~•Flatlined•~ [Female V + Judy]

[XXVIII]_paid_the_price_[28]

Breathe in.
Breathe out.

Breathe in.
Breathe out.

"Take care of Juds for me."

Those words played in my mind like a record as I watched her fall off the edge and disintegrate into nothingness. She was finally free, she was somewhere else now. Free from the relic, free from cyberpyschosis. Free from me.

Breathe in.
Breathe out.

I laid against broken metal and concrete as it finally felt real.

I was in V's body and she's dead.

The cool waters of what-once-was Mikoshi brushed against a new third degree burn, causing me to whince in pain.

God, it's been some odd 40 sum years since I felt.....anything. Crawling over rubble from the explosion, I thanked V for getting synth-lungs to bear this toxic, smokey air. Walking over what little remained of corpses V slaughtered in her wake, I finally dug my way out and saw the light. The air laid thick with smog and fumes. The whirling of helicopters and the beating of boots of MaxTacs against pavement, the horrid cries of family members as rescue units pull bones from the wreck, V fucking did it. Dusting myself off as I shuffled out of the rubble and headed down a dark alley, a holocall popped up.

"Judy." A sickening feeling washed over me as bitter bile and blood sloshed on the ground. After taking a moment to breathe and wipe the remments from my mouth, I answered the call.

"Thank fuck, V. I was so worried-"

"V's dead," I ripped off the bandage as I bit my tongue. Judy looked at me with horror and sadness. "Kid wanted to me to have her body, virus was gonna kill her in a few months' time even if I was gone so......" I let the sentence faulter into nothing.

"Ya know....she was always a stubborn fucker," Judy half heartedly chuckled but I saw the pain she was holding back.

"I wanna make things right. V....V fucking gave it all and I..I don't know how to honour that," my voice began to crack as tears streamed down my face. "I didn't want any of this to happen and NOW SHE'S GONE!" I punched the brick wall, leaving a crater sized hole in it. Opening my palm, I saw blood. Valarie's blood, no...my blood. "She's gone," I whispered as I stared into my palm. "She's....gone."

"We gotta tell them," Judy sniffled. "They....they deserve to know the truth." I sighed as I faced Judy.

"They will rip me apart, limb by limb and then Soulkill me." Judy patted me on the back.

"I wouldn't blame 'em for doing it, but you are now a Marksmyth, moreorless. They wouldn't flatline you off the rip, at least most of them wouldn't." I whinced at the shooting pains in my head.

"Fuck, how...shit, how fucking long has she been a pyscho?"

"2082 now so.....carry the 2- about a decade, why?"

"Fucking tech's giving me a migraine, I feel sick..." Bile sloshed from my stomach as I reltched onto the pavement until the pain subsided in my skull and ny stomach laid empty. "What's that ripper's name.....Vik?"

"Yeah, Vik." I slowly climbed to my feet as I wiped my mouth on the burnt fabric I was wearing.

"Take me there....please."
___________

"Vik.....VIK!!" I yelled as I coughed up blood into my palm. "Fucking....." I stared at the lab chair and saw V sitting there, waving at me. "V....." As soon as I uttered her name, she was gone. Standing there blinkling at the now empty seat, I knew I was getting worse.

"V! You're back, kid!"

"V's....gone," Judy spoke. Everytime she mentioned V, it sounded like her heart was shattered more and more. I nodded at Vik and sat down in the chair.

"She's....gone. Valarie's gone." I spoke aloud. Twiddling a cigarette in my fingers, I held it up to my lips before spitting it out onto the floor. "No, no, I can't ruin this-FUCK!" Tears streamed down my face as metallic fake flesh fingers whipped them away. "Vik...I know you have to reason to help....but I need this faulty chrome outta my head." Vik stood there silently as he lit up a cigarette. Inhailed the smoke for a moment before expelling it out.

"Valarie may be gone but I was the only ripper she ever came to on the regular," Vik spoke as he snuffed out the cigarette and washed his hands. "Met the kid when I was just becoming a ripperdoc, wanted some chrome and swore up and down she'd rule Night City. Kid always had her head in the clouds, even when she knew it was stacked against her, she kept dreaming." Vik jacked his computer into the back of my neck, a bit of a tingly feeling.

"How was she like after the cyberwares? She was pretty chromed up before....ya know." Judy asked.

"Valarie was the only person in NC I've met who didn't wanna get put under for the surgeries. She wanted to feel every nerve, every cut, everything from start to finish. Kid was a pyscho long before the faulty wears." Vik chuckled. Judy had a sliver of a smile on her face before I closed my eyes.

"Think V really would've ruled over NC like she talked about?" I asked as I breathed in the anesthesia.

"She would've destroyed the city for the ones she loved. If she wanted it, she would've done it." I nodded as everything went blurry and dark.

Time to find another world to rule over, I heard that familiar voice laugh. Take care of Juds for me.

I will.