Chapter 10: New Chrome, Old Chrome

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

V gets some chrome, followed by a small timeskip~

-x-X-x-

As V looks through his database, Viktor Vektor looks at V. The young man had been through a lot recently, and based on Vik’s experience, he didn’t seem to be handling it well. Oh sure, he didn’t look like he was about to blow or anything, but that alone was setting off all sorts of alarm bells in the Ripperdoc’s head.

V was relatively green compared to most gonks in his line of work. Sure, he had some experience both from running with Jackie and T-Bug for the past six months as well as growing up on the streets of Night City. You didn’t survive to be V’s age in a place like Night City without picking up some tricks along the way.

But compared to your average merc, V was still new to this life. He should have still been getting his bearings, taking it slow, easing himself into this sort of work. Unfortunately… Night City didn’t work like that, as Vik well knew. You didn’t really get a chance to build up your repertoire and improve your skillset slowly over time.

Even playing things safe put a target on your back because it marked you as a small fish instead of a shark. It let the bottom feeders know that you were vulnerable. Prevailing wisdom, if it could be called that, was to take risks. Sure, taking risks might wind up with you fucked seven ways to Sunday, but if you didn’t take risks, you were probably fucked anyways… so might as well, right?

Viktor had seen it time and time again. Jackie, T-Bug, and V were just the latest mercenary team to take their risk, shoot their shot… and get absolutely fucked for it. Admittedly, because of Jackie, this one hurt more than most. Viktor and Misty hadn’t even known Jackie and V for that long, but Jackie was the sort of guy who had a larger than life personality.

Jackie was the kind of man who drew you in regardless of how closed off you were, or how used to losing people you might have been. In Misty’s case, that resulted in a romantic relationship. In Viktor’s case, Jackie had become a close friend and sparring partner. They liked to box, to beat up on one another and also watch some of the matches on Vik’s monitor.

By comparison, V was sort of a friend of a friend in a way… but now he was all that Vik and Misty had left. Vik wanted the kid to succeed even if he was on his own, really he did… but to gain this much money in one day spoke of something darker at work. The ripperdoc just didn’t know how to properly bring it up with the young merc.

“Damn Vik, don’t got much, do you?”

Viktor raises an eyebrow as V scrolls through his catalogue. He had plenty, really. He wasn’t the richest or most famous ripperdoc in Night City, but he wasn’t hurting for business either in spite of his out of the way location. He let his work speak for itself and his work seemed to be doing a pretty good job because he hadn’t had to spend a dime on advertisement in years.

For V to act like Vik didn’t have much… well, Vik already had a list of the sort of cyberware V wanted him to get for him. Some of that stuff, Vik had already decided he might drag his feet on for a while, for the kid’s sake if nothing else. He hadn’t been planning on telling V that, but maybe a little harsh truth would help in this instance.

“Like I said V, it’s only been a day. I’m not going to just have a Sandy or anything else too high-tier hanging around. And even if I did and even if you had the eddies for it, I wouldn’t install a Sandevistan in you, V. Not as you are now.”

That last bit finally gets V to look up from the catalogue, his eyebrow lifting as his mouth quirks up in wry amusement.

“As I am now, Vik?”

Well, he wasn’t getting upset at least, so Vik figured it was probably okay to keep going.

“Hurtin’ V. You’re hurting. And that’s okay. So are Misty and I. In the end, it’s about how you respond to that hurt. You can work your way through it and let it go… or you can let it fester inside of you until it spoils and poisons every other part of your life.”

Visibly taken aback, V pauses for a moment, giving Vik a proper long stare. No more amusement, no more sarcasm. Just quiet between the two men. Finally, V nods his head.

“I hear ya, Vik. I’m not about to let Jackie and T-Bug’s deaths destroy me. You don’t gotta worry about that.”

Vik opens his mouth but V cuts him off with a raised hand.

“I get it. I probably look like I’m quietly going crazy right before your eyes. And someone going crazy who chips a bunch of cyberware in only has one path in front of them, yeah?”

