Chapter 53: Pushing

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A/N: V is putting his foot down, Sasha realizes she's been missing out.

-x-X-x-

Jackie's Ofrenda had just as much of an impact on V as the last time around… if not more so. V's choom was dead and gone. There was no getting him back at this point, unfortunately. Not without somehow traveling back in time again and while neither V nor the fragment of Alt that had come back with him truly understood the mechanics of what the greater Alteria had done, they knew enough to know it wasn't likely to happen again. No more do-overs.

Still, even if Jackie was never coming back, V had people important to him who were still breathing. And he had people important to him who didn't draw breath but deserved the chance to do so again, even if artificially.

Of course, he doesn't keep any secrets from Alt so she knows where his head is at and what he's resolved himself to do at about the same time that he resolves himself to do it. The blonde appears alongside him with a derisive snort, rolling her eyes fondly as they walk along.

"I won't tell you not to push yourself, but you don't have to push yourself on my account, V. I don't need a new body right this moment or anything like that. Let's just get enough for Sasha, yeah?"

V just shakes his head though, smirking.

"One problem with that."

When Alt raises an eyebrow at him, V reaches out and 'calls' Sasha. Of course, given that the cat-themed Netrunner is as much a ghost on the net as Alt is at this point, its less that a call and more of a summons. In fact, the other woman appears in a flash on his opposite side, hands laced behind her head with a pair of electronic cat ears perched atop her brow as she gives him a feline grin.

"Sup V?"

"Going to have enough eddies for your Gemini soon, Sasha. Figured I'd let you know."

The grin drops, replaced with a somewhat pensive expression. Hopping out from her place at his side to walk backwards in front of him and Alt, Sasha lets out a forced little laugh.

"Oh! That's alright V. I don't really need the next Gemini to be honest. Alt should take it!"

V gives Alt a pointed look at that, causing the blonde to let out a rueful chuckle and shake her head.

"Alright, I see your point."

Sasha pouts in confusion at the byplay, so V explains it out loud for her benefit.

"I've decided you're both getting Geminis at the same time, Sasha. None of this 'Oh, she can have it instead, I'm just fine' bullshit. I want you both to feel what it's like to be human again."

Sasha stares with wide eyes at V as he puts his foot down. Sighing, V stops walking entirely and turns so he's looking at both of them equally. When he speaks, he doesn't do so aloud, but rather he does so in his mind now, making sure nobody except for Alt and Sasha can hear him.

"I know none of us are really human anymore. Not even me. Eventually, this body of mine will break down, or get killed somehow… but I'll persist. Because I'm an engram, the same as the two of you. Still, this world… it's not really built for our type, not yet. So the longer we can cling to what humanity we have left, the better. I know it's been a long time for you both, but I still think there's something worth reclaiming for each of you."

There's a long, quiet pause as Alt and Sasha just look at him in silence. V knows he's right though. If he left it up to the two of them, they would bounce the next Gemini purchased back and forth between each other forever, leaving the damn thing ultimately unused. Because the truth was, they were more comfortable on the Net.

They weren't like Rebecca, who had truly needed to be confined to one body again to feel grounded and return to even a modicum of her original self. However, that didn't mean they could just be allowed to stay as digital ghosts forever. It was unhealthy and like V had said, it had eroded their respective humanity.

So he was putting his foot down. And while technically he had no way of enforcing his edicts on either woman…

"Alright V. Sounds like a plan."

"I-I guess I wouldn't mind having a body again, y-yeah…"

They all remain quiet for a moment longer after that, before Alt's face splits into a big wide grin that promises nothing good.

"Oh, could you imagine the look on Rogue's face if you walked in with ME on your arm?"

Sasha's eyes light up.

"Oooh! That would be hilarious! And me! Me! There's this Netrunner who runs a shop over in Kabuki called The Kitsune who I used to play around with. I think her name in meatspace is Yoko Tsuru or something? God, she would fucking FLIP if I walked into her shop in the 'flesh' so to speak. Oh man, why haven't I been messing with her until now?! So much wasted time!"

V and Alt exchange a look at that. The truth is… Sasha needs a body more than Alt does, even if she'd never admit it out loud. The reason she hadn't thought to mess with this Kitsune woman before now was simple… because most of the real world didn't mean anything to AI Sasha anymore. But if she had a body back, if she could interact with the outside world again… then she'd have all the more reason to start caring again.

Already, Sasha looks more excited at the prospect of having a body than she had minutes before. V grins, knowing full well that he's going to have to make sure to help her out with messing with this Yoko woman… though he has to admit, the name also sounds familiar to him for some reason. Hadn't Yoko Tsuru been an acquaintance of T-Bug's?

Regardless, with Alt and Sasha both on board, it was time to get to work. After all, the eddies for not one but two Geminis weren't going to produce themselves. Fortunately, V already knew exactly what he was going to do to earn them.

He hadn't really talked too much business with Padre back at Jackie's Ofrenda. It just hadn't felt respectful, even though V knows Jackie would have told him to talk all the business he wanted and to go and make as much money as he possibly could.

Still, Padre had mentioned offhandedly that he'd been hearing all sorts of rumors about V going around town and clearing out the backlog of Fixer after Fixer. Given that, V had felt it was only right to warn him that he'd be coming to Padre's neck of the woods next. And not just Padre's, but as many other Fixers in the city as it took to gather the eddies they needed.

He couldn't bring Jackie back from the dead. But he'd be damned if he let anyone else he cared about suffer when there was something he could do about it. In the meantime… V watches in amusement as Sasha flits off to do her own thing, Alt staying by his side as he prepares to take Heywood by storm.

-x-X-x-

To most people who stepped into her shop, Yoko Tsuru was just a vendor who sold Netrunning gear. Basic stuff too, at least for the average customer. She preferred it that way for a number of reasons.

