," V replied. "What am I missing here?"

"Oh, no. This is all on Jackie," Vik said. "For now, let's tend to your needs."

The dull throb in his head made V drop the subject for the time being. "Let's."

"But… I gotta ask, you have anything planned for the day?"

"Today? Nothing particular," V said.

Vik adjusted his shades, and a sly smile crept along his face. "Good. Got something for you."

"What is it?" V asked, curious.

"Something special; something that fell right into my lap," Vik answered. "Not too long ago, some corpo bigshot from Raito Labs bared his heart and soul to Misty; some kind of existential crisis or something. Dunno what she did, but the guy was happy enough to pay her with a full set of experimental implants instead of eddies."

"And she sold them to you," V said.

"Yep. Had a gander at them, and they're very impressive, to say the least," Vik replied. "Was considering what to do with them or who to put them into, but having you walk in here, just after Jackie was talkin' about what he was talkin' about… maybe I've been hanging around Misty for too long, but she'd say—"

"It's a sign," both men said at the same time.

V grinned, while Vik chuckled.

"Now, this stuff is a total upgrade over your current hardware," Vik said. "Pricey, but should mean that the only reason you'd ever have to come in would be for maintenance or you're dyin'."

"Not sure if I have the scratch to afford this, Vik," V muttered. "Wasn't thinking about getting an upgrade just now."

Vik chuckled again. "You will be."

"You know something I don't?"

"Like I said, I'll let Jackie tell you," Vik said. "He'll want to be the one to spread the news. I'm sure he'll get to it whenever he and Misty come back from their business, whatever that might be."

"Right."

Vik stood up and kicked his stool over to the operating chair. "As for the money, we'll work it out, kid. I know you're good for it."

"Are you sure?" V asked. "I mean, yeah, I'll pay you back, definitely, but it feels like so much…"

"Just making sure you get back in one piece, eddies in hand," Vik said. He turned to a terminal and started typing something. "Take off everything. Chair, please. Siddown, relax."

V stripped down and piled his clothes onto a nearby surface. Now buck naked, he laid down onto the ripper chair and reclined back. "So what is this stuff you're going to put in me?"

"Prototypes first devised by a guy called Dr. Thomas Light, a big-time scientist that kickstarted his career after the Fourth Corporate War," Vik said. "After the fall of the 'net, the war, and the chaos that followed, guy made some impressive stuff. His initial X model series helped him create Raito Labs."

"Raito… Japan-based corp, right?"

"Yep. Dr. Light then used his new funds and labs to make plans for the Z series, but it never saw the light of day," Vik said, injecting a bit of drama into his voice. "Until now."

"Funny," V replied.

"Not joking, kid," Vik said. He walked over to the corner of his space and picked up several boxes. He dropped them near the chair. "His grandson is the one in charge of Raito now. Was in Night City on biz, but was having a breakdown or something. Misty found him, took him to her shop, and had a chat. I wasn't there, but whatever was said, the guy came back a few days later with these boxes, offering to pay Misty for her time. Genuine prototype Z-series cybernetics."

"Well, you've certainly pricked my ears, Vik," V replied. He raised his head to look at the crates. "What's in them?"

"Got an OS, frontal cortex, MSK, a grip, nervous, circulatory, eyes, and legs," Vik listed off. "Genuine full upgrade for you. Best thing is? Subtle, all of them. All internal. On the outside, it won't even look like you're chromed up. On the inside, though, you'll be a work of art."

V's mouth fell open slightly, and he looked back down at the boxes again. The amount of eddies that this visit would run meant he would have to be working gigs for a long-ass while. "Fuck…"

Vik sat down on his stool. "Want 'em?"

V slowly nodded. "You sure you wanna use 'em on me?"

"Only one I'd trust to put them in," Vik said. "And I'm not just talking eddies."

There wasn't anything V could say to that. Again, he glanced down at the boxes.

Vik leaned forward. "So, want 'em?"

~o~O~o~

Location: Watson / Little China / Megabuilding H10 / V's Apartment – 11:00 AM

For the second time, V groaned as he was dragged awake. He still felt sore as all hell—normal for having new chrome put in—but given how much chrome had gotten stuffed in him, he was glad to be able to move this soon at all. He reached over to the nearby shelf and took another couple of puffs of whatever Vik had told him to take.

