Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 3: A Team

TWO YEARS LATER

V checked that her revolver was loaded one last time before sliding it into her holster. She shifted around, propping her elbow on the headrest of her driver's seat and leaning her head on her hand. Her eyes searched Jackie's face as he sat staring out at the building they were about to hit, calculating.

"Chick we're looking for is supposed to be somewhere in this building," he said seriously, eyes scanning. "Probably crawling with the pendejos who kidnapped her. Eyes and ears open, all right?" 

With that he turned to her, a faint light of worry in his eyes. V grinned at him and nodded solemnly, lightly punching his arm.

"You too ya big palooka," she said fondly.

Jackie returned her grin, then looked away for a moment.

"Speakin' of which, got you a little somethin'..." 

He shifted so he could reach into his back pocket, pulling something small and made of dull metal up into the light. "MiliTech trainin' shard; ya'know, if you wanna brush up on your dance moves."

The way he was saying it with such nervousness and care almost made V laugh; you would think he was about to propose or something. He held the shard tenderly, being careful not to drop it or accidentally bend or crush it. V shook her head and looked at Jackie with an incredulous expression.

"MiliTech. Jackie, we're talkin' classified, military-grade tech here. How did you get it?"

A proud smile beamed over Jackie's face and he puffed up his chest.

"T-bug. And our girl made a couple adjustments!"

V laughed. "Why, thinks she knows better?"

"Nah, said it didn't suit her, uh, style. Anyway, you'll see what I mean."

Jackie held out the shard closer to her, and V gently took it. Instead of slotting it in her head, however, she slid it into the shard pack on the inside of her jacket.

"Appreciate it Jackster; really. We don't have time now, though...but I'll definitely give it a shot when we get back. It's preem; I'll be the baddest merc around after running through this a few times."

A pout settled over Jackie's face, so V leaned over to him and patted his hand.

"Now now; don't give me that look. I'll be okay. Damn, you hen over me every time like it's my first time holdin' a gun. Don't worry, Jack. I'll be careful."

She knew why Jackie had given her the shard. A couple of gigs ago Jackie and V had slip into a Scavver warehouse to retrieve an old laptop for a client. The warehouse had vicinity metal and weapon detectors, so in order to pass through one of the air vents, they'd left their weapons outside. Things turned south when Jackie accidentally set off a tripwire, and the few Scavs left to secure the building came online. Jackie got pinned behind a truck, and V was left out in the open watching as the chromed up freaks pressed in. The only thing available to her was an automatic rifle that she took off the body of a Scavver she just dispatched. She nearly died when she couldn't get the damn thing to work, however, and would have gotten zeroed if Jackie hadn't blasted away with his twin hand cannons. Since then, Jackie was like this before every mission.

"Right, right," he said softly. "Mannana, Mannana..."

V squeezed his hand and leaned back, gesturing to the building.

"Wakako give you any tips or tricks for the job?"

Jackie's face screwed up and he made an exaggerated annoyed expression.