One, it kept any of the more hardcore Netrunners outside of a select few off of her back. Two, it allowed her to help the newbies out a bit when they were taking their first steps onto the dangerous path of Netrunning. Or, if they simply weren't cut out for this life, it gave her the chance to chase them off in her own subtle way.

The truth was, Yoko could have probably been a highly paid Corpo if she'd made different life choices. But fuck that shit. She was the Master of her own Fate, the Captain of her own Soul. Heh, with Soulkiller lurking around the net, that ancient quote was all the more prescient these days.

She liked her little shop in Kabuki. She liked flying under the radar and being 'just some Netrunner Vendor' to the vast majority of people in Night City. It provided… safety.

However, when the day winded down to a close and Yoko shuttered her shop for the night, she always found herself down in her basement, slipping into her Netrunner's Chair… and taking to the Net by her real identity. The Kitsune.

As the Kitsune, Yoko ran a Netrunner Space on the net called the Nine Tailed Café. She liked to consider it to be something of an Afterlife for Netrunners, the digital equivalent to Rogue's club in meatspace. Of course, that would make her the Queen of the Net or something… which couldn't be further from the truth. So maybe it wasn't the best comparison, but some things still remained similar.

Like the fact that, much as Rogue held total domain over the Afterlife, so did Yoko over the Nine Tailed Café. Here, her rules were sacrosanct, and her power was absolute. With the help of her closest allies, she'd turned the Nine Tailed Café into the sort of place where safety and security weren't necessarily guaranteed, but they were heavily implied.

After all, while some of the Megacorps might have better ICE than the Café did, the one thing the Corpos didn't have was a hundred or so Netrunners hanging around at any given time, ready to defend their space from any interlopers who thought to harm it.

Of course, that didn't mean there weren't still some assholes who tried from time to time. The worst were the smart idiots. The ones who circumvented the main 'rooms' of the digital café to try and slip past the majority of Netrunners without bothering them so they could get into the 'back'.

Yoko is used to this sort of thing happening from time to time, of course. Once in a while, they manage to get in while she's busy with her shop, dealing with her Daemons and stealing some random data that honestly isn't that big of a deal. It just means updating the ICE and patching the holes. Really, in a way those ones are doing her a service.

But what she's not used to is someone doing it and then waiting for her to arrive. Especially when she received no alerts out in meatspace about anything happening.

The moment she appears in the Nine Tailed Café, clad in her Nine-Tailed Fox Avatar as 'The Kitsune', Yoko feels it. She tries not to react too much, given that she's in the middle of the café and the 'eyes' of her usual patrons have all turned to her at her entrance.

For a moment, Yoko considers turning them all towards the intruder… but in the end, she decides discretion is the better part of valor. Instead, plastering a smile across her face, which is much prettier here on the Net than in meatspace, Yoko gives her greetings and then makes her way into the 'back'.

Given the digital nature of the space, it doesn't take long for her to reach the interloper. However, Yoko is given pause when she arrives in the 'backroom' they've made their own only to find it covered in the digital equivalent of shadow. Like something straight out of a horror movie, she feels a shiver of fear run down her back.

… She shouldn't go in there. The smart thing to do is to take a step back and call for back-up, call in some favors with some very capable Netrunners who she has on speed dial. So that's what she begins to do, only-

"Boo!"

The shadows suddenly dispel and something launches itself at her, tackling Yoko to the ground and pinning her right there in the digital hallway.

"Heya Kitsune! Miss me?!"

The eyes of her avatar bulge out of her skull as she takes in a familiar visage she hasn't seen in years looming over her. Then… she scowls.

"Y-You damn cat! The hell do you think you're doing?! Get off of me!"

Letting out a laugh, Sasha Yakovleva shakes her head.

"Nah-ah! Not until you call me by my proper name~"

Growling, Yoko tries her best to dislodge the other Netrunner from on top of her. One would think it wouldn't be that difficult. Sasha was a lithe woman of fairly average height with black hair, blue eyes, and a sleek form-fitting sleeveless bodysuit. Of course, since this was the Net, she also had a pair of twitching cat ears atop her head, and a damn cat tail swishing through the air behind her much like Yoko's own nine tails.

However, for all that she SHOULD be able to push Sasha away… she can't seem to manage it. This isn't the real world after all. Physical strength doesn't matter here. Even if it's the digital equivalent of roughhousing and play wrestling, a Netrunner's skill will be the measure of who wins in a playfight like this one. And somehow… Yoko is losing.

"You… no one has ever called you by that stupid name! PixelPurrfect is and will always be the dumbest Netrunner name I've ever heard of!"

Giggling, Sasha pulls herself back, hopping up and doing a little victory dance.

"You said it! You still said it! I got the voice clip recorded now!"

And then, to rub salt into the wound, Sasha plays said voice clip a moment later, Yoko's voice coming out perfectly synced in mere seconds.

"PixelPurrfect is and will always be your Netrunner name."

Its not what she said, obviously. But it's not like that matters where someone like them is concerned. Though the speed at which Sasha was able to edit the recording she'd taken of Yoko's words into what she wanted to make her say was… startling.

More than that though, now that Yoko is calming down from having her digital fur very much ruffled by the appearance of someone she'd thought long gone… Yoko begins to realize Sasha shouldn't be here. Rather, she shouldn't be anywhere.

"Sasha… you should be dead. What the hell? How are you here?"

Preening, Sasha's eyes twinkle as she leans in close as if to spill some great secret. And despite her better judgment, Yoko finds herself leaning in right back to hear what the other woman is about to say.

-x-X-x-

The Vote:

[ ] Sasha lies and says she faked her own death - 27%[X] Sasha tells Yoko the truth, that she's just an engram - 73%

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