Cyberpsychosis. Neither of them say it, but there’s definitely no denying that that’s what V’s talking about.

“That won’t happen to me, Vik. I promise. I’m gonna make sure Jackie’s avenged, but I ain’t planning on dying to make it happen. That would be an insult to his memory. He got me out of Konpeki Plaza in one piece… gave me a second lease on life. I’m going to make the most of it. Promise.”

Silence falls between them with Vik not quite sure what to say for a moment. V has basically matched Vik’s bluntness with an overwhelming bluntness of his own. No beating around the bush, no hiding from the truth. Vik hadn’t even had to be the one to bring up Cyberpsychosis as a possible outcome to this crusade V seemed to be starting.

Part of him wanted to call bullshit. Part of him wanted to push harder, because there was no way someone with as little experience as V should have been doing as well as he was, both mentally and professionally. But… before he can find the words, V suddenly turns the monitor in Vik’s direction, showing him his choices.

“Here, these options should be in my budget, yeah? What do you think, can I handle this much at least?”

V’s tone is a mixture of sardonic and teasing, but Vik nevertheless looks at the cyberware he’s picked out. Adrenaline Converter for the Nervous System, Microrotors for the Circulatory System, and Subdermal Armor and Optical Camo for the Integumentary System.

Not exactly terrible choices, and they spoke of a mercenary who was aiming for subtle and undetected. The type of mercenary who Vik would normally consider smarter than most. In the end, Vik can’t really complain here, not without being unreasonable. He almost feels like that’s why V went with these choices, just to set Vik at ease for later on when he finally started prodding about the Sandy.

Still…

“Yeah V, I’d say you can probably handle this. It’s a lot of new internal chrome all at once, but I assume multiple sessions isn’t an option for you, is it?”

He’s expecting a negative response to that, maybe a wry smile and a shake of the head. But to Vik’s surprise, V just tilts his head to the side.

“Is that what you recommend, Vik?”

… Damnit all.

“Jack in, let me get a look at your bios.”

V does so without complaint and Vik frowns as he looks over V’s condition. He would have expected a lot worse given the other man just survived Konpeki Plaza and a run-in with not only Arasaka Elites, but also Adam fucking Smasher himself. And yet… V is in relatively good condition. Not perfect by any means, but better than Vik would have thought. And there’s no sign of whatever the fuck the young merc had done in the past twenty-four hours to pull together the dough he was now flaunting in Vik’s direction either.

“… Seeing as this cyberware is all internal and nothing too heavy outside of the optical camo… you’d probably be fine to do it all in one session.”

V hums and nods at that, smiling slightly but not radiating the smugness Vik would have expected. Huffing a little, the ripperdoc shakes his head and points over to the chair.

“Sit down V, let’s get started.”

-x-X-x-

Stepping out of Vik’s clinic a few hours later, V looks up at the sky and sighs. Beside him, Alt flickers into view after a moment, the visual illusion of her gorgeous form leaning back against a wall.

“I suppose from his perspective, you must look like you’re going off the deep end.”

V tilts his head in Alt’s direction in acknowledgment before beginning to walk. He doesn’t bother censoring himself or whispering as they move down the street even though there are people constantly passing him by. In a place like Night City, whispering only got more attention, and seeing someone seemingly talking to themselves wasn’t strange at all. It either meant they were crazy or on a call… it was pretty much a coin flip which one it was.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Just a little surprised he’s being so careful about it. He wasn’t like this last time around. I mean, he cared but he didn’t try to stop me from doing what needed to be done or chipping what chrome I needed to do what I had to do.”

Alt chuckles at that.

“Of course he didn’t… you were dying anyways, V.”

That causes V to blink, even as he realizes she’s right. Last time around, as far as Vik had known, V was dying anyways. He was being consumed by the digital ghost of Johnny Silverhand, slowly but surely replaced by the long dead Rocker Boy’s engram. By comparison, what was chipping in chrome to that? Even if it was a lot of chrome, even if it was a dangerous amount of chrome in hindsight.