As he sat up, V noticed that the circulatory implants were doing a bang-up job of mending his body in a few short hours. He slowly undid a few bandages and couldn't even see the scalpel marks Vik had made the day before.

"Holy shit," V muttered.

Whatever Vik had put inside him, it was as subtle as he had promised, barely any outside hint that he was chromed up from the outside. The monowire ports on his wrists were the only evidence that he had any implants at all.

V gingerly stood up and made his way to the bathroom to do his business, take a leak, a shower, and a quick brush. He studied his appearance in the mirror. Whatever the optics were, they were extremely impressive yet appeared completely normal. He didn't know if Vik had made that decision or not, but his eyes still looked almost 'ganic from the outside. Even his blue/green heterochromia was there.

Scanner, check. Vision zoom, check. Whoa, solid zoom.

"Huh," V said to himself. "Guess I should get the rundown on what Vik put in me."

After V had said yes, Vik had offered to give him the detes on what each piece of chrome was, but sitting naked on the operating chair had pushed V to forgo the explanation and to just let the ripperdoc carve away. Fact of the matter was, there was no other ripper in Night City that V would ever trust to work on him; Vik Vektor was not only one of the best rippers out there, but one of the best kinds of chooms that V had met, right next to Jackie.

So if the chrome had Vik's stamp of approval, then in it went.

Vik had dosed him with anesthesia—the good stuff, too—and gotten to work. After, when everything had all been said and done, V—now feeling like he was coming apart at the seams—had taken a taxi back to his megabuilding, where he'd somehow managed to crawl into bed and sleep off the post-operation effects.

His musings ended when his holo chimed. It was a text message from Wakako.

With Watson in lockdown, I have no current jobs for you.

But if you are in need of more work, I know of another fixer in your district. Regina Jones.

Sending you her address.

If you do not know her already.

V sent a quick text back thanking her before his holo buzzed again. This time, it was a call from Jackie. He quickly accepted it.

"Whoa, V! You get any sleep?" Jackie asked. "Ah, no matter. Time you got up!"

V was about to retort about Jackie and if he had gotten any sleep the previous day with Misty, but then felt that was going to expose more detes than he ever wanted to know and zipped it.

Instead, V activated his biomon and ran a diagnostic to make sure everything was in order while he waited for Jackie to say what he wanted to say.

"Got some news, hermano. Big news!" Jackie said excitedly. "Throw on some threads and meet me downstairs!"

After Jackie hung up, the diagnostics finished, and everything read on the up-and-up. Better, even.

Still feeling sore and stiff, but not to the point where he was out of commission, V threw on the same clothes he had worn yesterday and made his way back outside again.

When V stepped out of his megabuilding, he spotted Jackie at the nearby scopstand, happily munching away on some noodles.

Jackie spotted him and waved. "Mm! Man of the hour! Sheesh, took you long enough! Worked up an appetite just waiting! Siddown, lemme finish this."

V gingerly took a seat on the stool next to him.

It didn't escape Jackie's notice. "You okay, V?"

"Yeah, just had some—okay, a lot of work done by Vik. Need to drop by, see if everything is where it should be—get the specs on what he put in me, too," V muttered.

"You don't know what chrome he gave you?" Jackie asked.

"It's Vik," V answered. "I was going to ask after, but wasn't feeling up to it."

"All right, lemme finish eating, then we can drop in on Señor Vektor," Jackie said.

V glanced at the food container in Jackie's hands. "Didn't figure you as the type for Asian. Woulda thought you'd find it too exotic."

"Whaddaya mean? What's there not to like?" Jackie asked. He poked at his food with his chopsticks. "Noodles, check. Synthsirloin, check. Get some more chili action up in here, and you're lookin' at Mamá Welles's signature sopa de fideos!"

Realizing that he hadn't eaten in almost forty-eight hours now, V's stomach rumbled something fierce. He turned to the vendor. "I'll have what he's having."

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Jackie said happily.

Figuring that having an appetite meant he was on the mend, V waited until his food was ready before asking, "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, it just so happens, I think I mighta bagged us a sweet-ass J-O-B," Jackie answered.

Figuring it was likely klepping something or flatlining someone again, V swallowed some noodles and said, "Go on…"

"I mean, maybe it's not as big as that, but… just that it's fronted by a little-known someone named Dexter DeShawn," Jackie revealed in dramatic fashion. "Only the top fixer in Night-fuckin'-City! Fat-assed Black Jesus of the Afterlife. Three hundred pounds of partly gold-plated cool."

That caught V's attention, and he finally put together what Vik had been alluding to the day before. "Dexter DeShawn…? What's the latest spec on him? Know you got info to spill."

"He's been off the grid for about two years. Word on the street was… he took a little vacay," Jackie said.

V swallowed some synthsirloin and furrowed his brow. "Two years? That's exile, not a vacation. Hell was he up to?"

Jackie shrugged. "Guessin' he shoved pizzas in his mouth while jerkin' off to hardcore virtus. Important thing is he's back, needs a fresh crew, and he found us."

That last point felt important to V. Considering that he had only been a merc for six months, even though Jackie had been working gigs for years, it felt odd to be noticed that soon. Slurping up some noodles—he was actually feeling better since yesterday now and more as he ate—he asked, "How'd you manage to pull this? Trade in your spleen or somethin'? Far as I know, we're not the type to get fingered by someone like Dex."

"You, me—nah. But T-Bug—she's the one that hooked us up, got us talkin'," Jackie said before gesturing to himself. "Knew it was a done deal the moment he laid eyes on me. 'Cause, c'mon—ain't nobody who can resist this. Am I right?"

V nodded, though his curiosity briefly peaked. Bug had never told him about Dex, though it wasn't as if their relationship was based on intimate conversation. Unbeknownst to Jackie, V and T-Bug had once had a strictly physical relationship for some months. Plain sex, often to blow off steam after a gig or for Bug to get some human contact after spending hours on the net, and always at V's place, since Bug didn't want anyone to find out where she crashed—a security measure, since she was either lying on a netrunning chair or in an ice bath.

When things had started to feel like they were heating up and the simple had threatened to become complicated, they'd decided to break it off. V still needed to put his life back together and wanted—needed—to put his focus on that if he wanted to survive, while Bug was never one to get overly intimate.

"Sure, Jack. Whatever you say," V replied, humoring him. An unfortunate thought popped into his mind, though. Mercs like them weren't established yet, so the only reason why a top-tier fixer would use unknown talent would be to use a bait or cannon fodder for the real talent to finish the job. "So what's the gig? We meant to come out in one piece?"

"Our lord and savior wants to tell you everything himself. Face to face," Jackie said. "Oh, no pressure, but, uh… this whole deal? 'S ridin' on you now, ese."

V frowned. "Why do I gotta go? You and T-Bug draw straws without me?"

"T-Bug and Dex go way back. And my face is yesterday's news," Jackie answered. "Dex says he needs to check you, talk to you."

Something about the sitch still felt off. Nothing screaming at him yet, but when dealing with corporats that made a living backstabbing people, a little itch on the back of your neck was all the warning you might get.

Jackie must have noticed something, because he said, "Look, V, it's his job, his rules. I can't blame 'im for takin' a personal approach. An' it ain't as bad as you think, okay? Trust me."

"Guess I got no choice, then," V replied evenly.

"Dex is the real deal when it comes to fixers," Jackie said. He paused for just a sec to slurp down more of his food. "Don't get me wrong, don't got nothin' against the Padre or Wakako, but… Dex is in a league of his own. You know what I'm sayin'?"

V scoffed and stirred his food for a bit. "Don't get me started on fixers. They catch a client, find the cheapest gonk to do the job, then drop their corpse at a landfill."

"Shit. Hit the nail on the head, V."

It was the basic reality of the sitch. If a crew of mercs weren't willing to take a contract, fixers had their pick of someone else willing to do the dirty work. Unless you had the rep to back up your talent, you might as well be a piece of lint.

After finishing lunch, Jackie paid for them both. "Gracias a Dios. ¡Estoy lleno!"

"Thanks," V said to the cook.

"To Mis—Vik's, right?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah, lemme get my ARCH," V answered. "How about you? Are you coming to Misty's?"

"You better believe it," Jackie replied, grinning.

Talking about Misty always put a smile on Jackie's face, but this time, there was something that caused him to light up as if someone had given him a pallet of his favorite tequila.

"How are you planning on getting there?" V asked, slightly suspicious. "My ride? The one that was shot up?"