Ultimately, Viktor Vektor had done everything in his power to help V save himself and while at the end of the day it hadn’t exactly worked, the man had still been there for V in a way very few others had. For that, V would be eternally grateful… and maybe he’d be a little bit nicer to the Vik of this timeline as well. Although…

“Tch, I just hope this doesn’t mean I have to go to another Ripperdoc to get work done. Vik is the best, but without certain death hanging over my head, not sure he’s going to be willing to chip in as much chrome as I want in the timeframe I expect to need it…”

Shrugging, Alt picks up the pace so she’s out in front of him, walking backwards as he moves forward without a care in the world. But then to be fair, it’s not like she can run into anyone as she is now.

“I’m sure he’ll come around. Just have to show him you can handle the small stuff easily enough and he’ll know you’re ready for the big stuff. Like I told you before, Cyberpsychosis isn’t something you have to worry about V. You’re not entirely human anymore. If Vik is as good a ripperdoc as you consider him to be, he’ll realize your acclimating to the chrome he’s given you already just fine, and that you’ll be able to handle more in no time.”

V nods at that, already feeling better even with the minimal chrome he had been able to buy from Vik. And to be fair, it would take time to get the better stuff anyways, both on Vik’s end and for V to get the eddies to pay for it. Sure, he’d made a lot yesterday working for Regina Jones, but even that had barely been enough to pay for the Optical Camo and three basic pieces of internal cyberware.

No doubt sensing the sudden change coming over him, Alt gets a coy grin on her face and a glint in her eye.

“Whatcha thinkin’ V?”

Letting out an explosive breath, V opens up a map of the city in the corner of his eye and smirks.

“I’m thinking last time around I was bedridden for two damn weeks after dying and then coming back to life. Got those two weeks back this time around… and I’m not going to waste them. Let’s get to work.”

“Aye-aye, Captain.”

-x-X-x-

It’s been a little over a week since the shit show at Konpeki Plaza and even though she was only tangentially involved in that disaster, Judy Alvarez still hasn’t fully calmed down. Maybe because her friend is a lot more involved than simply ‘tangentially. Or maybe because V had told them both straight up that Ev needed to lie low for a little while.

Judy still didn’t know how V had gotten into Lizzie’s undetected, and that in and of itself was a little unnerving. But more so was his warning to Ev, that nowhere but Lizzie’s was safe and that she needed to get her doll chip removed asap. Maybe if Evelyn had listened to that advice Judy wouldn’t be so stressed out… but nah, of course not.

Evelyn Parker did what Evelyn Parker wanted to do. She’d paid lip service to V’s warning, sticking around Lizzie’s for a week or so, but eventually she’d gotten antsy and bounced. Judy had tried to get Evelyn to at least call V and ask him if the coast was really clear or not, but that had started a bit of a row between them. As Ev put it, V wasn’t her father and Judy wasn’t her mother. She was a grown woman who could take care of herself.

Now, it’d been a day and Judy hadn’t heard back from Evelyn yet, even though they’d agreed to a check in every few hours or so. In fact, she was starting to-

Judy blinks as her thoughts are interrupted by a call coming in all of the sudden. Not from Evelyn… but from V. Biting her lower lip, the braindance techie quickly picks up. She doesn’t even get a word in edgewise before V is talking, however.

“Get your van Judy, let’s go pull Evelyn’s ass out of the fire.”

Wait, what?

“V? What’re you talking about? Ev’s in trouble?”

“Of course she’s in trouble. I told you both she couldn’t go back to Clouds and what did she do? She waited a week and then went straight back to Clouds. It’s fine, so long as we’re quick, we can still save her.”

Save her. As in, if they did nothing Evelyn would die. Judy stares blankly for a moment before leaping to her feet and throwing herself out of the room and towards the stairs.

-x-X-x-

The Vote:

[X] Stick with Judy's POV - 76%

[ ] Switch back to V's POV - 24%