Jackie's grin grew wider—V almost thought it would split his face in two—and pointed at the street. "Mira."

Following Jackie's finger, V blinked when he spotted an ARCH Nazaré parked close by. It was beautifully decorated, bearing the flashy reds and golds the Valentinos preferred.

"Is that an ARCH? Is that your ARCH?" V asked, a little shocked.

"Yep," Jackie answered proudly, as if he was presenting his favorite kid. "Wanted to show her off when I got here a couple days ago, but then Wakako and T-Bug were telling us to hurry, save the client, life-and-death, running out of time, blah-blah-blah, that we just jumped into your ride and delta'd."

V nodded and gripped his choom's shoulder. Jackie had always been a bit jealous of him for snagging an ARCH V4 Valiant, especially since it had damn near fallen onto his lap. V had saved some rich corposuit—by complete accident, no gigs—and the man had been so happy to be reunited with his family that he had given V a pick out of his collection of wheels. V personally thought it was a form of payment so it could be written as a tax write-off and to avoid unnecessary questions about where any eddies went. There had been quite a selection to pick from, Quadra muscle cars to Caliburn supercars. However, when V had laid eyes on the hyperbike, he had fallen in love immediately. To date, it remained an unspoken sore point between V and Jackie about the windfall, and V only took it on small, solo gigs around Watson whenever Jackie worked Heywood. Any jobs they did together, they took V's Hella.

V walked up to Jackie's ARCH and admired the beautiful and very custom designs. V's bike was a few generations ahead of the Nazaré, but he hadn't put any thought into customizing it, leaving it in its normal stock black paint scheme. Jackie clearly had a more artistic style and had gone all in to make the Nazaré distinctly his. If comparing their bikes were like a beauty pageant, V's ARCH V4 Valiant would win from an engineering perspective, but Jackie's fairings would rake it all in looks.

"So how'd you get the scratch to buy this beast? Sell a kidney? Offer some choom lifetime lubrication at El Coyote Cojo?"

Jackie rubbed his head. "Nah, ese. I know a guy. Got her cheap. Dorsett job dividend."

"Really?"

"Well… I took out a loan, but muy pequenito. But, I mean, it's totally worth it," Jackie muttered.

V nodded and started looking over the subtle modifications Jackie had already made with an experienced eye. "If you're still tinkering with it, you might wanna do something about the exhaust manifold and swap out that tailpipe."

"Really? Why? It's got a mean growl that the chicas just love," Jackie said. He knelt down and looked at what V was pointing at.

"What that 'growl' does is tell people a mile out that Jackie's rumblin' their way," V replied. "But if you want to crank a few more horses out of her, I'd tinker with the fuel injection, too. Upload a new map. And slap on some thermal tape till you cobble together enough eddies to get that exhaust modded."

Jackie nodded seriously and peered closer at the engine to see where the best place would be to start. Already, V could see his choom's gears turning.

"Riding together, then?" V asked.

Jackie snapped out of it and grinned happily. "You better believe it, mano!"

V remotely called for his bike and let the autopilot take over. His ARCH Valiant came roaring down the street a few minutes later and came to a stop near Jackie's bike. Soon they were rumbling down to Misty's Esoterica. It wasn't really necessary, given how close they were already to their destination, but if they were set on getting a job, then there was going to be more riding afterwards.

Back on Urmland Street, Jackie and V dismounted and made their way to Misty's shop: Misty's Esoterica and Chakra Harmonization. It was a new-age kind of biz where one sought spiritual guidance realignment and healing, whatever that meant. V had never used Misty's services at all, more keen on dropping by to Vik's. However, since Misty owned the space where Vik had placed down roots, the old ripperdoc was actually a tenant of hers.

As for the woman herself, Misty Olszewski was only a few years older than V. She would have been a typical goth, were it not for her blonde hair, green eyes, and bright clothes. She was attractive, but he never felt 'attraction' to the strange woman operating what might have been one of the most useless shops in all of NC. Still, Jackie was head-over-heels for her, which made Misty a firm choom in V's eyes.

Outside Misty's shop, Gary the 'prophet' was still spouting his nonsense about aliens, techno-necromancers, and whatever else that V had long since tuned out. Both mercs walked inside Misty's shop, where the proprietor smiled brightly at them.

"Hey, Jackie," she said warmly before turning to V. "Dr. Vektor was expecting you to come by. He'll see you now."

"Thanks, Misty," V replied, slightly amused that she was a bit like Vik's receptionist rather than his landlord.

"I'll sit tight over here. Find me once Vik's done dustin' your circuits. We'll hash out what Dex's cooked up for us," Jackie said, smiling bashfully. "Me 'n' Misty got a little catchin' up to do."

"You mean again?" V rhetorically asked as he left out the back way.

Back in Vik's clinic, Vik was watching another boxing match… or maybe it was the same one; V couldn't be sure. However, when Vik saw who it was, he turned off the TV and stood up. "V, glad you're back. Implants settling in okay?"

"So far, so good, Vik," V said. "Came by to get the specs on what you did to me. And maybe talk about a couple of other things."

"Jackie finally dropped the news on you, then?"

"Dexter DeShawn," V answered. "Can't say I know him."

Vik nodded and kicked his stool over to the operating chair again. "Yeah. Known quantity, from the Afterlife. No denying you're movin' up…"

"But? Something you're not tellin' me, Vik?" V asked.

"Keep your guard up, that's all," Vik said seriously. He typed at his terminal. "I've heard some things about Dex. He's not as 'chill' as he makes himself out to be."

V almost chuckled. "Leave it to a boxer to tell someone to keep their guard up as life advice."

"Same kind of advice you got at Arasaka, though, isn't it?" Vik retorted.

"Okay, you got me there," V said. "This why you kitted me out?"

"If you're going into the big leagues, you need to make sure you belong," Vik answered. He turned to V with a serious look. "Like I told you before, already upgraded Jackie not long ago. Man has his gloves up, ready to bust in. You gotta do the same, or you'll be knocked out in the first round. Maybe you'll get up again, or maybe you won't."

V nodded before a thought occurred to him. "Did Jackie ask for the chrome?"

Vik shook his head. "Misty."

"Does Jackie know?"

"Nope."

"So, the chrome you gave me? Tools, not toys, huh?"

"Yep."

V looked down at his boots. "Thanks, Vik."

"Don't mention it, kid," Vik said. "So, let's talk about Raito's cyberware."

"Right." V sat down on the operating chair and looked at the monitor that swung down.

"We'll work our way from top to bottom," Vik said. "We'll start with your OS. Usually, you can only implant one OS at a time, for obvious reasons."

"Competing OSs would split a brain like an onion," V replied.

"Right. But this thing? Weird as all hell, but cutting edge," Vik muttered. "You get to keep your Paraline, but Chronos acts like a supplement OS to work with an existing OS, instead of a standalone."

"What's it do?"

"Well, its primary function works a bit like Sandevistan, but how it works… I'm not entirely sure," Vik admitted.

"You're not sure?" V repeated incredulously.

"I'm a ripper, not a quantum physicist," Vik said. "Chronos is supposed to do something called 'the Rift', but the endgame is that it mimics the same effects as Sandevistan but without the same physical strain… somehow. According to these document specs, you won't be able to use any iron, but blades, monowires, and good ol' blunt-force trauma will work just fine."

"So, I get Sandevistan speed without blood gushing out of my brain?" V asked.

"Chronos uses something else, and Light says it's safe," Vik answered, shrugging. "Next is something I attached to your frontal cortex. NeuroRepo is a code repository, storing all its info on a quantum-state drive."

"What kind of info?"

"Anything you put on your cyberdeck," Vik said. "It's basically an optimizer, reducing upload times, memory costs, and speeding your connections to cyberspace using a very elegant neural data flow. Should make your netrunning escapades easier on you."

"This, I like," V replied.

"Eyes next," Vik said. "DataScan function just like Kiroshi's. Except the difference is appearance. You may have noticed that you don't actually see your new peepers."

"Yeah. I almost thought you didn't give me any optics until I tested them out," V muttered.

Vik nodded. "Improved scanner and optical zoom, same kind of stuff you'd get with Kiroshi. It'll take some time to adjust to your neural links. First time is rarely the charm with anything, but they should sync with your thought processes and read your intentions."

"With the added benefit of not looking like everyone else with Kiroshi optics," V said.

"Mhm. I also injected an NCPD file search," Vik replied. "Run into any ne'er-do-wells, heh, you'll know exactly what they ne'er-did-well."

V began to see the advantages of subtlety, even more than he had when working at counterintel. "Shit, Vik."

"Be sure to let me know if you have any vision problems; blurs, light sensitivity, glitches, those sorts of things, got it?"

"Got it."

"Now, for the parts of you that are still sore," Vik said. "Dug out some of your 'ganic muscles and put these in instead. NanoFibrils. Synthetic muscles using nanomachines that function like myofibrils—muscle fibers. When these implants are firmly set, you should notice the difference."

V nodded and idly wondered if he should still be hitting the gym. The Animals still did, despite their muscle-heavy chrome. "Stronger?"

"Basically, but far more than that," Vik said. "General movement, even weapon handling should be easier now."

"Can't wait to test it," V replied.

Vik picked up V's arm and turned it over to poke at V's palm. "Your hands next. Raito's 'Tool Hand'."

"Tool Hand? Seriously?"

"Microtool kits just beneath the skin," Vik said. "All enhanced with a very smooth internal structure that lets you interface with just about any weapons system you can imagine."

That caused V's brow to rise. "Smart guns, too?"

"Yep." Vik moved the stool so that he could prod V's legs. "GraviStasis. Run faster, jump higher, land without breaking bones. Enjoy."

V chuckled.

"Next is something I slapped into your kidneys. HemoFlux. Helps with physical exertion, allowing you to perform better and longer with less," Vik said.

"Less what?"

"Less food, less water, less sleep," Vik answered. "Still need those things, of course, but you won't feel like crap for a while."

"Nice."

"Now, a little something I added to your nervous system," Vik said, smiling widely. "Gotta say, if this works, Raito Labs will be a top contender against the big megacorps out there."

"What is it?" V asked.

"They call it NeuraSafe. Short story is, it's meant to safeguard you against cyberpsychosis and cyberware rejection," Vik answered. "Long story, it releases synthetic modulators to keep neuronal stability, and keeps both cognitive and motor functions intact against any problems with your cyberware. Makes sure everything plays nice."

"Whoa… that's…"

"If it works, this gadget alone might be the cure to all the cyberpsychosis happening," Vik said. "I looked over the specs, and they seem promising. Considering how much I was putting into you in one operation, I figured it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Good call."

"Welp, that's everything," Vik said. "All in all, it was pretty easy to install everything—except the MSK stuff, but that was expected."

V looked down at his hands and his body, trying to imagine the chrome Vik had put in, but couldn't. If he hadn't been hurting before, he would never have known he had gotten any work done at all.

"Any questions?" Vik asked.

"Um… no, nothing… wait, I also came in about the neurovirus," V said.

"Done and gone before I installed your implants. Ran a full sweep on your soft and circuits. Zapped the critter. You're certified bug-free," Vik replied. "Wasn't about to let that thing ruin a perfectly good operation."

"Thanks a lot, Vik. You're the best," V said gratefully.

"Still taking that stim?" Vik asked.

V nodded.

"Good. Keep at it for the rest of the day, and the implants should begin working for you," Vik said. "Instead of coming over for tune-ups and upgrades, these were designed to adapt to the user and make the necessary upgrades on their own. Over time, their performance will improve, and you might notice the difference. Come on by sometime, and we'll see about any upkeep needed. For now, I'll let Light know that his tech seems to be working."

"Got it."

Vik patted V on the shoulder and pushed off, riding his stool back to his TV. "And once you hit the big leagues, don't forget where you came from."

V stood up and stretched. He didn't know if it was the chrome or what, but he felt better already. "Wouldn't dream of it."

~o~O~o~

Author's Notes:

Since this is a story, not an RPG, gonna streamline a bunch of things. Not gonna roam around, visit different clinics, and slap stuff in. To me, if there was anyone I'd trust to put me under and under the knife, it'd be Vik. Also not going to be walking around with cybernetic parts inside some bag. Or going to be upgrading constantly. More interested in the one-and-done thing and moving the narrative along.

Mod author vanaukas kindly gave me permission to utilize his mod as the basis of V's unique cybernetics. Considering how much work he put in and the lore he created around his mod, I genuinely loved the idea behind it all and easily adopted it into this project.

Raito Labs - Custom Cyberware at Cyberpunk 2077 Nexus - Mods and community

If the link above doesn't work, search for Raito Labs on the Cyberpunk 2077 Nexus page.